Gardening - The Hoss

I like to garden and my family certainly likes the fresh vegetables.  Our garden has been steadily growing in size and is around 25 x 50 feet now.  That may sound like a good size but it never seems large enough as we find new things to plant.  A downside to the garden is there is usually a point in the summer where we can't weed for lack of time and we typically don't keep up with the weeds as well as we would like.  The result is usually a amazon like environment covered in morning glory and many other annoying plants.  To help combat the weeds and also make better use of our existing garden space, I purchased a Hoss double wheel cultivator/hoe.

http://easydigging.com/Garden_Cultivator/wheel_hoe_push_plow.html

I have had it for about a week and am quite pleased.  It is lighter weight than I expected but with care should last a long time.  I tried out the cultivator teeth and oscillating hoe so far - will try out the sweeps another day.  The cultivator teeth work reasonable well in our clay soil (at least where we have removed most of the rocks from over the years).  The hoe worked well when I tried it (a day or so after rain).  It seems that with regular use they should keep the weeds down in the main aisles and is MUCH faster than a plain hand held hoe.  My comment related to improved use of space is due to the fact we can put an extra row between existing rows (resulting in a row spacing of about 18 inches).  Previously we had rows spaced about 36 inches apart to allow the tiller to run between them.

Another benefit of the Hoss is some good physical exercise - something sorely lacking in my day job.

All in all this was a very good purchase and I wish I had done it sooner.  I may consider the seeder attachment and furrowing/hilling plow next summer.  The plow will depend on how our first attempt at potatoes turns out this summer.  The seeder is not really a "need" but may prevent some unneeded extra back pain - will have to see what other bills crop up next summer.