I second the stirrup hoe. The little weeding I do is usually pulling single weeds by hand, but when I use a hand tool it’s usually a stirrup hoe.
By and large I rely on not creating conditions for weeds to grow, plants that take care of themselves, mulch, weed-eating, and targeted spraying to handle weeds, pretty much in that order. Hand weeding and weeding with a hand tool come dead last, in that order.
But when I do, it’s a stirrup hoe. Like you said, the key is to slice right at or just below the soil line. It’s a hoe, not a shovel, the point is to liberate the weeds from their roots–the easiest place to do that is where the stem becomes roots. And if there’s a weed growing, it usually means there was bare dirt showing–that’s your fault. Don’t make it worse by digging up more dirt.
I guess I’m the only maniac who actually enjoys pulling weeds by hand. Granted I’m dealing with much less land than all those commenting. I enjoy getting out in the morning with some coffee and getting my hands in the dirt. I also mulch my whole yard so the weeds are few and far in between and mostly live oak runners from those I cut down.
Yeah, I should clarify that I do enjoy the hand and hand-tool weeding I do. Carefully tending a garden in quiet solitude, the smell of fresh fertile soil, a soft tactile pop as the roots give way and the weed comes out–it’s all really deeply enjoyable. When there is time for it.
It’s more of an optimization problem for me. I could have one traditional garden bed done the supposedly right way, a double deep bed with veggies and wildflowers that I meticulously sow, tend, grow, and harvest on a schedule while taking notes on anything along the way to study in the cold winter months in the hopes of managing an even better organic garden bed next year… And I’d spend all my free garden time on that one bed and the handful of lettuce, radish, tomato, and zinnias it might produce. But, well, just writing that made me die a little haha. Not saying that’s how you garden, I know for a fact you don’t, nor am I saying that’s the wrong way to garden (it’s a hobby, and for people who have time to burn and who need something to fuss over, that’s exactly what they need). But yeah, most of the inherited wisdom, both conventional and organic, is pretty darn counterproductive if the goal is a lots of a wide variety of great food spread all throughout the year with a minimum of time and physical effort–the last two being particularly dear and precious to me as they’re in very short supply.
That’s exactly how I garden. Also my zinnias are to die for. Haha
It’s not not how I garden haha, but again I don’t have much room so I can romanticize things a bit more. I barely have room to swing a hoe; much less contribute to which one works best.