Hoe, Hoe, Hoe: Merry Weeding!

Ames True Temper Warren Hoe

Spring’s arrival in farm country brings out the big guns: tractors as big as a house roam local fields hauling implements about the size of an airplane hangar. We normal humans find ourselves out in the yard tilling a patch of soil too small for one of those tractors to even enter. Size doesn’t matter in the backyard, because gardening is more than just growing food: it's "dirt therapy." As Canadian author Margaret Atwood says, "In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." 

Gardeners come in two flavors: the ones who spend dark winter nights poring over seed catalogues and the ones who who spend dark winter nights tool department at the local hardware. I'm the second kind: it’s the hardware that “excites” me. The more esoteric, the better; and Warren hoes are sort of esoteric. 

The Warren Hoe

You’re probably familiar with the ordinary garden hoe, which has a squarish blade set at right angles to the handle.  They’re uses to break up clods like tractor people use their harrows; once the plants are up you use a hoe to wipe out any weeds that dare poke up their heads. A Warren hoe is a little different. Its blade is shaped like an arrowhead, although it’s still set at right angles to the handle. Where an ordinary garden hoe is wide and dull, the Warren hoe’s pointy tip allows for precise aim with its cutting edge. 

How to Use a Warren Hoe

Warren hoes are handy when you’re planting, especially for row crops such as corn and beans. You use the pointed tip to make a furrow for the seeds in loose soil. Once the seeds are set, you flip the hoe so the "wings" on the back fill the furrow back in. With practice, you can cut consistent straight furrows from half an inch to two inches deep.  Once your seeds are up, Warren hoes become cultivating hoes, and are especially good in tight spots, places like between rows of root crops (radishes or carrots) you’ve spaced just a few inches apart. The point reaches weeds in tight spots or attacks widely-spaced small weeds. You can also turn the blade on its side for a scraping action if your conventional hoe isn’t at hand.

Warranty

This tool has a chrome-steel welded ferrule and blade on a 54” hardwood handle. The blade’s 4-3/4” wide at the tips and 6-3/8” high. Like other True Temper hand tools, it has a 5-year warranty. While not an absolute essential tool, the True Temper Warren Hoe makes planting and cultivation pass more quickly, and its precision action just might save a plant or two over the long, hot summer. Get one! 

Summary

PLUS: it makes furrows for planting and allows precision weeding

MINUS: there are no minuses!

What They're Saying:  Warren hoes make planting easier and allow precise weeding - if you plant in rows, you should have one.

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