Bed Savvy.

Thought I would do another quick post with a landscape maintenance tip. Mostly because I just made a shoddily Photoshopped logo for my "The Mower You Know" sections. :)

Chickweed

If you have flowerbeds or gardens, they will probably need to be weeded... a lot. Bigger weeds with single stems are easier to pull but chances are, you'll experience a lot of tiny weeds spread around, or icky ground cover weeds like chickweed. Pulling weeds like this is futile, unless you have all day and meticulous fingers. You will always leave behind little stems and roots which will just grow again with a new lease on life.

You could consider using a tool to till up the dirt (assuming your garden isn't mulched, barked or covered with rocks...). A standard garden hoe is likely the first and most traditional choice. However, perhaps you should consider using a cousin of the hoe that you probably haven't even heard of: the Hula Hoe! Hula hoes are my favorite tool for weeding the flowerbeds and prepping them for planting. (Believe me when I say that my younger sister, who is also my coworker, and I have all sorts of "hoe-er" and "working the beds" jokes)

A hula hoe has a stirrup-shaped head which you can push and pull through the dirt. It will dig up the roots of weeds and fluff up the dirt. Everyone likes fluffy dirt in their flowerbeds. A traditional hoe will pull the dirt with each stroke, leave large clumps of dirt and trenches. The hula hoe channels dirt through the hoop. Weeds can then be picked out of the fluffy dirt, easy peasy.

No garden shed is complete without a hula hoe: perfect for prepping your flower beds for annuals and cleaning up around perennials and vegetable gardens. Your soil will be light, fluffy and manageable. How enviable. :)