Wheel Hoes

Hi, I'm Tricia, an organic gardener. Back in the eighteen hundreds everybody had a garden and a wheel hoe. This is a perfect tool for any area that's too big to hand weed and too small for a tractor. The wheel hoe has three special uses. Loosening the soil, furrowing or digging a trench, and weeding. Tined cultivators loosen up soil to the depth of about four to five inches. Tined cultivators are perfect for incorporating soil amendments. Furrowers are ideal for creating furrows for the planting of garlic and potatoes. These oscillating hoe attachments with a sharp blade will slice weeds in half when they're tiny. We have four different models of wheel hoes here. We have two that are made in Switzerland by Glazer, and we have two made right here in Northern California by Valley Oak. The Valley Oak wheel hoe is available with a steel tire or a pneumatic tire. When working with any of the pneumatic tires, make sure they are softly inflated versus hard. This helps keep the hoe on track. You can adjust the height of the handle on the Valley Oak wheel hoe without using tools. And the height of the handle should be hip height to the operator. By adjusting this bolt, you can easily offset the handles. Offsetting the handles allows you to hoe without stepping in the bed. To change attachments, simply pull out this pin, slide on the new attachment, and put the pin back in. This eight-inch attachment hoe blade will come with your Valley Oak wheel hoe. You can also get other size blades, such as this fourteen-inch, which is good for paths or larger beds. And you can add tined cultivators and a Hiller furrower. The Glaser wheel hoes come in two versions, the standard model for home gardeners and the professional models for market gardeners or small farms. The standard model comes with two mounts in a row so you're able to use two attachments at one time. For example, you can put a stirrup hoe in front and a tined cultivator behind to weed and break up soil at the same time. The professional model, the mounting block is configured with one behind the other and two additional mounts on each side, which allow you to mount these wide knives. Be sure that all of your attachments are mounted tightly. And Glaser provides all the tools that you need for your wheel hoe. To adjust the height of the handles on the Glaser wheel hoes, just loosen these bolts and adjust accordingly. The professional model comes with brackets so you can offset the handles. To maintain your wheel hoes in tip-top shape, make sure and sharpen the blades. Sharpen at least once a season or more often if you have tough soil. Clean your tools after each use and to keep them lubricated, use a vegetable cooking oil. Wheel hoes save time, spare your body and help the environment because they reduce the use of herbicides and fossil fuels. So use a wheel hoe and grow organic for life.