Gwen Morse wrote:
I bought something called the "Hula-ho" at my local hardware
store/garden center. The garden center guy told me it was also called
a "skimmer".

This is mostly called an "action hoe". So-called because it cuts on both
the front and back stroke. You can use it to cultivate, weed, or edge.
Basically you put it in front of you with the blade down and pull until
it's a couple of inches in, then pull level to rip up whatever's on top.
You then can remove it or break it up.

I said I wanted something to remove strips of sod (grass
w/roots, not commercially-bought "sod").

Do you want to *keep* the strips, or just make a neat edge for the
planting bed? For the latter it should work fine, for the former you may
want a real sod cutter (you step on it and cut straight down, then go
under the sod as with a piece of cake).

It's effectively a rectangular-shaped ribbon of metal on a long wooden
handle. The home page is he
http://www.flexrake.com/hulaho.htm

I can't quite figure out how it works. I'm trying to remove a strip of
sod along my fence line, and it just doesn't catch down under teh
roots, no matter how deep I try to press it in with my foot.

Is this one of those lawn implements that doesn't actually 'work', or,
do I just need to be more determined?

Gwen