After having established what a weed is (my last post), it seems appropriate now to discuss that quintessential fruit and veggie garden implement, the hoe. I think the hoe is a forgotten tool. Or at least, the use of a hoe is a forgotten task. But the Heirloom Orchardist knew his hoe quite well. "Oh yeah," you say, "The hoe! I know that tool. I've even got one. It has got a long handle, with a flat thing on the end that's bent. It looks like this:"
Yup that's a common hoe. You've got one, I've got one. And a few of us may even have a prong hoe:
Funny thing is many of us don't really use our hoe properly, or to its full advantage. I think this is a factor of the busy lives we have nowadays, because to take advantage of this useful implement you've got to time it right. You need to start when the weed seeds are just germinating; when they are showing green on the surface of the soil. In my hardiness zone, that's now. And once the hoe is out, it stays out. You'll be hoein' all season (unless you mulch). But if you don't start using it now, if you wait another few more weeks, forget it. Leave your hoe in the shed. Because then you're gonna be on your knees, pulling weeds. And that takes a lot more effort than hoeing.
In the May 28, 1853 issue of the New England Farmer, we find this instruction: "The clear hot days are the days for hoeing; leave the weeds on the surface a few hours at such a time, and they will trouble you no longer...No weeds should be allowed to grow among your hoed crops; and the ground ought to be stirred once in 10 or 12 days, if there are no weeds!"
What's the New England Farmer saying? We should hoe if there are no weeds? What's that all about? Well, I go back to my contention that hoeing is a lost art. I'll delve into my old book "Gardening for Pleasure: A Guide to the Amateur in the Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Garden" (there is a reprint available)
The Common or Draw Hoe - Its principle (use is) to clean the surface of the ground from weeds...
The Prong Hoe - This is one of the most useful of garden tools for stirring and pulverizing soil. It cannot, it is true, be used where weeds have been allowed to grow to any considerable height, but then we claim that in all well regulated gardens, weeds should never be allowed to grow so large that they cannot be destroyed by the prong hoe.
Ah...now we understand. Hoeing is a method of getting weeds before they become established plants; before they become a problem. By occasionally stirring the surface of the soil, we're disturbing those infant weed seedlings just enough to cause them to desiccate. The New England Farmer is giving us a rule-of-thumb (of sorts). It's telling us that if we can see the weeds, it may already be too late to affectively use a hoe. And that would be our first sign of a not-so "well regulated garden." Hoe wants that?
