Stirrup Hoe

The weather is warmer and now it's time to rid the beds of winter weeds and get them ready to plant.  It would have been best if I had mulched the beds last fall to keep weeds from growing in the first place.  But, alas, I didn't and now I'm faced with the sight below.



What you are looking at is a weed called "henbit".  I even wrote an entry about this weed and another one called "chickweed" last year about this time.

Henbit and Chickweed

Henbit grows slowly during the winter.  Then in the spring it explodes with new growth and puts out rather pretty purple flowers.  However, pretty or not, it has to be gotten rid of and I've found a tool that makes this job a lot easier.  It's called a "stirrup hoe" and it looks like this.

To use it, you push the flat side back and forth across the surface of the soil.  It cuts the weeds just below the surface of the soil.  It is much easier to use for chores, like this, than a regular hoe.  The only caveat is that it does not work for large weeds or big clumps of grass.  For those, you still need a regular hoe.