Tools you didn’t know you needed…part 2!
Jul
The Mattock or Grubbing Hoe
When the going gets tough the tough gets hoeing!
One half of my garden is clay the other shillet and somewhere in the middle lies a mixture of the both which in the drier months forms what I believe is the hardest substance known in the galaxy!
Don’t get me wrong I love a good spade but when I’m putting in a new border or vegetable bed on my concrete like soil, I reach for the only thing that can make a dent in it and that’s my grubbing hoe.
These styles of mattocks/hoes (name changes from county to county and country to country) are probably one of the oldest tools in the world and its style and design has been found to be used for centuries across the globe. When a tool has this provenance then the functionality of its design speaks for itself.
It can be used in a chopping action to break up and dig even my stubbornest of soils or in a pulling motion to heap up the soil, around potatoes for instance. Mattocks come with a 4ft handle so great for people with bad backs.
