Forget Hand Pulling: The RYOBI Tool For Removing Weeds From Gravel Driveways

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Weeding is one of those tasks that many homeowners dread, especially when it comes to long stretches of gravel driveways. Fortunately, no matter your stance on this essential gardening chore, there are ways to tailor it to your preferences and remove weeds from gravel driveways more easily. That includes purchasing a tool like an electric gardening hoe, which saves you the labor of hand pulling.

The Ryobi One+ cordless garden hoe features an oscillating blade to remove weeds and cultivate soil without all the kneeling typically associated with these tasks. You likely won't even have to bend over, since the tool itself is 62½ inches long. It has a maximum till depth of 3½ inches and a maximum till width of 6½ inches. At the time of writing, the Ryobi One+ garden hoe is listed at $149 on the Home Depot website, and it has a 4.4-star rating across more than 290 reviews, with 90% of reviewers recommending this tool. 

It's important to keep in mind that the base listing is for the tool only, which means no battery and no charger. However, this cordless garden hoe does work with any Ryobi One+ 18V battery, so if you have any of their other tools, you may already have a battery and charger on hand. Otherwise, you can choose the listing option that includes the battery and charger, which costs $199.

Electric tools like this Ryobi hoe help bridge the gap between hand weeding versus having weeds sprayed in your garden. Weed sprays are faster but introduce chemicals you may not want in your yard, and they're often indiscriminate in what they kill. Hand weeding is one of the simplest solutions for weeding gravel driveways, as it allows you to target only the plants you want to remove, but it can be strenuous, and kneeling for hours on gravel is especially uncomfortable. While this may not be as extensive of a problem in a driveway as in a garden, it's still a factor to keep in mind. Using an electric weeder like the Ryobi garden hoe gives you the targeted, eco-friendly effectiveness of manually removing weeds while reducing the elbow grease needed and offering faster results.

If you are looking to add this Ryobi garden hoe to your tool arsenal, there are a few tips to help you get the best results. Several reviewers on The Home Depot website noted that the tool can struggle a bit on hard, dry soil. As a result, if you've recently been through a dry spell, it may be worthwhile to water the areas on your driveway that you plan to weed, or wait for some rainfall before putting the hoe to work. Many reviewers were able to use the hoe without taking this step first, but noted that it did take a bit more effort, and preparing the soil beforehand will help make weeding your gravel driveway a breeze.