i've got less experience than you, leava, but i only use a hand shovel and a dibble.

looking forward to hearing others thoughts as well...

dody

I just received the set on page 29 of the Lee Valley catalog. The number is PG138 if you want to put it in the search engine to find it. They are called DeWit Hand Tools, made in Holland. I like a cultivator that has prongs that are all the same length rather than the one where the center one is longer. The blades on these are so sharp that they came wrapped. The one I have been using is like two of these put together, with the fork on one side and a mattock like thing on the other side. I have bent it several times, but these are not going to bend.

I think George (macmex) uses the mattock on the next page, but I also think he has rock to contend with and my garden doesn't have rock.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lee Valley

I have a tool that is like a cross between H & F on the next page #30. I got mine locally much cheaper, even bought 2 for my oldest kids. I also have a Ken Ho weeder and another the same but made of carbon steel. I like carbon steel much better, stainless has too much Nickel in it making it "gummy" and hard to sharpen.

The tool I use the most through the year is the carbon steel style of the Ken Ho weeder, I think George told me they had them at Johnny's Select seed. Both of these weeders I also sharpened the on the back side so I can use them upside down to come in on the other side of the plant.

Larry

Hand tool, hands down, the cobra head. My all time fav. garden tool

Moni

Here is a link that might be useful: cobra head

My go-to tool for weeding, transplanting and division is the Japanese hori-hori, kind of a wide knife with one sharp, straight edge, and the other side a sharp serrated edge. It's long enough to reach to the bottom of most tap roots, and strong enough for hacking through tangled roots, like ornamental grasses. Would make a nice weapon, if one were in need of such a thing while weeding...

soonergrandmom what do you use the cultivator for ??
oklamoni,thanx for the cobrahead link,do you use the short handle or long handle the most??
larry, i just pull weeds by hand, does the ken ho weeder help get the roots better??
cjlambert is the hori hori only available online or in stores??

thanx guys, am so hoping to find some more helping tools

Leava, I try to weed when the weeds are small and breaking the surface of the soil is enough to dislodge them. Sometimes the top of the ground just needs to be broken up a little to help moisture go down instead of running off. We get a lot of rain here so it seems to pack the top down.

I haven't used the new tools yet, but today I transplanted some snow peas and all I needed was a hand tool. I could hack into the soil a couple of times and pull back the soil enough to put the plant from a 3x3 pot into the ground with soil still attached.

Leava,

My garden is like a border-less raised bed with a ditch around it. I stop the Bermuda grass before it gets to the garden, at the outside edge of this ditch. I undercut the Bermuda with the tool in normal position, then rotate the tool 90 degrees up and and trim off the sod. At this point the ditch is about 2 inches deep. I throw the sod back out into the yard where I can shred it when I mow with the discharge pointing away from the garden. (Riding mower). I also drop the left wheels on the mower and gauge wheels on the deck into the ditch and shave the grass and sod down to the soil.

It I use the tool as a weeder I rotate it 90 degrees down to use it much like a Cobra Head to pull the weed out. If you have a lot of weeding to do like this the Cobra Head is a better tool, but I keep my garden clean enough that I seldom have to weed like this. Most of the time the tool is used to just shave under the soil surface, much like a Hula Hoe would do.

When I am working in my unamended, dry, hard clay I use the tool that is much like H & F above because I need picking and chopping action to break up the soil.

I wear bifocals and have to get down close to my work, plus my back wont hold up to a lot of bending.

Larry

I have three. My shovel, my garden fork, my three prong hand cultivator, my hand spade. OK, that is four, sorry. My hand cultivator for weeding, my shovel, fork, and spade for digging, breaking up soil.

I am looking to that cobra head. That looks cool!

I, too, value the basic tools like my hand cultivator, but two others are my pruners and my scuffle hoe. I love that scuffle hoe. I don't have to bend over to weed most places and it just slices right thru the weeds.

Susan

leava I have the short handle one. I would venture, as I get older, and the bending gets harder I might get the long handle one.

Moni