Cut Through Weeds Easily Without Digging Using A Heavy-Duty, Multipurpose Tool

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While only removing the taproot can get rid of a weed entirely, cutting weeds can also minimize their presence in your yard. Cutting a weed at the soil level removes its leaves (a main source of energy), as well as its visibility. It's also an easier task compared to digging or hand-pulling weeds. Still, having the right tool for any weeding job can make it far easier to complete. For cutting, you may want to look into getting a stirrup hoe, also known as a scuffle hoe, like the Walensee mini stirrup hoe (Amazon, $19.99), which is designed to cut plants away from the soil surface using a push-pull action.

The Walensee stirrup hoe has a steel scuffle blade that measures 2.7 inches by 3.9 inches. The hoe itself requires no assembly and weighs 13.4 ounces, making it a lightweight and easy-enough-to-carry tool around the yard. Because the hoe is only about 17 inches long, you likely won't be able to use it while standing. However, at that length, you could kneel without bending, or choose a different ergonomic setup that's more comfortable than hand-weeding alone.

In addition to being useful for weeding tasks, this mini garden tool also has potential to become a heavy-duty multipurpose tool in your gardening kit, as it can also rake, scrape grass, and aerate soil. As of this writing, the Walensee mini stirrup hoe holds a 4.5-star rating across more than 1,100 reviews.

As a multipurpose tool, the Walensee mini stirrup hoe isn't only for weeding. You can also use it for digging, preparing soil for seeds, edging, cultivation, and loosening compacted soil. On the surface, using this tool involves securing the stirrup around the weed and cutting through the soil and shallow roots to remove the plant. However, using a stirrup hoe properly also provides the passive benefit of aerating your soil, which also plays a role in the presence of weeds. Note, this is not to say that aeration alone prevents weeds; however, by creating healthier soil, you can help desired plants, such as your grass or garden picks, thrive. 

The soil in your garden only provides so many resources, whether that's space or nutrients, and as more of the plants you want take root, there will be less room for weeds to grow as easily. (As it happens, weeds also require certain conditions to grow.) This means that over time, you may find that by using a stirrup hoe like the Walensee as a one-two punch on those unwanted plants — first, weeding, then aerating — you'll be left with fewer weeds, and fewer weeds returning overall.