A garden tool you'll really use.

 

There are many tools which make your gardening chores easier, including shovels, bow rakes, digging forks, hoes and trowels. Then there are certain tools a gardener has that are indispensable. One of the most versatile tools you can own is a gardening knife, also called a hori hori gardening knife. A hori hori combines many of the features of your larger garden tools into a single, smaller form. You can get a lot of work done in the garden with a garden knife, including planting, weeding, digging, mixing soil, cutting open bags. Slicing little weeds, chopping bigger weeds, planting seeds, setting out plant starts, harvesting potatoes and other root crops, marking rows and removing roots are a few ways to use your hori hori.

In fact, once you figure out how useful a garden knife is, you'll want to have it with you everytime you walk into the garden. Gardening knives typically have concave-shaped blades with a sharp edge on one side and serrated edge on the other side and a pointed tip.

The concave shape is great for digging and scooping soil, just like a trowel. The blade shape is great for loosening soil and for mixing in soil amendments. The sharp edge can be used to cultivate and weed around established plants or even open a bag of soil.

The serrated edge can be used for cutting roots and loosening hard soils. Here's some things to look for when choosing a gardening knife.

The handle should fit comfortably in your hand, so it's important to try it out before you buy.

Many garden knives will have a handy ruler on  the blade, which makes planting bulbs, tubers and onions easier.

Some garden knives come with a holster to hang on your belt, so your garden knife is always handy. The more you use your hori hori, the more you'll discover why this tool is a "must have" for any gardener.