Use a Skimming Spade for Garden Weeding

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You can clear off even the most tangled, over-grown greenery with this technique.
You can clear off even the most tangled, over-grown greenery with this technique.
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Bend way over — so the tool will slice just under the soil — then cut through the weed roots.
Bend way over — so the tool will slice just under the soil — then cut through the weed roots.
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Before you can skim with a spade, you have to sharpen its edge with a file.
Before you can skim with a spade, you have to sharpen its edge with a file.

Discover what may be one of the handiest all-purpose garden weeding techniques around.

When you need to clear out a lot of plants — say, you’re removing a cover crop or weeding a pathway — you can crank up the Rototiller (if you have one) . . . resign yourself to hours of hoeing . . . or grab a spade and skim off the unwanted foliage. MOTHER EARTH NEWS gardeners have found that, more often than not, the last method is the easiest and quickest way to get the job done.

Use a Skimming Spade for Garden Weeding

Skimming was introduced to this country by Alan Chadwick, founder of biodynamic/ French intensive gardening, and consists of using a sharpened spade to chop plants off just under the soil surface. It’s not difficult to master this garden weeding technique, but it does require a back strong enough to tolerate a good bit of bending over.

Please note you’ll need a spade — a digging tool with a flat, straight-edged blade that generally sits at only a slight angle to its shaft. (Our gardeners use the Bulldog garden spade from Smith & Hawken Tool Company.) A shovel, with its familiar curve edged blade that sits at a sharper angle to the shaft, won’t do for this job.

  • Published on May 1, 1986
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