I’ve just finished up the huge task of creating a Ranters’ Recommendations page on GardenRant – a page that tells you a little bit about each of our gardens, and the tools and products we instinctively reach for when we head outside to tackle it.
It’s an affiliate page – currently through Amazon – which allows us to link to a specific product because we think it’s the best (such as Scott’s love affair with his Senkichi Nejiri Gama hoe), or just a generally useful thing that some gardeners might not think about having on hand, (like Ben’s generic seed envelopes). There are quite a lot of books too – Dirr and Lloyd figured very prominently across the board.
But as much as I want to encourage you to check it out, and perhaps grab a mug while you’re at it, that’s not the point of this post.
Everyone’s Entitled to Their Opinion – Even on The Hori-Hori
It was a challenging exercise to chase up the other seven Ranters on this one – one Ranter in particular had to be hunted down by phone and threatened with terrible things if he didn’t stop whining about his back pain, get off Facebook, and immediately give me his picks in the eleventh hour of my arbitrary deadline. You can probably guess who.
I can neither confirm nor deny that it was in fact Scott.
It was also fascinating, because we all have different opinions about what we wouldn’t be in the garden without. It’s why our gorgeous logo by Jim Charlier is so wonderful.
But when you feel so strongly about your tools – as I do with my 4” pointing trowel – it’s quite frankly weird to hear that everyone besides Elizabeth and me are drinking the hori-hori Kool aid. Big, deep, draughts of it.
Ranters Go Big on The Hori Hori
They’re not completely in agreement – Anne, Susan and Ben prefer a wooden handle, while Allen and Scott are A.M. Leonard orange men, and Lorene confesses that, although she finds them very useful, she can’t get to know one long enough because she invariably accidently throws them out with the weeding cleanup and that’s why she didn’t list it. But bottom line, they all love this thing. And I just can’t.
I’ve tried. I’ve got two. One with a leather holster that my husband bought me years ago because a friend told him if I was a gardener, I should have one; and one I was given for my 10-year anniversary as a Master Gardener. I smiled broadly and tried not to look with longing at the gifts given to the 5-Years – hoping for a quick swap over the coffee break by someone who might think I was the lucky one. It didn’t happen.
Proof that I own one and have used it hard. That’s soil on that soil knife. 10 year old soil, but still.
Last week at The Garden Fling while shopping for overpriced but gorgeous impulse purchases at Terrain in Glen Mills, PA, I overheard two Flingers standing over the Barebones walnut-handled hori-hori display, telling each other how much they loved it. My cynical nature wondered how much they felt they needed to love it (as everyone does), how much they loved the look of it (it is beautiful), and how much they actually loved working with it.
It’s not fun to be in my brain some days. I should have been concentrating on my impulse purchases, not analyzing human nature.
What is a Hori-Hori?
Perhaps you aren’t familiar with this miracle tool. From Wiki:
“A hori-hori, sometimes referred to as a “soil knife” or a “weeding knife”, is a heavy serrated multi-purpose steel blade for gardening jobs such as digging or cutting. The blade is sharp on both sides and comes to a semi-sharp point at the end.
The word hori (ホリ) means “to dig” in Japanese and “hori-hori” is the onomatopoeia for a digging sound. The tool itself is commonly referred to in Japan as a “leisure knife”
That fits. Mine have been at leisure for the last ten years.
Why Don’t You Get On The Hori-Hori Train Marianne?
My biggest beef with it I suppose – and this goes for ANY hand tool with which one is expected to dig – is the handle is not offset. And I felt like this long before I turned 50. Perhaps it was because I was so used to digging, scraping and picking out, with my trusty offset 4” pointing trowel — the cheap, cheerful, tool of choice for archaeologists and masons (and hopefully, smart gardeners).
And what do I need to saw at roots for? That’s what my pruners are for.
Many companies make an offset version, but since it still has that thin blade, I can’t help thinking that my pointing trowel with a wider flat blade wins that race. And seriously, who needs a 6-inch ruler for planting bulbs? 18-24 inches I get, but if you can’t estimate anything between 1-6 inches, I’m concerned you may be in the wrong profession.
In any case, the whole process of once again questioning my hori-hori aversion in light of my obviously talented fellow Ranters taught me a few things:
- One tool is not the answer for everyone. (Which is why we provided recommendations from ALL our Ranters individually, rather than a huge conglomeration.)
- Don’t ever use something just because you think everyone else is.
- Don’t ever like something just because you think everyone else does.
- You’ll probably try a lot of hand digging tools before you hit that sweet spot – that beautiful place where you feel you own the soil with the tool in your hand, and feel unarmed without it. The hori-hori is definitely that tool for some gardeners.
