Wheel Hoes

We use a wheel hoe extensively at Shepherd's Valley. A small number of companies make them, but you're not apt to see one in a local garden center. Looking something like a horse-drawn walk-behind plow, but with an undercutting blade mounted behind an 8 inch wheel. You push it through the soil to cultivate between rows. You can cultivate a row about as fast as you can walk, much faster than a tiller, and without the noise and fumes of an engine or expense of gas, oil, and maintenance. Good exercise too, without being overly taxing.

You can use a wheel hoe once the soil has been tilled in the spring, to keep the soil loose and kill weeds even before they come through the ground. The blade covers an area 9 inches wide, but there are other sizes available and other attachments. Planet Jr. company made several attachments for their tool many years ago, and these are still popular.

Many folks have never seen one demonstrated, as I did for a group of gardeners last evening. The soil seems to jump over the blade when pushed at a fast clip, undercutting weeds and grasses and leaving a nice loose walking path between rows. Great tool, and well worth the expenditure. We've had ours for about 20+ years and I expect it will last another 50 years with a blade replacement. Heavy cast steel with wood handle construction. New models are lighter in weight and all metal.

Come on out to the farm for a visit and a tour, and we'll let you try out our wheel hoe in our gardens absolutely FREE. Organize a wheel hoe party with some friends and we'll even serve fresh lemonade and cookies. You can sit in the shade at the picnic table and enjoy the fruits of your labors. It's a lot cheaper than the price of a gym membership.

Update: This morning, six young men took turns running the wheel hoe, after my short demo and persuasive, enthusiastic challenge. A La Tom Sawyer, it worked perfectly, and I got a dozen long rows of tomatoes hoed in short order. This was part of their reciprocating kindness for a guided tour of a local historic site and 2 mile hiking trail, and letting them have an overnight campout on the creek. The enjoyed the exercise and the challenge.

FREE DIY Wheel Hoe Plans by Herrick Kimball: http://planetwhizbang.blogspot.com/
Herrick has a great blog and markets plans for the do-it-yourselfer/homesteader, including a Whizbang chicken plucker (we built one and it works great!), Whizbang scalder, and Whizbang Apple Cider Press. If you want quality plans that make well-built projects for the farm or garden, this is where to get them. Good stuff! Highly recommended.

If you do commercial small scale gardening, you'll appreciate a wheel hoe. When you use it, you'll wonder why you ever waited so long to get one.