Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: lsp12 on April 23, 2009, 14:15
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Forgive this question as I am a novice... I seem to recall gardeners back home (France) using draw hoes whilst here one mainly find dutch hoes... I was wondering if this is 'cultural' or if there is a different use for each?
Anyone keen to shed some light on this for me?
Thanks in advance
Laurence
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I find the Swoe the superior tool ::)
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Prefer a pull push hoe myself.
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The Dutch hoe does seem to be more widely available - I'm not sure why. I've heard that a draw hoe is better for heavier soils but I can't confirm that from experience - I've got a Dutch hoe myself because my parents, who find it very good on their sandy soil, bought it for me. So far it seems to be doing OK on my clay soil but I've only used it when the soil's been fairly dry on top.
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We much prefer the swan neck type of draw hoe....and the type with a curved top to the blade...this means the pointed corner can be got right up to a plant to hook out the tiniest weed..
The hoes were used for gapping in this area but it is getting more difficult to find older ones in good condition.
The same type of hoe but with a square blade is all but useless as the top corners of the blade prevent the action I describe above and in fact can catch the plant you are trying to weed around...
The pull action is prefered also as we can leave the ground worked slightly deeper than if using a push hoe...and in fact our mulch is a layer of dry worked soil...
"Dori"
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I've got Draw and Dutch, but also one of these
(http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/store/catalog/images/601470W.jpg)
which I prefer for weeding around plants. It has the benefit of a point (as per the Draw hoe) for digging things out, but it can get behind / round a plant which the Dutch hoe can't.
Works fine with either push, or pull, action.
I use a Draw how if the weeds are really big and have to be chopped at to move them - and the one pictured is rubbish for earthing up, of course!
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^ thats a swoe
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I don't know about the swoe, but other hoes work better when kept sharp, and they need frequent retouching.
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I have a very nice stainless pull hoe and use it at times especially for making drills etc, I still prefer the Dutch/push hoe when weed hoeing, as long as they are kept sharp, I like the thought of cutting those weeds.
Bob
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Ours is clayland, my father used to use a swan necked hoe for weed hoeing, "D" shaped blade. He had a swan necked hoe with sharp points (about 30 degrees and 6 - 7 inches wide) for singling sugar beet (he was a Fenman, I was born a Fenman but lived on clay most of my life). He also had a 12 inch wide push hoe with a tee handle for weeding between rows of sugar beet.
I first used a Dutch hoe when working for H. M. Forestry Commission on a nursery on sandy land (we produced 3.5 million trees per year). I have an Elwell forged Dutch hoe (not the things sold in garden centres which are stamped out of sheet metal and tend to push the soil up in front of the hoe, the stirrup is made of round steel rod). I also have a swan necked hoe and a swan necked onion hand hoe.
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Thanks to you all for your interesting comments! I am sorry I did not get back to you earlier...I have been having bad IT times recently ...but hopefully ... all is fixed now !
Thanks again
Laurence
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last weekend I had a go of a diamond hoe of this chap down our plot.all I can say is "i'm getting one" 8)
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Aye we have an old fella with a home made diamond hoe - brill for onions!!
My wife calls me "Phill and his hoes" when I go to lotty - I have dutch, draw, swoe, "winged weeder" (closest to diamond thing I could find) and hand onion hoe. Well, the hand one was S & J for £2 so I couldn't resist...and anyway, they are all good for different things!!
I'm always telling my kids to use a bread knife when they are cutting bread....
Cheshire Phill
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been mooching on the net phil for one and they aint cheap :(
i think i could make one out of an old sardine tin ;)
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this morning I forgot to take my new dutch hoe to the plot and had to use a knackered old draw hoe for weeding.. must say it was brilliant for weeding between the onions, never though of using it before...
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He also had a 12 inch wide push hoe with a tee handle for weeding between rows of sugar beet.
Larkshall - this is a breast hoe. Easier to push with a rope on the front attached to the little woman.
I can just remember seeing one of these used by a smallholder near Ramsey. Between the rows was weeded and then the men would gap the sugar beet to about 9 inches with a wide hoe. The women/children would follow on their hands and knees singling out the clusters of sugar beet. Similar process with onions.
Although it was nice to see a big gang working their way across a field it was backbreaking work. These were certainly not the good old days.
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Hi Salmo.
My family came from Manea and before that, Downham Market.
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Moved a long way then! How do you cope with the altitude?
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this weekend i'm going to buy a shave hook and stick it onto a handle ;) i'm not paying £30 for a diamond hoe .watch this space :)