How To Use a Scuffle Hoe to Weed the Vegetable Garden - and Why I Love Mine So Much

My Thai pink egg tomato patch before. . .

And about 3 minutes after.

Years ago, I read a magazine article in which several well known gardeners named their favorite gardening tool. Someone, I forget who it was, said theirs was the scuffle hoe, which is sometimes called a stirrup hoe.

They went on to describe how it did a superb job of weeding with hardly any effort; you simply pushed and pulled the hoe just under the soil surface and voila! all your pesky weeds were severed at the base, while your surrounding plants and their roots went undisturbed.

I immediately longed for one. The ones I found for sale were pricey. I smacked the longing into submission and convinced myself that my life was totally complete despite its lack of a scuffle hoe.

Fast forward a few years to my first spring, complete with giant garden, in Missouri. I'm wandering around a small hardware store that's having a going out of business sale, and I spy a couple of scuffle hoes. They're simply made, don't even have a brand name, but are under five dollars each. Sold!

I take one home, attack a small patch of weeds with the oh-so-easy, push-pull motion, and watch in disbelief as my new wonder tool fails to do absolutely anything. I can practically hear the weeds and the salesperson laughing at me.

Fast forward several more years. For some reason I can no longer recall, I decide to dust off my scuffle hoe and give it another chance. That famous gardener had raved about it. If he was stranded on a desert island, all he wanted was that stupid, useless hoe.

And then I figured out why.

More below. . .

What's Growin' On: 6/28/06

Munch.




Munch Munch.




Munch Munch Munch.

Realization Of The Day:
I don't think Cary is going to starve anytime soon.

Yes, these photos were taken in my garden. Yes, I grew all of those gorgeous weeds in that raised bed she is standing in (that you can barely see for the weeds) myself. Yes, this is one of those times I desperately try to adopt the attitude of that famous gardener who grows gourmet produce for Chez Panisse (and whose name I still cannot recall—anyone?) which is to just let nature take over your garden, even if that means you can barely see the food when you stroll through it.

From Garden To Table:
Yellow, red, and white onions diced, sliced, and chopped into everything.

From Garden To Mouth:
The first few ripe raspberries!



Busted Bunny Trying To Blend

From Garden To Voracious Trespassers:
Too much of my bounty! Why won't they eat the weeds?




From Garden To Cary:
Whatever she wants.

What's Growin' On: 4/29/06

Ugh



Ahhhhh

Realization Of The Day:
This is why I love having a digital camera. Sometimes you just need to be able to capture moments like these and then rush into the house to look at them. And besides, being able to see all that work you've done makes it easier to rationalize buying all that Biofreeze.

Realization #2:
It rained all night long and is still pouring as I type this. I should have just gone and planted the bush beans in this bed yesterday. I mean, all the hard work was done. What would it have taken me--15 minutes tops? I have no idea what I was thinking. Probably too busy clicking back and forth between these photos.

Minding The Moonsigns:
Good news! I just flipped the calendar over to May and discovered that the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are all (like today and yesterday) fertile days in the first quarter--perfect for starting lettuce, herbs, greens, cruciferous veggies, cucumbers, beans, and flowers--pretty much anything but members of the potato/tomato/pepper/eggplant/squash families. These you want to start in the second quarter; fertile days in May are the 10th, 11th, and 12th (but you've already started your tomatoes and potatoes and peppers and eggplant, right?) Wondering what all this moonsign stuff is all about? Read more here.

So if your planting plans have been postponed like mine (it's been pouring rain for 17 hours straight and shows no signs of stopping), you can relax. There will be plenty of time next week to get everything done. Which is good because last night I found all sorts of seeds I forgot about, like the Nero Di Toscana Cabbage (beautiful plants that tolerate heat & humidity; the young leaves are fabulous in salads), Oriole Orange Swiss Chard (another gorgeous veggie), Red Russian Kale (yet another stunning beauty--hell, who needs to plant fussy flowers?), and some Canton Bok Pak Choy--super stir-fried. All of these seeds are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

This is in addition to the bush beans: Straight 'N' Narrow Haricots Verts and Masai (both of which I have planted every year for about 10 years because I can never remember which ones I like better), Emerite Haricot Vert (a new variety for me that I never got around to planting last year because I didn't realize it was a pole bean and that would have required extra plotting and planning), and of course my absolute favorite--the incredible (and talk about some gorgeous veggies) Dragon Langerie Yellow Bush Beans. This is actually a misnomer because these huge, prolific, incredibly tasty beans are not yellow, but are more of a creamy white with hard-to-describe pinkish stripes. Trust me, just grow some. They're so good raw I have never once bothered to cook them. They will make any crudite platter look like it was just dropped off by a four-star caterer. I recommend dipping them--and the rest of the crudite platter--in some herbed yogurt cheese. All of these seeds are from Pinetree Garden Seeds.

So what is my new plan for today? Stay as dry as possible, try to figure out where I'm going to plant all this stuff, stop rooting around my seed packet stash, and revel in the fact that my garden is receiving a much needed soaking without my having to lift a finger (okay, I did actually start this rainstorm by watering everything yesterday afternoon). I suppose I could launch an attack on some of the clutter that has obviously been breeding around the house while I've been outdoors (how does that happen?), but I'd much rather bake a few loaves of bread. A girl's gotta have priorities, and mine usually involve food.

So what do you do when you're rained out of the garden?

© Copyright 2006 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.