Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This... THIS... is what you need for weeding. Understand, it's not the only tool that you will need, because it's impossible to get the best results with only one. But this HAS to be part of your arsenal. Here's how I know. In our family landscaping and gardening business, we get a LOT of requests for weeding. If you try to do it all by hand, you will lose your mind, and it won't take long. So here's how to weed like a pro. :) Let's say you're working in a bed with some low shrubbery, ground cover, and not much else. Weeds everywhere. 1.) If it hasn't rained in the last couple of days, you must water the ground the night before. Really not kidding about this. 2.) If there are leaves and debris, blow them out, preferably with a backpack blower-- then you'll be able to see what you have left. Bring a large bucket around with you with a garbage bag in it. Throw weeds in that. 3.) Take out larger, clearly defined weeds with long taproots (like dandelions) with a standing weeder. Fiskars is good. With practice, you can remove an awful lot of weeds this way before doing anything else. But there's no way you'll get them all! 4.) This is where the hoe comes in. Methodically hoe the rest of the weeds out with long, slow strokes (not chopping up and down.) The edge really needs to be at least reasonably sharp. Get it sharpened regularly or do it yourself (although to tell the truth, this never seems to work quite as well.) If this is too difficult, you probably didn't water the ground the night before! ;) 5.) There are ALWAYS some weeds left, so use a farmer's knife/hori hori tool to get those out. 6.) If it's been raining for days on end, things will be a mess, but sometimes it's going to be six months until it stops raining and that's just how you have to do it. You will really feel the benefits of this method in that case. 6.) Some free advice...while weeding, DO NOT bend at the waist, and NEVER EVER straighten up at the waist from a bent-over position. Set your feet first and make sure your lower back is arched. Then straighten your legs. The best way to get the last few weeds out, quite honestly, is not on your hands and knees, and not sitting down. It's a squatting position. Yep. You read that right! And yes, you can do it!! I had ten knee operations before I was 20 years old, and that's how I do it. Over time, you will kill your back, shoulders, arms, and hands weeding any other way. Believe me, you will. I have had MANY years of physical therapy, and I'm passing the knowledge on to you. :) So get this hoe!