Being a wise old gardener, well an early middle aged one anyway I am sceptical of of the new and improved gadgets and innovations that we are bombarded with on an almost daily basis that will make our lives easier and that once bought we could not imagine how we ever lived without.
You would have thought that us gardeners would be immune to these new shiny things and stick to the way we have been doing things for time immemorial but even I, the wise old, sorry, early middle aged sage thought he would give something a go.
This something is from Japan and is called the Hori Hori, which when translated is Diggy Diggy and although they are a new tool to the UK and the US, the Japanese have been using them for centuries. As you can see from the picture they have a metal blade of around 15 cm and a wooden handle of the same length, the metal shaft is sharpened on one or both sides or one side can be a serrated edge.
These little gems are used for…you guessed it….digging, well weeding to be more precise. You can lift weeds, cut through roots, divide plants, dig planting holes, chop off old stems and stalks and it can also be used in the green house for planting up. I think you get the drift.
I like them so much I bought two one which has a carbon steel blade and straight sharp edges on both sides, (this one from the mighty Niwaki which can be found here and is the one in the picture below), the other a stainless blade with one straight sharp edge and one serrated.
These tools are just great, it’s like an ancient Japanese garden super tool. I now have one of these strapped to my side along with my trusty pair of Falco No 2’s.
I’m not sure which one I like the best, what I do know is that I should have got one years ago.
