Maybe a long handle asparagus knife/weeder?

tj

looking that one up....

I see how it works. Yes the length is perfect but I think I need 'broader' blade that can behead an patch of annual weeds. It's 15" long overall which gives me something to work from.Thanks for the good start.

I garden literally ‘by the seat of my pants’. The weeding tools I use are a traditional fishtail weeder (which looks a bit like that asparagus knife) for weeds with tap roots, a version of a Japanese Hori knife which has serrated edges and is handy for digging out weeds with shorter tap roots or relatively shallow bulbs and digging planting holes etc., a crack welder with a flattened J- shaped blade that is good for removing things between stones or sliding around just under the soil surface to remove things with shallow roots. I find there is not one tool that does it all, so having a handy tool holder of some sort is useful!

Do a search on “hand hoe”.

tj

i always like the usual 3 prong hand rake ... but i dont know how that fits in your parameters ... weighed a bit less than a hand hoe ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=3+prong+hand+rake&iax=images&ia=images

ken

There we go; gotta have a right word to get a hit on google.

However, there's so much to be said for personal experience which is why I post here as I google.

Marie ~ Amazon has a circle hoe ( Carrot Design Circle Hoe Hand Garden Weeding Tool) in the Garden and Outdoors section. I own these in three lengths, either of the shorter handled ones might be good for you. I think I got them from the manufacturer (circlehoe.com), but it seems that perhaps they are no longer made in various lengths. Wouldn't you know it?! Anyway, the Amazon one is about 15 inches long which might do for you, I hope.

I do like my circle hoes, altho I confess to being a down-on-the-ground-hand-weeder! Getting down is fine, getting back UP is a whole 'nother story, lol....

keep in mind.. if you use the long flat bladed hoe ... sharpening it once in a while makes it cut thru the soil better .... easier ....

all the better if you have a bench grinder handy ....

and never leave the edge on the soil ... it rusts it.. and dulls it ...

ken

My spouse is agreeable about sharpening my scuffle hoe, shovel edges and pruners when I ask. I just have to ask soon enough not to waste energy using a dull tool.

I didn't even use a stool today for 5 hours of weeding- sat on my bum and used my bought for the purpose chef's prep knife and just scraped the weeds off/out and used the point to dig out hundreds of wild onions.

It was a very productive day. Betcha I pay the price tomorrow! If I'm able to walk I'll tour the premises and tell myself how much better it looks.

I have every tool listed above and still keep coming back to my Ken Ho.

I do most of my weeding on a very low stool as well and very often can't even stand straight when I get up. I'm pretty sure my neighbors don't even blink when they see me stretched out on my back in the middle of the lawn, lol. I tend to work very "hot and cold"- I'll kill myself one day and be totally incapacitated the next. I'm just no good at moderation.

Marie - since I sit on the ground for a lot of my garden work, when it is cold and/ or damp I wear a pair of LL Bean rain pants over my garden pants for protection from the cold/wet conditions. You might want to consider those if the sitting-on-the-ground approach worked for you....

Hi Woodyoak

i remember you mentioning that before

i have rain pants and should remember to try it “someday”

it is so dry they are not necessary now. I’d probably tear them on all the twigs and rocks. but I could “slide” from spot to spot more easily.

Marie - I replace the rain pants about every two years. I looked for a picture of me working in them but the only picture I can think of is old and didn't get transferred to the new computer! But they are an essential part of my garden work clothes in spring and fall when the ground is wet and/or cold. In warmer, drier conditions, they aren't needed - then the essential things are the knee supports I wear under my pants, with the supports held up with hockey garters :-)

The other convenient/useful essential gardening clothes are the long Fox garden gloves and a pair of cheap kitchen vinyl gloves to wear over them when I need them to be waterproof.

You can see some of my essential garden stuff in this picture:-)

What do you consider essential aids/tools for your gardening work?

Honestly? Celebrex and arthritis strength Tylenol taken before a long gardening session. Sunscreen and hat because I ’ve lost the pigment in my skin and can only burn never tan.

My pointy “rootslayer” type shovel because it’s small light & the right height. Hori hori and red chefs knife for weeds, digging holes and tearing open bags of amendments & mulch

Felcos, flexible hand rake

Assorted buckets and pots for pernicious weeds like wild onions and garlic mustard and the rocks that grow in New Englands fine soil. Finally nitrlile gloves. If I can find a pair with a right hand. I counted the other day and I have 10 single lefts and 2 pairs with rights. However the index fingers are worn through.

