Short-handled Weeding Tools

Weeding is most effectively done when the weeds are young and in the morning on a sunny day. Together, those two tactics will result in the highest mortality rate. Young weeds are simply easier to kill and all weeds are easier to kill when the afternoon sun is available to desiccate their disturbed foliage and roots.

Also, although there seems to be an unending supply, there really are just so many weed seeds available in the 'weed seed bank' — that collection of weed seeds lying dormant in your soil, awaiting favorable conditions to germinate and cause you problems. Weeding while the weeds are young and have not gone to seed, works to effectively deplete the weed seed bank and eventually will result in relatively weed-free conditions. But, you have to be diligent and proactive in order to ever achieve that.

Explore our collection of short-handled weeding tools:

Hand Hoe

The Hand Hoe

Also known as the Nejiri Gama Hand Hoe, this low-cost, lightweight tool becomes an extremely sharp and precise extension of the user's arm when in use. It is by far our best-selling, small hand tool. It sports a D-shaped, high-carbon steel blade welded to a steel shank, set in a wooden handle. These are great low-cost tools for growers to equip their entire farm crew with for detailed in-row weeding in the field. 

    

  

Hand Hoe 

The Lucko Wire Weeder

This tool was recommended to us by Paul and Alison Wiediger of Au Naturel Farm in Kentucky. The Wiedigers prefer this European-made tool for detailed weeding in their hoophouses. The round wire design creates the business end of a tool that won't cut drip tape but will easily upend young weed seedlings. It has a narrow end for weeding between closely spaced crops like dense plantings of baby leaf lettuce, and a wider end to cover more ground in open areas.

The Lucko Wire Weeder

The Wire Weeder

The Wire Weeder

This short-handled version of one of Eliot Coleman's favorite tools is perfect for in-row weeding of closely spaced crops like salad mix, carrots and onions, as well as perennial flowers and herbs.

The Spring Tine Cultivator

The Spring Tine Cultivator

Three round, spring-steel tines scratch the soil just enough to uproot smaller weeds while loosening the surface soil, allowing water and oxygen to penetrate. Great for cultivating tight areas. 

The Ho-Mi EZ Digger

The Ho-Mi EZ Digger

This is also known as the traditional Korean hand plow and dates back over 5000 years. It has multiple curves in its forged design that impart strength as well as function. It can be used to dig, furrow, weed, cover seed, transplant seedlings, and loosen, level, cultivate, and mound soil.

The Cobrahead Weeder and Cultivator

The Cobrahead Weeder and Cultivator

This short-handled version of the Cobrahead has a tough, sharp steel blade and comfortable handle that makes fast work of tedious garden chores. Used to weed, cultivate, make small furrows, and even as a mini trowel for small transplants. 

Pre-emergence Weed Control

This is a practice that many farmers swear by, especially for dense, hard-to-weed crops like baby leaf lettuce or greens. In this method, the bed is prepped for planting a couple of weeks prior to seeding and weeds are allowed to grow. Just before seeding the grower will flame the bed, killing any weeds that have started to grow, and then seed into a so-called 'stale bed.' After that, the crop should come up nearly weed-free. The labor and fuel costs associated with flaming are usually far less than the cost to hand weed these dense beds or cull out weeds in the wash water, so the method pays for itself.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own personal battle against weeds.

Adam Lemieux
Tools & Supplies Product Manager 

Learn More

To learn more about Weed Management in Sustainable Agriculture Systems, see the following articles on our website:

• Guide to Johnny's Long-Handled Weeding & Cultivation Tools  by Adam Lemieux, R&D, Tools & Supplies Product Manager
• Weed Management Basics: A Two-Pronged Approach to Season-Long Weed Control, by Eric Gallandt, PhD, Weed Ecologist, University of Maine
• Got Weeds?
  Targeting Annual & Perennial Weeds

Mother's Day Gifts for the Gardeners in Your Life

Explore Johnny's selection of gift ideas for the gardeners on your list this Mother's Day!

Visit the Johnny's Pinterest page by clicking the Pinterest Board below and be sure to pin your favorite gift items.

