Rake hoe

This is my new favorite tool!  (Technically it is called a 4 tine cultivator, but we prefer rake hoe.  😂).  My daughter in law found a used/ antique one and I used it to clear sunflower row, a long 2 foot wide raised bed that had been overrun with creeping Charlie, dandelion and grass.  It made the job so easy!  I bought my own, but the tines are not sharp, as hers was.  I may have to rework it.  It comes to the garden every day now along with the hori hori and primers.  

Have a picture of it?

Scott Stiller wrote:Have a picture of it?

Here is one like mine.  My daughter in laws is a far lovlier antique version.

We call it a potato rake 'round here, handy tool...

Oh yeah, I got one. Mine is very old and was found in my grandma’s building ten years ago. Popped on a new handle and it’s ready to go. I agree with Denny about the potato part.

One of my more used garden tools.  As my raised beds get higher, the handles on my tools get shorter.

I also love this tool! I call it a claw hoe. I love it for digging weeds that aren't too big, and also as a finish tool after weeding larger ones with the flat hoe. I like how you can use the tines to flick weeds wherever you want without bending down to pick them up, and to rake the up-rooted weeds around other plants to use as mulch.

A friend left one of those in a pile of tools she's "storing" on my land as she's had to move to an apartment. She wasn't clear what it was good for, but said it was intended to be that shape.

Exactly how do you use it with regards to potatoes?

I'm not sure it will help me a lot, as my soil is heavy clay. Has anyone used this tool on heavy clay, and if so, for what purposes?

We are in the same boat Jay. NC clay is great for pottery but terrible for potatoes. I’m lucky enough to be able to get free wood chips whenever I like. I then pile them up in places I’d like a garden someday. In the meantime I grow potatoes. During the summer I grow cowpeas in the chips. When it’s cold I’ll get some winter peas going too. Whatever’s there when the potatoes are ready to harvest gets chopped and dropped.

I love that tool.  We use it doing trail building in the woods where we call it a rock rake.  I got so I could flick sticks off the trail without missing a step.  Use it at home in the garden all the time.  The light weight means I can use it all day without tiring.