Table of Contents
Weeding with a diamond hoe
I use my diamond hoe more than any other tool that I have. I have one with a long handle for stand-up weeding and one with a short handle for getting down close to the ground around plants.
The diamond hoe is perfect for weed seedlings that don't have a tap root or that are less persistent than, for example, perslane, one of my least favorite weeds because even a small fragment of purslane will re-root and continue to seed.
I don't often go deeper than an inch into the soil, just enough to separate a weed sprout from its root. Most often that's all it takes to terminate a sprout. I don't mind zipping through with the diamond hoe, even if I miss a few - because I'll be back.
This is a good state to use a diamond hoe to take out these young seedlings. They have just sprouted and the soil is almost dry.
So I make sure the diamond hoe is sharp!
I run the hoe parallel to the ground at the surface or just a bit below, so that I either chop off or uproot the seedlings.
That's all she wrote for these guys. And it took just a few seconds. These guys will wilt in the sun and wither to a wisp. Now, if they were perslane, I would pick them up and put them in the yard waste container, but these sprouts won't re-root. Gone before their time!
Under any conditions weeding with the diamond hoe is quick and easy. See another page about the diamond hoe for another approach.
Perslane out of control
Sometime in the rush of planning, harvesting, planting and weeding, weeds will gain the upper hand in a part of a garden. The perslane in this photo got way ahead of me and I was pressed for time so I took to it with the diamond hoe. I knew that even if I managed to pick up most of the dismembered perslane stems that some would remain and in the next rain re-root to face me again. Nevertheless, to make some quick headway I sliced and diced the perslane to gain some time from its rapid and relentless growth. Then I picked up the remains and tossed them in the yard waste. Some of the plants I'll see again, but this approach was quick and deadly.