three directions at one

There's a tool called a stirrup hoe, which I only learned of in the last few years. Our raised bed garden was overtaken by weeds (the prior owners hadn't grown anything) and while I'd tried using the string trimmer, it was for naught. So, I tried solarization with plastic sheeting. The UV tore it up and plenty still grew, some poking out of the holes like a middle finger. Mulch, it seemed, was the smart money. But what to do about all them weeds in the first place? Enter, the stirrup hoe. Basically a strip of metal on the end of a stick, bent into a rounded triangle shape with sharpened edges. Pushing it back and forth along the topsoil slices the plant stems near the top of the root and allows for fairly easy, fairly effective weed clearing - particularly when planning to cover the top surface with something like mulch. It's not an everyday tool, in fact I've not used it since that project. But occasion has come again with the dry, sun-soaked patch in the back yard being overtaken by…