Visit the Johnny's Pinterest Page

Jean-Martin Fortier's "The Market Gardener"

Jean-Martin Fortier and
Maude-Helene Desrochas

ABOUT:

Jean-Martin Fortier is a market farmer in Quebec who, along with his wife, Maude-Hélène Desroches, and their two children, operates Les Jardins de la Grelinette. After 10 years of refining their craft, they’re able to support a CSA with over 140 members and attend two local farmers’ markets weekly.

Jean-Martin has clearly been influenced by the writings of Eliot Coleman, as many of his methods are straight out of Eliot's playbooks.  As a result, he employs many tools that were developed by Eliot and Johnny's. He has even named his farm after one of them. 'La Grelinette' is the French name for what we call the Broadfork, a two-handled fork invented in France by André Grelin in 1946.

Andre Grelin

THE BROADFORK:

The Broadfork was redeveloped in 1998 by Eliot Coleman and Johnny's Selected Seeds. For many years now Jean-Martin has been describing his growing strategies and use of scale-appropriate technology on a website and blog, where he promotes the idea of farming with hand tools (i.e., they don't have tractor) as an alternative way of farming professionally.

In 2012, Jean-Martin published Le jardinier-maraîcher, a 200 page manual for small-acreage organic agriculture. The book quickly became a Canadian best-seller and has sold more than 15,000 copies. In it, he describes (in French) the technical aspects of his operation and the tools that they use to make their labor efficient and cost-effective. Many of the drawings in the book illustrate Johnny's tools, including Broadforks (of course), the Tilther, several seeders including the Six Row Seeder, the Bed Prep Rake, Collinear and Stirrup Hoes, and the Wheel Hoe.

Le jardinier-maraicher

His approach is that 'small is beautiful'. That is to say that he keeps his operation small yet profitable, but it is more than that. It is also about enjoying life, enjoying what you do, and remembering to take time off regularly so that your work remains enjoyable. All this is feasible, he stresses, if your operation is super efficient all the way through.

THE MARKET GARDENER:

In 2013, Jean-Martin also set out to publish an English version of Le jardinier-maraîcher, and in January of 2014, The Market Gardener was published.

Our Tools & Supplies Product Mgr., Adam Lemieux, has this to say about the book:

 “Jean-Martin Fortier extols the virtues of being small-scale, and expertly details the use of scale-appropriate tools (such as Broadforks, seeders, hoes, flame weeders, low tunnels, high tunnels, and many other unique tools) designed specifically for this brand of farming. 

Jean-Martin Fortier

He picks up right where Eliot Coleman has left us, applying many of his cotre principles, but doing it in such a brilliant way as to provide beginning farmers with the information they need to start up and become successful small-scale growers themselves.”

Jean-Martin remains a tools collaborator and field tester for Johnny's; we are proud to carry this fine publication in our line of books. 

You can find The Market Gardener on our website here. 

Save Now on Seed Starting Supplies

Growing your own transplants from seed allows you to choose from your favorite varieties, determine the appropriate planting date, and the number of plants you want. Johnny's seed starting supplies will help you grow your own professional-quality seedlings economically.

Save up to 10% on Selected Seed-Starting Supplies. Now through March 2nd!

Using Soil Block Makers (Video)

Get an early start to your growing season with Johnny's Soil Block Makers. You can easily make your own seed-starting blocks with our soil block making tools and a bag of germination soil mix.

Soil blocked seedlings reestablish themselves more quickly, with less transplant shock. Soil blocks also eliminate the expense, waste, and storage issues of plastic pots, so there's no negative impact on the environment.  

Explore our selection of Soil Block Makers at Johnnyseeds.com >>>

Save up to 10% on selected Seed Starting Supplies through March 2nd >>>



Save up to 10% on Selected Seed-Starting Supplies

Winter Caterpillar Tunnel Structural Trial (2011)

In March 2011, we tested our caterpillar tunnel under heavy snow load to see how the structure would respond. Now that winter is upon us, we're re-posting our results from the trial. Let us know your thoughts on our findings by leaving a comment under this post!

Goal: To see if either caterpillar tunnel version (with, or without purlins) could withstand winter snow load.

Results: Very interesting. We picked two of the four tunnels that were built in May, 2010, planted onions in them, and buttoned them up for the winter. Both tunnels were structurally the same, with a center ridgepole made of chain link fence top-rail, but one of them also had purlins about three feet from either side of the ridge. These purlins, were used in the summer to trellis vine crops, and carried that load quite well. They really stiffened up the whole structure. However, in summer, they tended to cause the plastic to collect rainwater. This made me think that the purlins would either make it so strong that it would better carry the snow load or they would catch more snow than the tunnel without purlins and cause a collapse. It looks like the latter is the case.

