The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Nickie on May 11, 2011, 12:54:23 pm
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Hi
I've finally built a small raised bed as a tester to see if what, if anything, I can get to grow up here between the Irish sea & Snowdon! I'm not planning to grow quantities of anything this year, just a variety of the veg I love to eat but which are rubbish if you buy them in the shops (Broad & Runner beans, Peas, Carrots, Parsnips & Sweetcorn). Depending on how things go we will take a corner of one of our grazing fields & have a decent sized garden for future years.
Finally, on to my question. When I was a nipper & used to help dad in the garden I used to use a tool for weeding & breaking up the soil crust. Obviously it was a sort of hoe, but what sort? It was 3 hooked prongs 2 at the back & 1 set forward between the others & was pulled through the soil. I know it was an old tool past down through the family.
I've looked everywhere I can think of on the internet, but can't seem to find anything like it. I have a dutch hoe (although it needs sharpening) but it's just not the same at all. :'(
Has anyone got any idea what I'm talking about? I'm off to the smallholder shin dig at the Royal Welsh next week & hope to pick one up, but it would help if I knew what I was asking for. Have I remembered correctly, or did I make it up? :o
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I still have a hand tool like that, I bought it years ago in a cheap shop and then saw a better one on a charity stall but I don't have a clue what they are called.
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I've got one of those - full length handle not a little ahnd held one. I think they are called claw cultivators.
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http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WILKINSON-SWORD-STAINLESS-STEEL-3-PRONG-CULTIVATOR-/380153111154?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenEquipment_HandTools_SM&hash=item5882e42272 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WILKINSON-SWORD-STAINLESS-STEEL-3-PRONG-CULTIVATOR-/380153111154?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenEquipment_HandTools_SM&hash=item5882e42272)
like that one
most garden centres sell them...
i use one for doing gardens quite a bit but personally prefer a swoe!!!
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There is also a bigger thing, made by Wolf tools which has 5 prongs in arrow formation, although you can remove the outer two if you want, and each prong has a mini ploughshare bit on the end. It is used for fairly deep cultivation. The difference between that type of tool and a hoe is that many types of hoe are pushed through the top inch of soil in such a way that they cut off the heads of weed seedlings without disturbing the soil too much. When you actually turn the soil when cultivating you bring up another crop of weed seeds ready to germinate, and expose more soil to drying out. There is a place for both tools, the prongy thing and various types of hoe, but for different uses.
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My hand held one is brilliant for around the onions especially when they are small
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Thank you so much for your replies.
I think I may have gotten myself confused - easily done nowadays I have to say, memory can be a fickle thing.
The tool I used was definitely a pull not push hoe (I think it's the pushing action I have a problem with!) & it was definitely old (before my dad had it my great uncle used it & I think his dad before that), but it may not have had the hooked prongs, I may have confused that with something else I've used. It could even have been a home made jobby!
I only wish I had 'saved' it from the tool shed when I grabbed the well worn in fork, spade, shovel & hook/crook - they just don't make tools like that any more!
The hoe I have is a nasty cheap thing with no cutting edge to it at all, it kind of pushes the weeds away from me, but leaves them intact so they carry on growing just in a different place. At least if I use a pull hoe they'll come closer to me & I can pick them up & get rid!
Anyway, I'm liking the look of the swoe, so perhaps I'll give that a go. Or I'll try to find an ancient tool at a farmer's sale or the such.
(Gosh, I can ramble on for ages about nothing at all, you can tell I spend most of the time with just the animals for company - sorry guys)
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I have one from my builders merchants,it has the three prongs on one side and a single diamond shaped pull hoe on the reverse. It has an extendable handle. Bulldog I think the brand is.
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Many of the old garden tools were made by the local blacksmith when every village had one - maybe yours was one of those. An excellent hoe which can be pushed and pulled,as well as sharpened, is also made by Wolf tools. It has a waveney edge front and back, plus sides which prevent you chopping up your favourite plants. It comes in both large and small sizes.
If your hoe is just dragging the weeds then it could be that a) the soil is too wet b) the weeds are too big or c) the tool is not sharp enough or of course all of those ;D When the soil is very dry it can self-sharpen the hoe but otherwise it is a good idea to carry a sharpening stone in your pocket when you are working, also a scraper to keep the blade clean of soil and weeds. Some tools seem very difficult to sharpen - wrong kind of metal?
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Its called a grubber. it has 3 slightly curved teeth that you pull through the soil to break the surface.
some are 3 some 5. some have arrows on the end and they come in all shapes n sizes depending on where they are to be used..
hope this helps.
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We have one that is usually called 'the three-fingered-doodah' and its incredibly useful. We joke that we've yet to find a job its bad at - works for cultivating, hoeing, making large drills for sowing and as a handy rake between narrow rows.
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Ah, a grubber! :D I've been calling it the prongy thing for years. ;D
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:D
I think prongy thing is a mcu better name ;)