CULT: Disabled gardners
- Subject: CULT: Disabled gardners
- From: n*@charter.net
- Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 06:52:36 -0000
A few tools I have found useful--and less stress on lower back
muscles--:
"Dutch Hoe"--has a handle like a hoe, but the tool at the end is a
band of steel sharp on both sides shaped rather like a "D" with the
handle at the top of the curve. The blade sits flat on the ground,
the user can push or pull. I find this much faster than a hoe, safer
on plants, great on small weeds.
"Cultivator" shaped like a four-tined fork, but only the same width
as a hoe, tines bent downward. This is great for loosening soil, and
is perfect for grassy weeds. Small broad-leaf weeds with a tap root
sometimes need a little extra, and I roll the cultivator over on its
side to drag the rooted weed out of the loosened ground. This
cultivator, if it snags and loosens an iris root (true root--not the
rhizome) it doesn't cut it like a hoe would. I just cover it back
up. There are short handled versions of this too, but I'm referring
to the long-handled one, used like a hoe but easier. I don't chop--
just drag it back and forth.
"Scuffle Hoe" Made like a hoe, but the blade is pointed forward, not
bent back-- shaped like \_ so it is used by pushing. This is
particularly useful in getting out weeds growing in gravelled paths
or parking areas not packed too tightly. Just push along under
the surface. It works in gardens too. I kept the one I used to have
(can't find a source currently) as sharp as I could--slips through
roots of weeds like knife through hot butter.
The only thing better than above for weed control is a two to four
inch mulch of seed-free material. But that's a no-no with bearded
iris, or so most people think. Depends how much of the much you get
up around the rhizomes. Iris roots love to grow under a mulch if the
rhizome isn't suffocating or sweating under a blanket.
Neil Mogensen zone 7a near Asheville, NC
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