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What's this for?

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
in Tools and techniques
I've  just used it to turn over the soil in containers looking for VW grubs. But what's  it really  for?



In London. Keen but lazy.
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Favourite weapon of a gardening friend in Belgium.  Used for hoiking out weeds in lawns like dandelions which have a deep tap root.  Leave a bit behind and you just get a new dandelion.   Doesn't leave a great hole in your lawn like you'd get with a garden fork or even a normal trowel.

    Also useful for weeding between treasures in your borders and making the right width of hole down which to slip a crocus or other small bulb and for messing in pots where space is limited.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Favourite of mine too, for getting bindweed roots out. No idea what it is called, though.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Nollie said:
    Favourite of mine too, for getting bindweed roots out. No idea what it is called, though.
    A hoikerouter...

    Lovely looking tool though. Ideal for those small bulbs @Obelixx - especially when you want to shoehorn them into tiny little gaps between other treasured plants.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I'm surprised about that as it hasn't got a pointy end. 
    I've plenty of weeds to try it out on😉,
    Thanks for replies.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    They're often known as dandelion trowels but they're great for using in plug trays and for planting seedlings with long tap roots. The rounded end is so you don't sever the weed roots I think.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    edited March 2020
    It's a shoehorn for people with very narrow feet.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    josusa47 said:
    It's a shoehorn for people with very narrow feet.
      Clowns maybe...:D 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Wouldn’t a cheese trier have a cross-ways handle so that you can twist it into the cheese?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Tried it out today. It works pretty well even on the pink geranium thug with the deep roots😠
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I know the one you mean @B3. Hideous beast of a thing.  :(

    If nothing else, in the current climate, you could maybe use it for clearing your nose out to save touching your face....
    I'm not suggesting you have a large hooter though  :D
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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