Don't Bother Hand Pulling: The Garden Tool For Removing Weeds From Tough Clay Soil Quickly

At the height of summer, July is the month when many gardens reach their full potential. Unfortunately, so do the weeds. While any respectable gardener doesn't shy away from weeding, it can get to be a bit much to keep up with this time of year. Most of us would rather spend our free time at the beach than bent over in the backyard, pulling weeds by hand. There are also some types of soil that make hand-pulling feel like a losing battle. If you have tough clay soil, removing weeds quickly will be easiest with a tool called an action hoe or scuffle hoe, which uses a push-pull method to scrape up weeds. The action hoe goes by many names, including hoop hoe, oscillating hoe, and swivel hoe. It's even called a stirrup hoe due to its shape.

In many cases, when you're pulling weeds by hand, you can't easily break up the clay soil to get to all of the roots. But with a tool like the Craftsman 54-In Wood-Handle Action Hoe from Lowe's, you can disrupt the soil and rip up weeds in one fell swoop. The long handle even allows you to weed standing up so your knees won't hurt. The Craftsman action hoe costs just under $30, and is made with a looped blade that cuts both ways, so when you're working to and fro, it cuts on every pass. You can cut the weeds about a quarter to one-half inch below the surface, making it easy to take care of large weedy areas quickly.

Timing is critical when you're using an action hoe, especially for tough clay soils. When weeds start rearing their ugly heads, don't wait until the ground is wet to weed with a scuffle hoe. A scuffle hoe works best in dry soils of any kind, and wet clay soils will just make the blade sticky and messy. 

Action hoes also work best on small weeds that you can kill by cutting at or just below ground level. Use it on young weeds and those that aren't prone to resprouting. With tough weeds like dandelions, mustards, bindweed, and many grasses, you can cut them back repeatedly with the action hoe, and eventually they may die. Otherwise, digging the taproot out may be necessary. You can also use a combination of mulching and hoeing to get rid of weeds in your garden.

You'll appreciate the full range of motion an action hoe gives you, but it works just as well in tight spaces like raised garden beds and flower borders. All you have to do is turn the hoe at an angle so you're digging with the corner of the head, then you can cut weeds more precisely without harming the plants you want to keep. Sharpening the head with a file every now and then will make this tool more effective, but once annual weeds reach a certain height, the action hoe may not be enough, so remember to frequently cull out small seedlings.