Summary and recommendations: It is important to note that we intentionally did not remove snow in this trial, as we were looking for structural failure in worst case conditions. Removal of snow, even just next to the tunnel that failed, probably would have prevented its failure. Doing so would have greatly reduced the pressure bearing in on the sides (and therefore the plastic's weight felt on the top). If you intend to use a structure like this to overwinter crops in northern climates where snowfall is a concern, I would recommend a maximum of four foot bow spacing during construction, not using side purlins in winter tunnels because they catch snow, and, of course, the removal of snow whenever possible from the sides and top of the tunnel. It would also be prudent to shore up the bows internally with notched two-by-fours placed vertically under every other bow as a means of additional snow load insurance and peace of mind.

You can view the complete gallery of this trial below:

The 26-page illustrated manual for the bender used to make these tunnels may be downloaded on the Quick Hoops™ High Tunnel Bender's product page.


Adam Lemieux
Johnny's Tools & Supplies Manager

Preferred Tools for Lettuce Production

Did you know we have a chart that allows you to select tools expressly designed for specific lettuce production practices? Gain efficiency and optimal results in lettuce culture, from sowing to harvest.

You can click on the lettuce types and tool names/images to browse options by cultural stage and practice >>>

Below is a peak at what the Baby Leaf Lettuce section of the chart looks like:

To see the entire chart, which includes Head Lettuce (Transplanted), Head Lettuce (Direct-seeded), Salanova® Lettuce (Transplanted) and Salanova® Lettuce (Direct-seeded), head to Johnnyseeds.com >>>

View all of our current Lettuce offerings >>>
 

 

Interested in learning more about the Quick Cut Greens Harvester? Below are a few facts about this tool:

• One person can easily cut over 175 lb. per hour.
• Powered by a cordless drill, the harvester's 15" fixed and moving serrated blades make a smooth, clean cut.
• A rolling macramé brush pulls individual leaves into the blades and then throws them to the back of the basket.
• The neat, clean surface it leaves behind is perfect for those planning on a second harvest from the same bed.
• Vertically adjustable skids ensure precise, repeatable cutting height. The harvester is just as effective when the crop is more mature or "leggy."
• Comes with an extra serpentine belt to power the brush and has a universal mount which will accept almost any cordless drill; 18V drills work best (not included).

Create Tunnel Hoops Quickly & Easily

Extend the growing season for cold-hardy crops with a very late season harvest, or overwinter them for earliest possible spring harvest. 

Benders allow you to do this by creating low tunnel hoops out of galvanized electrical conduit. 

Shop for Quick Hoops™ benders

Small Equipment Demos at Tuckaway Farm

On May 15^th, NH territory sales rep Chris Hillier and I traveled to Tuckaway Farm in Lee, NH (Seacoast area) to do a presentation organized by NOFA NH called ‘Small Equipment Demonstrations for Vegetable Farmers - Part II’. We were not involved in Part I, which was centered around larger equipment. When we first got there around 12:30 p.m., we met owner Chuck Cox, who showed us to the plot where we would be building a demo tunnel. We got to work right away setting up a 12' x 28' caterpillar. By 3:30, we had it ready to show. 

We then set up the bender demo area with a picnic table we had brought from Maine. Since the weather was iffy, we assembled the hand tools and seeders on a hay wagon, so that we could quickly bring them in the barn in the case of a torrential downpour.

Around 4:30, people started showing up. There were probably around 35-40 attendees with and without umbrellas. As they made their way in, we had kind of a free-for-all with the hand tools, as they got to try them out in a weedy patch of the field and express which were their personal favorites and why. A little after 5:00 Ray Conner, the Beginner Organic Farmer Program Director from NOFA NH welcomed everyone, and got the show started.

Chris went first, giving a brief overview of all the hand tools and seeders, with a promise to answer any specific questions after. This was great because she gave a very quick, comprehensive overview of the lines, what is available, and what the products’ individual strengths are.