I think your scene with the wheelchair is impressive. Do you use it to transport your tool as well as yourself? I had a PT who told me “if you can crawl on your belly you can garden”

I’m getting down there gradually!

I can crawl on my belly....but then i can't get up.....so I need my mini tractor seat thing. And my weeding tool of choice is a kitchen knife....bought for the purpose

I've just come in from a couple of hours weeding in the backyard - on my butt, rain pants on (protection from mud and dirt as it is surprisingly still damp in the shady backyard!) It's too hot out there today though and the temperatures are supposed to be high most of this week. The spring garden work has sort of got away from us this year as the temperatures were chilly earlier and now suddenly too hot!

Getting up from the ground can be tricky at times but I have figured out a methodology to do it that is pretty reliable. A good stationary support is key for me. lindac92 - I tried one of those tractor-seat type things but found it harder on my back than sitting directly on the ground. So far, I haven't tried a kitchen knife - I'm too afraid I'd cut myself instead of the plants! :-) I do use Lee Valley's clamshell scissors a lot instead of secateurs, although I use
regular loppers for the thick woody stuff.

Marie - that is my garden walker that stays on the back porch and holds my tools so is ready for me any time I go out in the garden. I've posted this picture before of me in the garden on May 17 2017. The green bag is to hold weeds - a lot of my weeding is done casually as I walk around the garden so I usually have that bag handy to collect them!

I can see the day coming sometime in the next few years when the garden gets to be too big/too much work no matter what we do. I dread the thought of that because I'm not sure what we will do then! Any advice from anyone who has reached that point....?

Hi WO- Right I didn'tremember you used a wc, but the seat fooled me. And I remember the photo because your hair is as white as mine and looks like mine when gardening hasn't allowed time to get a haircut. (or a pandemic made a decent one impossible to get) If that's your hair at it's best, I mean no insult to the style. After all you are wearing a hat !

Although I'm not at the point of decisions, I think I remember that you have made some decisions already. Didn't you get ridof/modify an 'allee' of clematis because it was too high maintenance?

I'm getting rid of two superfluous afterthought beds where odds and ends went to. Both are in back of stone walls, so mulch and grass will suffice.I already know I have to pay for strong people to lay down mulch. It isn't the money that worries me as much as big footed humans stepping on my plants. Unless I'm suddenly incapcitated and have no say in the matter I imagine it will be diminishment by a thousand cuts and re-creation by necessity.

The thing is control. If I'm proactive and not delusional about what I can do it'll all feel better if I make the decisions. I have other thoughts but need to go swim, which is the key to my getting and staying strong

Marie - Yeah, control is a big necessity :-) but I can see all sorts of possibilities that would mean losing control! And then what.....? In some ways I think it would be easier to walk away at some point than remain but not be in control. But without a garden to manage I'd probably be bored out of my mind! Aging sucks!

Yes, we did clear most stuff out of the south alley and reduce it to simple things like 'Biokovo' perennial geraniums, hostas, ferns, bleeding hearts and a few clematis. This year we had someone come in and replace grass paths in the front garden with mulch. I'm definitely more inclined these days to hire someone to do the hard, physical labour when possible. DH (cross my fingers, knock on wood...) is still healthy and wants to keep doing much of the physical stuff I can't do. But that isn't always going to be possible... I created this whole garden after we bought this place in 1999, the year after I had a major health crisis, became disabled, and had to stop working in May 1997. So the garden was planned for low maintenance and being accessible for me. But there is still lots of work, especially for a week or so in spring and fall. Left without some key minimal work, it would rapidly be overtaken by tree seedlings and become inaccessible! So, while I try to keep things simple and easy, at some point it will be too much work for us and I can't decide what to do then! But I can see that we could be only a couple of years away from that crisis...!

Re my hair - the last time I was at a salon was in Dec. 2019! Most of the time I just keep it in a pony-tail to make working easier. A few months ago I had DH cut off 6" from the pony-tail but still leave it long enough to tie up. I've never been a regular salon-customer so, as you could tell from the 2017 picture, hair styling can be iffy :-)

Not to take up too much space on hair...white seems hard to control. Gets puffy and blowy; all sorts of little seeds and airborne trash find a home in it. What is that brownish soft stuff that the maples produce in quantity? It loves my hair. I was just in PT and the therapist kept picking stuff out. Fortunately we know each other well or I might have been offended.