Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: MyAchingBack on November 01, 2012, 12:14
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I'm thinking of buying a cultivator. What is your preferred choice, 3 prong cultivator or a hoe??
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I think a hoe is more use. Having said that, I use a swoe and also a cultivator ::)
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Swoe - definitely!
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I wouldn't know how to use a swoe. I don't think I have even seen one :unsure:
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One of these:
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c182/G4IAR/P1000246.jpg)
It has three cutting edges, so it hoes on the back-stroke as well as the forward, also a sharp edge for a "side swipe". One of my better investments.
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Sold! Thanks DD.
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Have a look around for offers.
I've got two, one a Joseph Bentley one and one a Wilkinson Sword one, (plot and home). Both bought at separate times from Wyevale when they had offers.
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I prefer the old fashioned hoe with what looks like short fingers front and back, each finger is sharpened, front and back.
mind you I have only ever seen them in kent
Grendel
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A Swoe is a marvellous tool, and very well worth the investment!
It doesn't do the same job as a cultivator anyway; I use it to cut weeds down, not get down 10"!
;0)
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My dutch hoe has not seen the light of day since I got the swoe.
It gets into parts other hoes cannot reach.
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I prefer the old fashioned hoe with what looks like short fingers front and back, each finger is sharpened, front and back.
mind you I have only ever seen them in kent
Grendel
That looks very medieval :)
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I too made use of an offer at Wyevale & bought a swoe,I found it took a bit of getting used too after 30 years of using a dutch hoe,but I've persevered & I know find it too be well worth the effort,I can get in very close too the plants without too many casualties :blink:.
A chat on our plots has what I think might be a chillington hoe, that had even more sharp sides.
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No just googled & it's not a chillinton hoe, my plot neighbour's got, so I don't know what it is.
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Snows, a pic will help here!
A Chillington hoe has just one wide, heavy cutting edge, as you've probably found out!
Bet you'd like a Growstada though, wouldn't you..;0)
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=85597.msg951930#msg951930
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Ha ha Growster areyou setting up in business then? I have got something similar but not shaped at the front just straight,my Dad mackled it together. I use it for making the trench for potatoes & earthing up. I'll try to get photo's next time I see the chap,but with rain like today goodness knows when I'll get there again unless I buy a boat/ark :lol:
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And wear your wellies too Snows, it's soaking here too!
That tool is actually an altered Chillington Hoe, as I already had one, and found this other blade in the shed when we took on the plot, so I altered it!
Love the word 'Mackled', I must remember that!
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Ive several hoe's well used but i must admit that swoe looks a good tool and by the sounds of it most of you who have bought one think the same :)
is it any good for weeding the onion bed and do they need sharpening it occasionally as i see the one in the photo is stainless steel :unsure:
going to look around for one and give it a go mite put the word out for a Christmas pressie ;)
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They're excellent for onion beds as they can get into awkward corners that a conventional hoe with right angled blades can't.
They are supposedly self-sharpening, and I never had to sharpen mine in two years - it gets regular use on two full-sized plots.
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And wear your wellies too Snows, it's soaking here too!
That tool is actually an altered Chillington Hoe, as I already had one, and found this other blade in the shed when we took on the plot, so I altered it!
Love the word 'Mackled', I must remember that!
what about fettled then,any guesses growster as to its meaning
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And wear your wellies too Snows, it's soaking here too!
That tool is actually an altered Chillington Hoe, as I already had one, and found this other blade in the shed when we took on the plot, so I altered it!
Love the word 'Mackled', I must remember that!
what about fettled then,any guesses growster as to its meaning
My favourite Pocket Oxford Dictatorial says - 'Fettle = to trim', Snows...
I bet you and your dad have a much better answer, and hopefully, ruder...
(It also says that 'Mackel' is a sort of fish, but spelt wrongly...;0)
edit to fix quote
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Afraid not ruder,we use it to mean sorted out/organised, so a similar meaning I suppose,oh & using the dictionery is cheating before you've had a few guesses.
What about nesh then
2nd thoughts shall you or I start a new thread before we get in trouble for hijacking?
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Some of us are well familiar with these expressions, me duck.
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But not Growster methinks :D
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Sold! Thanks DD.
You'll not be disappointed :D- took DD's recommendation myself earlier in the year. The swoe is a great tool
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But not Growster methinks :D
Separate thread coming up, Snows..;0)