"DLee" wrote in
:

So I went into theback garden, and tried to do some hoeing, and again,
it hit rubbles in the soil, and the blade snapped off where it was
joined to the handle. I was in utter disappoitment and frustration.
Both tools were Yeoman make - price was great, but I mean is this due
to inferior quality tools, or is it due to concrete and rubbles
covered with top soils left by the builders.

I think if you are hoeing so vigorously that you take the head off your
hoe, you are either hoeing too hard, or you have been unlucky.

You should not have to shove hard with a hoe to chop through the roots
of weed seedlings in the top inch or so of soil. If you bump a rock
while you are gently hoeing, the head should not come off. You got a
dodgy one: return it and demand another: it will probably be OK.

If you were shoving the hoe deep into the soil, and hit a rock, stop
doing it that way, and use a spade or a fork instead.

Or stick a thick layer of compost as mulch on the top of everything -
you can then hoe that very gently, as weed seedlings are a doddle to get
out of a thick mulch. I use a light rake for this sometimes.

The lawn edger is a different matter. That does sound to me like you
need to remove the rubble before it will be a suitable area for using
that tool. If the edger hadn't broken, you'd probably have knackered
your shoulders trying to shove it through that lot.

Alternatively, you could edge the lawn with a mowing strip and forget
the edger altogether.

All my tools are cheap and old, so that's how I'd do it. Someone with
super-duper tools will probably post now and reveal I could do it
another way if I had his tools...

Victoria