Types of Garden Hoes

Garden hoes are commonly used for removing weeds, shaping soil and digging trenches or furrows for planting bulbs or seeds. 

Weeding with a hoe includes chopping foliage from roots and clearing soil of crop residues or old roots. Hoes are used to agitate the surface of the soil and to harvest potatoes and other root crops. 

Most hoes have a long handle with a comfortable grip that allows people to work standing upright. This puts less stress on your back and knees.

Hoes can be classified in several ways, such as by the shape of the head (triangular-bladed hoes and others) or by the task for which they’re designed (draw hoes and others).

Draw hoes are designed for drawing or pulling organic debris toward you. These tools are alternately called planter, chopping or paddle hoes. This type of hoe has a blade or paddle set at a right angle to the shaft or handle. 

• A grub hoe, also called an azada, is one of the most traditional draw hoes. It is intended for chopping sod and digging or tilling soil. These hoes can be more efficient than shovels in certain applications.

The warren hoe, also called a ridging or Dutch hoe, is a type of hoe with a heart- or triangular-shaped blade set at a right angle to the handle. These hoes are variations on draw hoes and are designed for pushing, not pulling.

• These hoes are effective at digging narrow furrows, shallow trenches or other tight spaces for planting bulbs or seeds.
• Their triangular, point-side-down blade shape makes them effective at extracting young weeds and weeds that are difficult to remove. They can be used for edging.

Scuffle hoes are also called loop, hoop or stirrup hoes because the head resembles the loop-shaped stirrup of a saddle. They are designed to be used with a back-and-forth motion that cuts on both the pull and the push. With a bladed edge on both sides, the scuffle hoe is considered the best garden hoe for weeding. 

• An oscillating hoe or action hoe is hinged in order to efficiently swivel when hoeing, as an advancement on the original stirrup hoe design.

The hand plow’s design originated in Korea. The tool’s inward curved pointed bladed is designed to pull and break up soil for planting bulbs and removing weeds. Hand plows are commonly made with short handles that are balanced to reduce muscle fatigue when using the tool. Some versions are made with long handles.

There are other types of hoes and related garden tools.

• The collinear hoe, also called an onion hoe, has a narrow, sharpened blade for use in a sweeping motion. It is useful when working with rocky soil and can cut the roots of weeds just under the surface of the soil but is less effective at moving or chopping soil.
• A wheel hoe has the hoe attached to a wheel (or more than one wheel) for easy movement. The hoe is designed to cultivate more ground in less time.
• A fork hoe, also called a tined hoe, is a kind of garden fork with two or more tines at right angles to the handles. It resembles a cross between a hoe and a rake.
• A hand cultivator or hand fork is a short-handled version of a garden fork.