Hand hoe by Burgon & Ball - RHS Range

This hoe with a polished stainless steel head from Burgon & Ball is a high-quality small tool, which has a beautiful FSC certified wood handle and a sturdy steel head. Lightweight and easy to handle, it will be valuable for weeding and loosening the soil in flower pots, vegetable beds, and planters, as well as small borders or immediate surroundings of the terrace.

The small hoe is an essential tool for maintaining small surfaces and raised beds. Its very rigid blade, shaped like a square plate, is used for "hoeing", that is to say, aerating the surface soil and removing unwanted weeds. It breaks the surface crust and turns the soil around the cultivated plants, allowing water and air to circulate in the soil. The sharp sides of the blade allow for the removal of weeds that compete with the plantings. The hoe is used by pushing the blade into the soil and pulling the tool towards oneself, i.e., scraping the soil. Its small size is perfectly suited for maintaining narrow spaces found in vegetable beds, pots, or flower boxes. This model has a socket handle that securely attaches the steel head to the beech wood handle. The end of the handle is drilled, making it easy to store the hoe.

* FSC is an international eco-label guaranteeing that the wood comes from sustainably managed forests

Technical specifications:

▪ Head dimension: 10cm (4in)
▪ Total length: 26cm (10in)
▪ Weight: 0.270kg

It must be acknowledged that the English have the privilege of being the reference in gardening (if not in cooking). Promesses de Fleurs has chosen the English company Burgon & Ball for the quality of its materials and its almost three-century-old steel manufacturing methods. The company has been working with steel in Sheffield since 1730, starting with a patent for solid steel sheep shears. The production of garden shears and equipment quickly surpassed that of sheep shears, but Burgon & Ball stainless steel tools are officially approved by the Royal Horticultural Society - probably the ultimate reward in the gardening industry. 

The steel used for Burgon & Ball tools is carbon alloyed to provide strength, and chromium to prevent rust. It's a very precise balance that needs to be achieved between chromium and carbon, different for each part of the tool. For example, the ferrule of a tool is made of low carbon and high chromium steel as it does not need strength for its function, while the socket, which needs to be strong enough to withstand bending, is made of thicker material with a balanced ratio of chromium and carbon. As for the blade of this hoe, which requires maximum strength and hardness to withstand flexion in the soil, it has a higher carbon content than chromium.