The gardening universe seems to always provide me with just the right hoe for whatever it is I’m going to do in my garden next.
And what I was going to do, and did, in my garden next, yesterday evening, was use my new Fork Hoe from easydigging.com to scrape back the four to five inches of mulch covering the planting bed so that I could transplant a large Helleborus and several clumps of Hosta that the “patio guys” had very nicely dug up for me.
This new hoe, which is made by Chillington in England, is my first hoe from England, I think. I have hoes made in various places in the United States, Poland, the Netherlands, China and who knows where else. But I’ve never had one made in England until now. I was long overdue for a hoe from the England, the center of the gardening universe!
This particular hoe, which has a tag on it that says “Chillington Crocodile” is perfect for scraping back mulch because it does have three tines to it. Somehow that seems to make it easier to get up under the mulch to move it aside. I’ve used hoes that are just straight across for this and sometimes find it difficult to get up under the mulch with the hoe to actually move it and instead end up sort of skimming the top of the mulch.
With this Fork Hoe, when I do want to smooth out the mulch, I don’t have to reach for another hoe, I just turn it so that I’m using the side of the tine and it works great for pushing the mulch back in place after planting.
I also used it to work up to the dirt in an area that had gotten a little compacted and a bit weedy (how does that happen) and it worked quite well to create a nice planting bed for whatever I decide to plant in that area.
This hoe has some weight to it, so it can be used for a bit of “grubbing”, too, if there happen to be tree roots, rocks or other obstacles to be pulled out of a garden border or bed.
It’s a keeper, and I am pleased to recommend it as another great tool for gardening.
Thank you to the gardening universe and of course, the people at easydigging.com for sending me this new Fork Hoe to try out. It’s a great addition not only to my hoe collection, but also to my “active hoes”, the ones I actually use for gardening.
For another review of this type of Fork Hoe, check out Essential Tools for Working the Soil on the Fine Gardening website.
It looks like a great hoe and I am sure you are in 'Hoe Heaven'.
I never appreciated the utility of hoes until I found you in May Dreams Garden. This hoe looks great – and strong.
That looks like a great hoe for our heavy clay soils, too! But I have to tell you, the name alone would induce me to buy it. I think I NEED a Chillington Crocodile in my garden!
Thank you Carol for the nice review! This is Greg, the owner of the business that sells the Fork Hoe here in the states.
Besides handling mulch, I hear from many people that use it to dig and till soil that has rocks or gravel mixed in because the tines penetrate such soil better than a blade. Another neat use we here about is for unloading pickup trucks since you can stand behind the tailgate and just pull the material out rather than shoveling it. We've even sold them to a factory that uses them to move metal scrap!
Keep up the good work. You are indeed our greatest Garden Hoe Queen 🙂
Wow, that sounds like a very useful hoe, indeed. Greg's comment re using it to move mulch really got my attention! I'd been coveting a tool my tree guy used, which he called a manure fork … I've been unable to find anything similar here. This looks like just the ticket!
What will this world be without garden hoes? My fork has been to the dentist and lost a tooth, so I am on the hunt for one. The best I am told are the ones made in the UK and Germany.
My fork/grub hoe is my favorite tool. The one I could never do without. Someday, I hope to find a really sturdy one like yours. The tines bend and break on the ones I've had.
Hello,
Nice Fork Hoe.