A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural and horticultural hand tool used to shape soil, remove weeds, clear soil, and harvest root crops. Shaping the soil includes piling soil around the base of plants (hilling), digging narrow furrows (drills) and shallow trenches for planting seeds or bulbs. Weeding with a hoe includes agitating the surface of the soil or cutting foliage from roots, and clearing the soil of old roots and crop residues. Hoes for digging and moving soil are used to harvest root crops such as potatoes.
A farmer using a hoe to keep weeds down in a vegetable garden.
Cultivating tool, a pull or draw hoe
Cultivating tool, a push or thrust hoe
Eye hoe heads, some with sow-tooth (German: Sauzahn), Centro Etnográfico de Soutelo de Montes, Pontevedra, Spain
Weed control is a type of pest control, which attempts to stop or reduce growth of weeds, especially noxious weeds, with the aim of reducing their competition with desired flora and fauna including domesticated plants and livestock, and in natural settings preventing non native species competing with native species.
A field of beets being weeded in Colorado, United States, in 1972
Tools used for amateur weeding include spades and gloves
Weeds are removed manually in large parts of India.
Weed control through tilling with hoes, circa 1930-40s