In time we hope to host our affiliate links with the individual companies and Bookstore.org, but this is a first baby step. In any case we hope you’ll enjoy the new page, and get some wonderful ideas for tools, books and products that some very experienced gardeners recommend. We’ve all been looking at each other’s picks and building wish lists too — Allen’s use of a sled-like plastic hauler (originally from A.M. Leonard) strikes me as nothing less than brilliant. It’s now sitting in my cart. Figuratively.
A.M. Leonard’s Polyethylene 3 in 1 Hauler.
Final Word on The Hori-Hori
Out of curiosity, I emailed Elizabeth (not one to hold opinions to herself) just to check if she used or even liked one. She’s chosen a host of books as her recommendations, instead of tools. Her reply was beautifully validating and totally Elizabeth.
“Meh. I think it’s overrated.” she said. “I get much more traction from a saw with dividing tough roots and often use a Cobrahead for digging into tough spots. A good spade will also do better.”
“Can I quote you?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” She replied. “I think it’s the name. And it comes with a scabbard and all that so you feel like a badass.”
Scott, you may want to stop overcompensating. – MW
You can access the Ranters’ Recommendations Page, and Garden Rant Themed Merchandise from the SHOP graphic on the home page, or under About in our Main Menu.
Well if you’re going to ask… Firstly it’s vitally important that gardeners use tools they’re comfortable with. Fancy walnut handles certainly don’t make a tool any better than another; a tool should be of appropriate weight and size for the user (not too big or small, and particularly not too heavy). I personally like my Hori Hori because it feels good in my hand, and is neither too long or too short. Mine doesn’t have serrations (I would use a straight handled spade or an old saw for cutting roots) but does have a shapened side that’s good for cutting string and no doubt helps to cut into soil. It works for me but I know others who don’t get on with them… I don’t get on with offset trowels, which illustrates a good example of why we should buy tools that are right for us as individuals rather than using what other people like to use.
Agreed. If you hand me a rounded, non-offset trowel I might as well use my fingernails. We use what fits for us. – MW
How come no one included a shatterproof wineglass?
But in all seriousness, no ranter included knee pads or something similar? I’ve been looking in to getting “GreenJeans.” (The piece of gardening equipment I find really useful and versatile is a sturdy garden trug. I don’t use a hori-hori; maybe that will change in the future.)
Just not enough space for the wine cups Linus. 😉 though Ben did mention the need for an insulated, lidded cup. He’s smarter than I am, I bring mugs, glass cups and wine glasses down to the garden because I like the feel of sipping out of them and don’t like insulated cups. But my drinks are usually filled with soil and bugs. As for knee pads – I haven’t subscribed to that yet, because I hate “gearing up” – but I am finding myself grabbing a kneeler a LOT more often these days. – MW
And why is your logo missing the Korean hand plow I can’t live without? (haven’t checked the favorite tools page yet.) Beautiful handmade wrought iron blade, pointed tip for digging out dandelion roots, curved flat side for smoothing the soil back in place, and no need for offset since the blade’s at right-angles to the handle — and I’ve even found left-handed versions. I have at least five of these in various stations around the garden. I do agree with Linus about the kneelers; I use my old Girl Scout “sit-upon” all the time.
Uh oh, Lynn – you’ll have to take that one up with Jim! – MW
I do use my AM Leonard soil knife a ton, but my Korean EZ digger (Ho Me) will always be my favorite, especially as age and injuries mar my hands. I get them for $4-$5 at large Asian grocery stores like H-Mart and stock up, because I will lose them over time and give them away freely. (You can get a nicer turned handle for $20, but that has never mattered to me.)
I think soil type, hardness and what the job is as well as individual body issues determine the utility of the tool. A regular shovel will go nowhere in my rocky soil, but sharp spades of varying kinds I swear by. I can pop weeds, cut grasses and dig small holes with my hori hori, which is all good but also limited. With the Korean hand digger, I can scrape out medium to large holes in difficult places.
But yes, there are a ton of tools that people rave about that never resonated with me. There are hooks full of them on my back wall (come and get ’em). However, when they pull the Japanese farmer pants off of me, there will be hell to pay if I am still breathing! Duluth’s aren’t as good as the old Smith and Hawkins version, but the built in knee pads are key to getting down to and off the ground. And those pockets!
