An adventure in cutting weeds in the garden

I recall writing that cutting the tops of weeds has benefits in terms of preventing weed seeds from ripening to the point where they are viable, even if it was too late to help the crop's yield. I decided to take my own advice.

As I was cutting the weeds, I realized that it will make it faster to dig potatoes if I didn't have to keep pulling weeds to find the hilled potatoes. That will be much appreciated.  

Equipment set: 2000W Wen generator, 100' of extension cord and a 20" Black and Decker, corded hedge trimmer

The generator started up on the first pull. It took a few minutes to loosen up the blade on the hedge trimmer so that they moved freely.
 

"In the beginning, there was chaos." If you are going to steal lines, then steal from the best! If you look carefully, you will see a wheelbarrow on the extreme left-background of the image. And a shovel handle and at T-post. Tobacco plants on right side off frame.

Approximately 100' in-and-out of the frame and 20 feet left-to-right.

30 minutes, same angle as original

After 30 minutes from a slightly different angle. The tall plant is a tomato vine that I plugged into a gap where the potato plants did not come up.

After 59 minutes Time-on-task. I took two breaks but stopped the clock while taking them.

I got faster as I got more experience in handling the hedge trimmer. It breezed through the Giant Foxtail grass and choked on the thicker stems of the Smartweed and Pokeweed. I had to cut those 12" above the ground rather than the 6", give or take a bit, above the ground that I cut the grasses.

At today's prices, a corded, Black and Decker 22" hedge-trimmer costs about $60 on Amazon. 2000W generators run about $300 so that might be a deal-breaker if you don't already have a generator.

Another deal-breaker might be if you cannot lean over and sweep the blade parallel to the ground. That will be hard for some people.