🧄 The Garden Tool I Didn't Know I Needed Until I Planted Garlic
Updated: Oct 2
I bought a hori hori knife because apparently real gardeners have one.
I wasn't convinced.
It looked like a cross between a knife, a tiny shovel, and something that might come in handy if I ever found myself lost in the wilderness.
Then garlic-planting season arrived.
And suddenly... I understood. 😂
If you've ever planted a whole lot of garlic, you know that making one little hole isn't the problem. It's making 50, 100, or 200 little holes at roughly the same depth without eventually deciding that garlic can just figure it out for itself.
That's where the hori hori comes in.
🌱 What Exactly Is a Hori Hori?
A hori hori is a Japanese-style garden knife designed for digging, planting, weeding, cutting roots, and transplanting.
The blade is usually curved slightly like a narrow scoop, with a straight edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other. Many also have measurements stamped right onto the blade.
In other words, it's basically the Swiss Army knife of the garden.
And that's exactly why I like it.
🧄 Why I Love It for Planting Garlic
Garlic doesn't require a complicated planting process.
You break apart the bulbs, plant the individual cloves, cover them up, and wait.
Simple, right?
Well... yes.
But when you're planting a bunch of garlic, digging all those little holes can become tedious pretty quickly.
A hori hori makes the process much easier because you can:
🌱 Push the pointed blade into the soil
📏 Use the markings on the blade to help judge planting depth
🧄 Drop the garlic clove into the hole
🌿 Cover it back up
➡️ Move down the row and do it again
No measuring tape.
No trying to eyeball the depth.
And no digging a hole with your trowel, deciding it's probably deep enough, and then digging it another three inches because apparently “probably” is my official gardening measurement.
📏 The Depth Markings Are My Favorite Part
This is probably the feature that makes the most sense for planting garlic.
The hori hori has inch markings directly on the stainless-steel blade, so the knife can double as your little garden measuring stick.
And that isn't just useful for garlic.
You can use those markings for:
🌷 Bulbs
🌱 Seedlings
🌼 Annual flowers
🥕 Certain root crops
🌿 Transplants
The exact planting depth isn't universal, though. Garlic-growing recommendations vary depending on climate, soil, and the variety you're growing.
So I wouldn't use the knife markings to decide how deep your garlic should be planted.
I'd use them to make sure your holes are consistent once you've determined the appropriate depth for your garden.
Because consistency is good.
Guessing is how I end up having three different versions of the same garden experiment.
🔪 The One I'm Looking At
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🌿 But Wait There Is More....Garlic Isn't All It's Good For
This is where the hori hori earns its place in my garden shed.
Once you have one, you start finding excuses to use it.
Need to pull a stubborn weed?
Yep.
Need to dig around a perennial?
Yep.
Need to cut through a small root?
That's what the serrated edge is for.
Need to plant bulbs?
Absolutely.
Need to cut a piece of garden twine?
Depending on the model, possibly.
Need to carry one around the garden because it makes you feel like you have your life together?
Also yes.
The combination of a straight edge, serrated edge, pointed tip, and concave digging blade is what makes a hori hori so versatile.
🧄 My Garlic-Planting Setup
If I were putting together my little garlic-planting kit, I'd keep it pretty simple:
✔️ Garlic cloves: Obviously. Otherwise we're just standing around with gardening tools.
✔️ Hori hori knife: For making consistent planting holes and measuring depth.
✔️ Garden gloves: Because dirt under your fingernails is basically a permanent accessory during gardening season.
✔️ Garden marker/labels: Especially if you're planting more than one variety.
✔️ Compost or other soil amendments, if appropriate for your garden: Because garlic appreciates good soil just like the rest of us appreciate a good night's sleep.
✔️ Mulch or Straw, where appropriate: Especially useful in colder climates for protecting the planting bed through winter.
🌱 The Bottom Line
I didn't think I needed a hori hori knife.
Then I started using one.
Now I'm wondering why I spent so many years planting things with a trowel, a stick, my fingers, and occasionally what I can only describe as “creative problem solving.”
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