All the hoopla about the Horizon-Horizon is well and good, but I do not see in your wonderful logo the best trowel available anywhere. No handle to break, no neck to bend, no blade to fall out of its poorly designed handle. Check it out. https://www.amazon.com/stores/WilcoxAll-Pro/page/548635CD-04D6-4D32-892B-14F2C9C21B58?ref_=ast_bln
I’ve seen that around before and wondered…. With your recommendation perhaps I’ll pony up the cash. Geez thanks alot Cole. – MW
Ah, Cole, thank you so much for sharing this. When I first started to garden on the edge of the Catskills, where the rocks sprouted up like weeds, I went through countless other trowels, snapping or bending them. Then I found the Wilcox! It truly is indestructible. Sadly, I misplaced it several years ago, probably in the weed heap. I could never remember what brand it was. A friend gave me a soil knife and it’s been my go to ever since. I will definitely be looking into another Wilcox.
Funny, my husband got me one of these for Christmas, having read rave reviews. I don’t find it convenient to use! I prefer my trowel, my hori-hori, and my perennial spade (think Monty Don).
It was love at first site for me. I have several of all sizes and have never looked at another trowel
Hori Hori knives make great hose guides. I have several of the orange handled models (they show up best among mulch and weeds) and routinely stick them into the dirt near the garden edge while weeding. Sometimes I leave them there for days…not particularly attractive, but sturdy and easy to find.
My favorite garden tool is the mid-size Spear Head shovel. It’s a great size digging tool and slices hosta roots with ease.
Hori hori? Maybe if we just lose the fancy name it won’t seem so precious. I am lost without my garden knife.
Marianne, consider the types of different soils gardeners may have in their neck of the woods. While my vegetable garden with its raised beds albeit they look like graves are soft and easy to work, the rest of my property has small and large pieces of shale thanks to a glacier millenia ago. The hori hori does well although it doesn’t scare the deer away.
I have been using mine for 7-8 years and it is part of my permanent setup. It’s so portable that it stays on my hip at all times while gardening so I never have to go find it. That alone is a huge feature. I can plant any small to medium size plant with it easily. You can weed with the thin blade and not disturb the surrounding soil. And I definitely use the ruler when planting bulbs because I like to be accurate. The ONLY downside is that the shallow blade doesn’t move as much dirt as a trowel, so when I am planting a bunch, I do grab my trowel. But for weeding and impromptu transplanting, nothing can match its combination of proximity and prowess. Just my opinion. Loved the article!
I would damage some part of my body with a hori hori. A gardener’s got to know her limitations. I load my back pockets with a screwdriver looking weeder, a fishtail ?, my #7 felcos and my Wilcox trowel. Always wear kneepads, cheap thin ones that fasten with one Velcro strip. Easy on and off. Save my knees and the knees of my pants. Never could bring myself to pay so much for a pair of pants with built in knee pads. I am hard on my garden clothes.
I think the Radius Root Slayer hand digger is better than the HoriHori.
I also like the Root Slayer perennial shovel and larger shovel.
I like that it’s tough and versatile. I have very rocky clay soil (glacial till) that is very challenging. While, yes, I have amended it most places that only goes so far (or so deep). I use the hori hori for taproot weeds, crude pruning or deadheading (preliminary, or quick tidy while doing something else, come back later to clean it up) digging, dividing. I do have a very nice Lee Valley dividing knife, but it’s not as strong as the sturdy stainless hori-hori. I’ve used it to pry out rocks, prune roots, dividing, twine cutting, edging in tiny areas that just need a tidy, spider web removal, releasing plants from pots by going around the inside edge and also cutting thin plastic pots and opening bags of potting mix.
That said, I wouldn’t be without my handy pruners, a root slayer shovel, prong weeder, and a soil scoop (pointed end gets around rocks). Those round out the everyday arsenal.
Oops. Not sure how this got here. I was intending it to be a general reply.
I garden professionally and thought I’d try a cheap hori hori. Stayed in my van for a year, but when I finally gave it a go I liked it. If one gets lost, which is easily done, I replace it. I find it good for removing tap rooted weeds, planting small bedding plants in pots, planting small bulbs and scraping stuff like moss and the appalling Soleirolia . For scraping I use the straight edge and so hold it back to front as I’m using my left hand. I’d never bother with an expensive one.
Thanks for this tool rant. There are very few subjects that could better trigger my opinionated side (sides? circumference?). Totally agree with Scott’s enthusiasm for the Japanese hand weeder. I have used up many over thirty years. Great tool. I’d add a Nokogama rice sickle as another Japanese must have tool, but it’s definitely not for the klutzy. My pet peeve is any “ergonomic” trowel design, particularly those really oddly contorted ones inspired apparently by the ouroboros. Adding insult to injury is also any trowel with depth markings etched into its face. What don’t these people understand about a sleek smooth surface? And don’t let me ever see you holding a trowel like you are eating a bowl of Fruit Loops. It’s for stabbing, not scooping – picture the shower scene from “Psycho”. Finally, I’d like to put in a word for the very best tool ever made for safe, simple and effective close weeding of seedlings, even in the hands of the same klutz who can’t be let near the rice sickle. It’s called a Lucko Wire Weeder, now sold in the US by Johnny’s. “Customer-recommended tool” they call it. That’s me, but have I ever seen a dime for my efforts?
