Posted on 06/15/2021 10:27:55 PM PDT by Olog-hai
I’ll bet that in some corner of your toolshed or garage, an old hoe is leaning against a wall. A hoe that hasn’t seen use in a long, long time, having been replaced by, perhaps, a gasoline- or electric-powered tiller, chemical weed killers, or mulches.
Hoeing is not much in vogue these days, perhaps because it seems to require what Charles Dudley Warner, in his 19th century classic “My Summer in the Garden,” said every gardener should have: “an iron back with a hinge in it.”
But hoeing is, believe it or not, an easy, safe way to control weeds. Maybe even easier than many of the “labor-saving” methods that have supplanted it.
The reason for hoes, rototillers, weed killers, and mulches are two-fold: first, to keep weeds in check, and second, to keep the soil surface loose so rain can percolate in rather than skitter away across the surface.
Chemical weed killers, which eventually provide an open field to weeds that are resistant to them, also do nothing to keep the soil surface loose. Straw, leaves, and other organic mulches keep the soil surface loose and smother weeds, but only if maintained in a thick enough layer.
Powered cultivators chop up weeds and loosen the soil, but in so doing burn up organic matter, ruin soil structure, disrupt earthworms and beneficial fungi, and damage roots. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I will let the Gardner know to go back using the hoe.
My daddy say that Kammy a hoe, and she don’t look nuthin like that...
If you push her over, she can tamp down the soil.
Using the hoe as a method of uprooting weeds and unwanted plants is great for some plants, not so effective with others. You ever try to get rid of Blackberry Bushes without using a herbicide? It’s not easy.
Blackberry bushes are invasive, aggressive, prolific and annoyingly hardy. It can be like fighting an Octopus, one with thorn covered tentacles.
I was just reading about using salt and vinegar to kill weeds - dissolve a cup of salt in a gallon of white vinegar, add a tbsp of dish washing soap and spray on the weeds.
I think I would rather have blackberries than whatever you would plant instead.
Outsource the blackberry control to the G.O.A.T team
1/4 the effort to hoe a day after it rains than when it is bone dry.
Many would agree with you “Berry nice!”
But I’m allergic to most berries in repeated doses.
If I have Raspberry Sherbet (a favorite!) today, I have to wait two or three more days before I can eat it again.
Otherwise, my skin ‘gets even with me’, bigtime.
Strawberries; I can eat now without worry.
The only use I’ve had for a hoe is to deal with a snake in the cellar. But... At my age, I’m NOT going to go to the cellar anymore. If mother nature comes and blows me away, so be it! I’m well past the days to worry about it. As for gardening... anything you try to grow around here will be eat up by critters before you get to it.
Goats will eat those bushes, with great relish!
Then article this brought back to mind the the time when we were very young and hoeing Dad's new garden next to the slop yard, not the other garden that was almost the size of a football field in the pasture in front of the house, but a smaller one just to take advantage of the different soil. So, we were hoeing with both of us very annoyed at being child labor and got into a salient cussed match about hoeing territory. All of a sudden, I came down right on the top of my brother's head with my hoe. I don't even remember what happened after that, but I bet it wasn't a good thing for me and I bet I got my little brother out of a little work for the rest of the day. &nbswp; It's what family legends are made of.
Yes, I've got a hoe now, but it slips in the ferrule and I don't think much of it.
There is a company that makes a special quality strength of
vinegar for weed control. The catch is waiting for
the hottest temperatures required for effectiveness—
I believe about/above 90 degree F. in full sun light is
the prime point.
We have ghettos full of thousands upon thousands of unemployed young men. We could employ them in a national back-to-nature program in the fields hoeing corn and chopping cotton. This would provide them with gainful employment and be beneficial to Mother Gaia!
They'd have fresh air, sunshine, no chemicals, and a healthful 100% natural workout. And don't forget free room and board and pocket money for Newports, Nabs, and Saturday night 40s. What's not to like?
Bros before Hoes.
Chopped cotton for ten cents a row. Learned to straddle one row and address one on each side as well as the one in the middle. Arizona’s sun was a favorite of the weeds and Johnson grass as well.
I wouldn’t use salt.
The Associated Press can KMA. Why don’t they worry about all the herbicides being used in all these thousands of acres of cropland being converted into SOLAR PANEL FIELDS that are springing up everywhere?
Anyone that has ever let a field go and not mow it knows how fast it will grow up in weeds, bushes and trees. If STRONG plant killers are not used those solar panels would be destroyed in short order.
If no one is worried about all that weed killer getting into the soil and water I am certainly not going to worry about what weed killer I spray around.
“WEED, SHRUB & TREE MAINTENANCE Left alone without cultivation and management, farmlands will progress from a mixture of weeds to small shrubs and eventually forest. Thus, weed, shrub and small tree maintenance must be considered. Either the landowner will need to provide for this effort or contract these tasks with a service provider. As a landowner, applying a non-restricted use herbicide does not require a license for pesticide applications to manage the lands. However, many of the shrubs and small trees are not easily controlled by these general herbicides. Thus a license to purchase and use a restricted use herbicide may be necessary. Currently, this license can be obtained by passing an exam provided by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA & CS) Pesticide Division. This license will require attending four hours of training in a three-year time period and a small fee to maintain this license. For more information pertaining to licensing, visit the web site NCDA & CS Pesticide Division.”
Read more at: https://craven.ces.ncsu.edu/considerations-for-transferring-agricultural-land-to-solar-panel-energy-production/
an old hoe is leaning against a wall.
They can get arrested for that around here...
Using one always costs money.
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