Then Chuck gave his presentation, which started with some of his favorite hand tools, including a stirrup hoe, an old auto-feed jab planter, and a Planet Jr. seeder. He then moved on to some of his innovations, like his fencing cart, his row markers, garlic dibble, and his low cost solution for homemade Hotkaps. He finished up by demonstrating a horse-drawn spring tine weeder, which is used to remove small weeds in established crops. As he says, “Just don’t look back.”

Chuck Cox

After that, everyone assembled on the hill for the caterpillar tunnel demo. I started by bending a 6 ft hoop for low tunnels, then a hoop used to make high tunnels. We then moved over to the tunnel plot. I spoke about what we had done this afternoon to get the tunnel to the state that it was in. I enlisted some help from the crowd to insert and connect the last bow, cut the protruding ridge pole off, and then skin and lace the tunnel. 

 

All the while, what started out as drizzle got more and more steady. By the end of the talk, we were pretty soggy

Presenting in the rain

After that Dorn Cox, who is a board member for the National Young Farmers Coalition, gave a brief invitation for everyone to check out their affiliated site, Farmhack.net for innovations in tool designs.

Finally, we invited everyone inside the tunnel and drew names for the raffle.

Our raffle ticket winners

We intend to repeat this same talk on August 1st at Alchemy Gardens in Shrewsbury, VT. The talk will tentatively be held from 4:00 to 6:00 and will be presented through a collaboration of NOFA VT and RAFFL (Rutland Area Farm and Food Link). 

Hope to see you there! 

Adam. 

Adam Lemieux 

Tools & Supplies Manager

Broadturn Farm High Tunnels Project

I first met John Bliss and Stacy Brenner when I was researching the viability of the Paperpot Transplanter. While this product did not make it into our line (for logistical reasons), they are big proponents of it and have integrated its use throughout their overall planting strategy.

Their farm is heavily into agritourism and is just a little bit of everything. Quoted from their website:

 "Broadturn Farm is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm located 10 miles from Portland, Maine that raises organic vegetables, cut flowers,  strawberries, a small amount of poultry, and turkey, as well as natural lamb and pork. We host weddings and events. The property is in agricultural conservation with the Scarborough Land Conservation Trust. Formerly called the Keith Meserve Farm, the land is one of the largest farm properties in the Greater Portland area. It has 100 acres of open land and about 330 wooded acres."

Along with the CSA and weddings, they also run a farm stand called Flora Bliss, do wedding flowers and cut flower design for events, and have a farm camp in summer. Am I missing anything? Probably. They've got a lot going on.

The construction of caterpillar tunnels at Broadturn Farm was initiated due to a partnership involving offsite trialing of flower varieties for Johnny's Selected Seeds. I was asked to support this partnership by managing the construction of a caterpillar tunnel on their farm. I saw this as a unique opportunity to develop instructional videos for our Quick Hoops Bender line, so we decided to build a fixed tunnel and a moveable tunnel. The end goal would be making these videos available for free download on our website. We still have some minor filming and a bunch of editing to do, but we hope to get these videos out to the public soon.

This was every bit a trial as any of our projects have been, as both these tunnels were much longer than those we had previously built. Extra length brought with it some unique challenges, including the need for more secure T-posts at the ends of the tunnels and a need for more hands to hold down the plastic when skinning the tunnel. I also took this opportunity to try out some design modifications, which included building the fixed tunnel on taller ground posts. This really changed the structure substantially in size, feel, and thermal performance, and instantly made it accessible with a small tractor. This was (as always) a great learning experience, and we were able to accomplish this with two days of pre-fabrication in the Johnny's trial farm shop, followed by three separate days of on-site construction.

Special thanks to the Broadturn Farm Crew, including owners Stacy Brenner, John Bliss, Emma, and Flora, and their great crew, Andrea, Maggie, Clint and Nick. Thanks to Johnny's employees Jeff Young, Matt Giroux, Russel Prime, and Hillary Alger for their hard work in the construction of the tunnels. Thanks also to Angela DiMillo for her work behind the lens, and to Patti Lennon and Christina Hillier for their support on this project as well.

Adam Lemieux
Tools and Supplies Manager

Photos: Visit to Jericho Settlers Farm in Vermont

Last week, a couple of Johnny's employee owners visited Jericho Settlers Farm in Jericho Center, VT (near Burlington). The farm is a year-round diversified CSA operation.

