[pjlyons Posts: 75 Status: Offline Constantly Creating WWW]

Can anyone tell me about how long it would take to hoe a row about as long as a football field?

[Cindyb Posts: 393 Status: Offline]

Maybe a half hour? Depends on the soil, how wet or dry, and how good of job is done.

[CyndyHenzel Posts: 121 Status: Offline WWW]

Could easily take an hour depending on what the crop is and how 'weedy' the ground.

[pjlyons Posts: 75 Status: Offline Constantly Creating WWW]

Great. Thanks!

[Joni Posts: 1,257 Status: Offline Plunge! WWW]

A half hour? Even an hour? Clearly you guys live somewhere where the soil is different than where I live! Regardless, it's going to make a big difference whether the field has been fallow, the crop is already planted, how recently the last hoeing was, how compacted the soil has been by feet, animals, or hard rain, etc.

Here a row the length of a football field (100 yards) might take all day.

[TH Posts: 245 Status: Offline]

Yep. And what tools you have. It took me three hours to do a 15x15 (FOOT!) plot that had never been tilled before.

[olmue Posts: 4,264 Status: Offline WWW]

Uh, agree. To hoe an entire football field (!!!) would take me all day. At LEAST. Hoeing means hacking up any and all weeds that might be growing in that plot. Even if it was mostly dirt, there will still be dandelions, etc. trying to encroach, and that will take a looooooooong time to cover that amount of ground. Honestly, I don't think you could even rototill that area in an hour.

[Cindyb Posts: 393 Status: Offline]

I don't think she asked about the whole field- just a row that long. I admit, my estimate was based on a formerly tilled row, so it would be fairly easy work. But since this is a question in historical fiction, they may not have had rototillers.   So it may have taken an hour or so.

[olmue Posts: 4,264 Status: Offline WWW]

Ah, true. I read it as the whole football field, not just a row. That would make it an exponentially easier job!

Still--I've never had a garden rototilled, and have only done it the "historic" way. It takes a LONG time when all you have is the hard ground and a hoe and your muscles. I suppose if the snow had just melted and the ground was soft and the weeds hadn't grown in yet, it would be faster. But I still think it would take a long time. Or maybe I'm just a wimp...

[ChristineSarmel Posts: 252 Status: Offline WWW]

Who's hoeing - a child or an adult? When I was a kid we had to hoe a row or pick a row of peas if we got in trouble. It wasn't as long as a football field (maybe half that) and usually took us an hour or two.

[Joni Posts: 1,257 Status: Offline Plunge! WWW]

I'm with Rose -- I was talking about just a row, not a whole football field. (Where I live, it would take over a week or more do to a whole football field by hand. A football field is big. A hoe is about four inches wide.) But as noted, I think the conditions and geography could make an incredible difference. Even the crop -- a row of corn is quite a bit wider than a row of radishes, for instance. So maybe as long as your gardening time/information/weed threat is consistent with your location, if real, and the amount of time it takes to do anything there, it'd be okay? Can you get information from someone who lives wherever you're writing about?

[anita Posts: 403 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

A half hour? Even an hour? Clearly you guys live somewhere where the soil is different than where I live! Regardless, it's going to make a big difference whether the field has been fallow, the crop is already planted, how recently the last hoeing was, how compacted the soil has been by feet, animals, or hard rain, etc.

Here a row the length of a football field (100 yards) might take all day.

Boy, I agree. There are so many things that would change it. I think a half an hour is really optimistic, unless it is done every few days.

[Bobi Martin Posts: 313 Status: Offline Writers open the world to readers. WWW]

What a great question. There are so many variables! In addition to the kind of soil, there's whether the ground had been broken before, and whether the person hoeing is a child, a teen or an adult. It would also depend on whether the hoe is sharp or dulled. If you want to add a complication for your character, you could have the nail holding the head of the hoe come out so that the head has to be reattached to the pole. (This happened to me--twice--when I was trying to hoe rows in my garden.)

[pjlyons Posts: 75 Status: Offline Constantly Creating WWW]

Wow. I had no idea there were so many variables!

Okay, so here's the set up:

12 & 14 yo girls hoeing rows of vegetables in August, 1936, Montana--during a drought. The garden has been fairly well maintained. There are 4 brothers and a father who also hoe the garden, though they aren't in this scene. Each person is assigned a specific number of rows they have to hoe. According to my research, there would be between 120-130 rows in an acre garden, which this is. The scene is supposed to make the MC use one of 3 wishes to wish she didn't have to hoe the garden. So any unpleasant details would be warmly welcomed.

Were hoes so expensive that a poor family might only have 2? Or would that probably not been an issue?

Also, how often should a vegetable garden be hoed?


Thanks!

[ChristineSarmel Posts: 252 Status: Offline WWW]

Unpleasant details...

-If you don't hoe regularly blisters pop out half way through the first row. Even if you do, the blisters come eventually.
-Bugs -- flying bugs, crawling bugs, gnats have a special love for places like ears and noses, bugs get swallowed or stick on your tongue
-Snakes -- if it's hot out, underneath a nice, cool vegetable leaf is a lovely resting place for snakes

...Can you tell I moved to the city right out of college and never looked back

[CyndyHenzel Posts: 121 Status: Offline WWW]

You wouldn't want to do deep hoeing during a drought. Hoeing dries out the soil. You'd probably just chop off any weeds growing during the drought at the surface of the ground. Unpleasant is back strain, sunburn, dust.

[Bobi Martin Posts: 313 Status: Offline Writers open the world to readers. WWW]

And thirst. Hoeing long rows leaves you thirsty, particularly if the air is very dry as it probably would be during a drought.

[Barbara Etlin Posts: 2,357 Status: Offline WWW]

 

Q: What did Santa do in his garden in the summer?

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A: Hoe, hoe, hoe.

[pjlyons Posts: 75 Status: Offline Constantly Creating WWW]

thanks!

[sandycarl Posts: 47 Status: Offline Untried dreams are not given the chance to fail. WWW]

One thing to consider too (jumping in late here) is the condition of the ground. If it was lawn or a wild field -- oy, that would take a L-O-N-G time, and I would think you'd be using a shovel first. If it was plowed up in the fall, it would be easy sailing, and if you just dragged a hoe through the field, it would take as long as it takes to walk the length (going back later, I assume and planting seeds).