5 Favourite Gardening Tools. Part IV.

My well-used hori-hori knife.

The hori-hori was gifted to me some years back by my partner who had researched great gardener gifts.  Major points won. ❤️👍

My partner also doesn’t remember the name of the tool and refers to it at various times as the “huki buki,” the “oogie boogie,” and other variations. 😂

It is a Japanese digging tool with a serrated edge on one side and a cutting edge on the other, both coming to a point.  The word ‘hori’ means ‘dig’ in Japanese and the word ‘hori-hori’ is an onamatopeia for the digging sound.  (With my clay soil, my digging sounds are more like “thud, grunt,” but I think the marketing team would have vetoed that.)

I use this handheld tool pretty much every gardening outing for weeding, opening compost bags, cutting tree roots (the small ones) and cabbage stems (the big ones) and anything that might need prying out of the soil (small rocks, stubborn parsnips, etc.)

Both Imperial and metric measures!

I also love it for transplanting.  Its sharpness make a quick hole and the edges can slice through root bound plugs.  The model I have is ruled which is helpful for spacings and depths.

Do you have a hori-hori?  Or is it now on your X-mas list? 🎁