Have you ever heard the term “Hori Hori” in your journey as a gardener before? If this is the first time, we are sure that you will go to the shop and buy one immediately. Hori Hori will be the latest entry on your list of your favorite gardening tools.
What is a Hori Hori?
Americans might call it a soil knife, but the real name – Hori Hori – is originally Japanese. In Japanese, hori means “to dig”, and hori hori is interestingly the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of digging.
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The Hori Hori’s history is not quite clearly recorded. Some accounts claim that it was a tool used by early Japanese farmers, while others indicate that it was used by bonsai specialists to harvest small trees from mountainsides. There are some articles that mention that Hori Hori were used as a self-defense tool for farmers while working their fields, which means that it is not accidental that it looks like a weapon. Hori Hori retain the Japanese legacy in the quality of their cutting edges and durability.
There are a number of Hori Hori styles commercially available, though the handle will be the most different. The handle will be differently made from bamboo, wood, rubber, or plastic, while the basic shape of the blade itself is always the same. This is a decidedly manual tool with no moving parts – just a blade and a handle. The Hori Hori is relatively short, usually about a foot overall, and wielded one-handed. It is combined with a pocketknife, a serrated knife, and a humble gardening trowel.
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How to use it?
Hori Horis are famous as multi-purpose tools because of their size and shape. When using it, the best way is to hold it in one hand and treat it as something between a trowel, a saw, and a knife. Below are some suggestions for using this wonderful tool.
Planting
If you are preparing for gardening and loosening a lot of soil, a good digging fork or a trowel will be the needed tools – not a Hori Hori. However, when working on small areas, the Hori Hori is the right one. And sometimes, if a trowel moves too much dirt or digs too big of a hole, a Hori Hori is the best alternative. It is ideally used for marking rows, creating long trenches when planting your vegetable seeds, or filling small pots for starting seeds indoors.
Weeding
In my opinion, there is no better tool for weeding than a Hori Hori. Slice right through the stems and roots of young weeds just by putting the flat edge of the blade along or below the soil’s surface. In some cases, a Hori Hori chops through the thick-but-tender stems of many taller weeds. Do you get any problems with deep-root weeds? This is the answer for you. Slide the Hori Hori into the soil just adjacent to the weed you want to move, push the blade toward the weed’s deep-reaching root, and pop it out. In case you cannot get the entire root, it can remove enough to eliminate that particular weed.
Planting seeds and seedlings
The blade is ideally designed for drawing out long straight rows for planting small seeds, such as greens, carrots, peas. For the bigger ones, just use the tip to carve out a small planting hole, and you can start your planting. You can use a Hori Hori to set out garlic, onions, and small-potted seedlings.
Pruning and harvesting
The serrated or straight side can also be used for pruning shrubs or flowers. The Hori Hori works best for harvesting non-foot crops like a couple of beets, onions, or heads of garlic without killing them.
How hot is Hori Hori in gardening?
Simply search on Amazon products for gardening hand tools – it is not hard to find a Hori Hori on the list, and it’s even among the best of products. The best products reviews considered are for the Nisaku NJP650 Hori Hori Weeding & Digging Knife, which is famous for quality, durability, and multi-uses. All the top reviews show how amazing, impressive and qualified the product is. Moreover, Hori Horis are always on the review list of almost gardeners’ blogs and websites. It is always the tool for keeping the gardening passion.
A Hori Hori is definitely a must-have for any gardener – from amateurs to professionals. Originating in Japan, many still believe that the best quality knife would be “made in Japan.” However, like anything else, you get what you pay for no matter where your Hori Hori is manufactured. And now, if someone is wondering what in the world a Hori Hori knife is, you will be confident to show him.