My pet peeve are tools only designed for right handed people. I’ll ignore inch markers all day long if I can just use the dang tool in the proper hand.
What’s worse is when no one even mentions that it won’t work in the other hand at all. I’ve run into lovely tools only sharpened on one side, blades angled to be completely unusable. I’d love to be able to make some of these designers use their tool left handed all day.
Sometimes left handed versions can be found, but they’re often not as good or twice as expensive. Felco is a delightful exception to this.
Awesome weeder and digger. Available for right and left handed people.
https://www.gardeners.com/buy/lifetime-dutch-hand-hoes/8611647.html
Love this article! Often wondered the same thing but your words make it more coherent. I have a tool that I bought at an estate sale that I’ll photograph and post when I’m home. I live in fear of losing this little tool and often wondered if someone out there still makes it.
I love my horihori! I use it for everything from weeding and digging, to opening bags of soil and other packaging, separating rhizomes and roots, repotting houseplants, and even once I hand-cut a small patch of grass with the serrated edge. I give them as gifts to friends and family who are new to gardening, so far they all seem to find it a useful tool. To each their own, I guess!
My Hori-Hori is the first tool I reach for unless I’m pruning. Someone else mentioned the cobra head weeder. I asked for one as a Christmas gift and hardly ever use it. It just doesn’t work for me. The thing I now need most is a younger body, but that’s not happening.
I have to agree with Marianne. I think they are a cult thing. The wooden handles are the most uncomfortable although the AM Leonard model is much better. The Root Slayer is a massive improvement, especially because it has a built in bottle opener. I prefer a Cape Cod weeder for tight work and a Hula Hoe for larger areas. Scott’s Niji Gamma hoe is nice but i can’t keep the handle attached.
I mostly use a Hori-Hori knife for weeding woody plants such as porcelain berry, bush honeysuckle, and oriental bittersweet. I carry one in a holster nearly all times when I know I might see those or other invasive woody plants. Only if I don’t have a more proper tool for digging do I use it for that. I’ve used several brands. AMLeo is the one I’d recommend for most people. I also putting a bright cord through the handle, so you can find it when you leave it in your litter basket or on the ground, especially in woods. I now am on my second Barebones. The first one snapped cleanly at one of the inch marks (I agree that they are unnecessary). So I think it depends upon what you do. I do a lot of volunteer work at public gardens. Nothing smaller is much good for weeding the plants I mentioned. I use it to cut roots because it can do it and I don’t like dulling my pruners or pruning saw on dirt. (I do have a pruning saw that I use just for roots, but I don’t always have that with me.)
I love a Cobrahead weeder and use mine a lot, but a bread knife is my go-to versatile garden tool – for weeding between cracks, sawing through thick stems on plants like cannas, and cutting turf. Can you cut bread with a Hori Hori?
Seems to me whether digging knives are useful depends on your garden conditions, and the type of planting you are doing. I’d be lost without one for working in tight spaces, planting small bulbs, prying out dandelions and other weeds, freeing compacted root balls, any number of generally smaller-scale tasks. I have 3 (which is two more than necessary, but these things happen), and use one almost every day.
Tools are cool. I routinely pack a Niwaki hori-hori knife with a strong serrated blade and unfinished wooden handle that brings a deadly weapons/samurai vibe to my gardening. The chipmunks are very impressed by its leather belt scabbard and holster.
I believe the hori hori was originally designed for Japanese farmers by day/warriors by night and was later adopted by gardeners working in rock gardens to weed and plant in and amongst the boulders.
Now, it’s a multi-tool for weeding, slicing and cutting below the soil surface with minimal disturbance. But with the right technique, it’s especially good for planting plugs and in this respect, it leaves other tools behind. Great for inserting small bulbs too. That said, trowels most definitely have their place… and if it’s a Dutch Sneeboer with a forged blade and wickedly sharp edge, then all the better.
Oh, thank goodness, I thought I was the only one who didn’t get the Hori Hori hoopla. My trusty trowel, a good pair of clippers and a cobra head have served well for decades.
thank you for articulating what I wasn’t even fully aware that I was thinking myself… but I do. Totally agree – I have a wooden handle hori-hori and everytime I pick it up for a task I always end up using something else that works much better.
another toy I’m not impressed with is the Felco pruner – I just don’t get what people like about that locking mechanism. ARS is so much better.