Watch slideshow below for photos from the visit.

Read more about the trip in the Tool Dude's blog.

Photos: NOFA NY Winter Conference 2012

Recently, a couple of Johnny's Maine-based Territory Sales Reps attended the NOFA NY Winter Conference. Johnny's "Tool Dude" Adam Lemieux also attended and gave a presentation on season extension.

Check out a few photos from the conference:

The Johnny's booth set up at the beginning of day 1 at the conference

Johnny's own Adam Lemieux bending pipe during his presentation on season extension 

Quick Hoop™ issues at Living Land Farm

On Thursday of last week, I went with Chris Hillier, our commercial sales rep for Maine, to visit one of her customers, Mark Allen at Living Land Farm in Winterport, Maine. Mark runs a commercial operation and CSA on just 1.75 acres with 3/4 of an acre in production.

I had spoken with Mark at the MOFGA Spring Growth Conference last Saturday and he told me that he had structural failure in his Quick Hoops™. This was the first actual failure I had heard of, so I wanted to investigate what went wrong.  Eliot Coleman's concept for the Quick Hoops™ Bender a few years ago was born out of the need for hoops that wouldn't bend under snow load like PVC hoops do. In our trials at the farm last winter, the 1/2" EMT hoops held up extremely well, but when the soil moistened up in spring, the hoops tended to lean and cut through the soil without bending.

This was the case at Mark Allen's farm, only worse. Due to the very wet conditions caused by drainage challenges at his farm, the hoops under snow load leaned over, then started to widen out as the bottoms of the hoops poked through the soil. Now much wider and with greatly reduced strength, the hoops then caved in. Also, once one hoop moved, the entire length of plastic was now loose and able to catch much more snow. The result was a domino effect. Mark had tied off some of his end wall hoops to the end stake, but since the hoop ends cut through soil, they were of little help.

Mark stated that he intends to do some work to aid in soil drainage. My recommendation for him for next season is to run a rope purlin the entire length of his tunnels, tying off to each hoop individually and to stakes on either end. I also suggested he use beefier stakes like T-posts driven deeply, as they will need to bear the weight of the entire tunnel's snow load. Hopefully, this will work for him.

After analyzing his low tunnels, he gave us a tour. Eliot Coleman's influence can be seen in many of the methods employed on his farm, including soil blocking, wire wickets, and the use of Quick Hoops™.

You can view the complete gallery here. Click on the first photo that comes up and it will zoom in with a black background and show comments beneath.

Adam Lemieux
Tools & Supplies Manager

Winter Caterpillar Tunnel Structural Trial

Goal: To see if either caterpillar tunnel version (with, or without purlins) could withstand winter snowload.

Results: Very interesting. We picked two of the four tunnels that were built in May, 2010, actually planted onions in them, and buttoned them up for the winter. Both tunnels were structurally the same, with a center ridge-pole made of chain link fence top-rail, but one of them also had purlins about three feet from either side of the ridge. These purlins in summer, were used to trellis vine crops, and carried that load quite well. They really stiffened up the whole structure. However, in summer, they tended to cause the plastic to collect rainwater. This made me think that the purlins would either make it so strong that it would better carry the snow load or they would catch more snow than the tunnel without purlins and cause a collapse. It looks like the latter is the case.


Summary and recommendations: It is important to note that we intentionally did not remove snow in this trial, as we were looking for structural failure in worst case conditions. Removal of snow, even just next to the tunnel that failed, probably would have prevented its failure. Doing so would have greatly reduced the pressure bearing in on the sides (and therefore the plastic's weight felt on the top). If you intend to use a structure like this to overwinter crops in northern climates where snowfall is a concern, I would recommend a maximum of four foot bow spacing during construction, not using side purlins in winter tunnels because they catch snow, and of course the removal of snow whenever possible from the sides and top of the tunnel. It would also be prudent to shore up the bows internally with notched two-by-fours placed vertically under every other bow as a means of additional snowload insurance and peace of mind.

You can view the complete gallery of this trial below.



The 26-page illustrated manual for the bender used to make these tunnels and an MS Excel cost calculator spreadsheet may be downloaded on the Quick Hoops™ High Tunnel Bender's product page here.

Adam Lemieux
Johnny's Tools & Supplies Manager