How Do Gas Grill Griddle Inserts Compare to the Real Deal?
If you favor the convenience of a gas grill (and the quality of a Weber), you'll appreciate how easily these full-size inserts swap onto your grill.
The uncoated, preseasoned carbon steel Weber Rust-Resistant Griddle Insert conducts heat very well and, according to the user manual, is pretty much ready to use right out of the box (though the instructions give the option to season the insert before you start cooking, and I chose to do that).
I tested the griddle insert on a Weber Spirit E-425 gas grill, and it did a great job with everything we cooked on it. The smash burgers had a thick and even crusty sear, and our pancakes emerged fluffy and golden. Its consistent moderate heat distribution produced strips of bacon that were well rendered, nicely browned, and crispy, and the preseasoned surface released over-easy fried eggs without resistance or sticking. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter
My colleague, senior editor Marilyn Ong, tested the griddle insert designed for our upgrade pick, the Weber Genesis E-325, and reported a similar experience. The larger version of the rust-resistant griddle, designed to fit the three-burner Genesis grills, is made from the same uncoated, preseasoned carbon steel. She also gave hers one layer of seasoning before cooking bacon, eggs, and pancakes with beautiful results.
On its own, the Spirit griddle insert is a solid accessory that delivers on the promise of converting a Weber grill into a flat top that's good for making smash burgers and big breakfasts. But compared with the outdoor propane griddles that Kathleen tested at the same time, the Weber insert doesn't get nearly as hot. In my testing, it was nearly impossible to burn any of the foods I cooked on it — even the pancakes. Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter
Senior editor Marilyn Ong said she had a similar experience using the griddle insert with her Genesis E-325 gas grill. She recalled a time when she walked away from a griddle full of pancakes and forgot about them for a good five minutes. When she came back, they were still golden without a trace of scorching.
I don't consider this a bad thing, per se, because the heat output on a grill is calibrated for direct heat cooking. A griddle top is made up of a lot more metal than a grill grate, so the former has significantly more thermal mass and, therefore, absorbs a lot more heat than the latter. In our tests, we found that the propane griddles (like the Blackstone XL Omnivore and Traeger Flatrock) went through fuel tanks faster than the grills.
All that to say: a griddle insert placed in a gas grill won't be the same cooking experience as an outdoor propane griddle. But if you're curious about flat-top cooking and don't want to invest in a large outdoor griddle, we found that this particular Weber Spirit insert — and the one made for the Genesis — are good options if you own either of these models (or variants of the same size).
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New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
My Neighbors Stared. I Cut My Lawn With a Scythe Anyway.
Finally, after months of fiddling and frustration, my scythe was actually cutting something. The massive blade on this ancient mowing tool sliced through row after row of overgrown weeds with nice, easy swings. And it was quieter and worked faster than a modern-day string trimmer. Up to this point, I'd been hacking and grunting my way around the yard. I'd heard that scything could be relaxing, even meditative, but all I'd done was curse and sweat, and repress the mild embarrassment I felt when the neighbors stared. Who would enjoy this? Maybe struggle and self-denial were the point, and inner peace would blossom from the pain of living like a medieval peasant. But social media videos from scything celebrities including Slåttergubben and Scythe Dad made it look so smooth and productive — a healthy workout, for sure, though nothing like the punishment I'd been inflicting on my back and arms. So I sank another $100 into yet another piece of gear, dedicated another hour to learning yet another ancient technique, and took one last crack at this goofy experiment. Here was the payoff. The flow state I'd been promised was finally setting in. Then an old SUV rumbled up, and the driver called out, 'Wow, a real-life grim reaper. Nice scythe, kid.' Transcendent. Your neighbors will stare, but a scythe is a beautiful, meditative tool. If used correctly, it's very effective at cutting grass or an overgrown area. $197 from Lee Valley Tools For a European-style scythe (like the one we recommend), you'll need to shape the blade's edge before you can really sharpen it. This peening jig is the easiest way to do that. Once the blade was properly sharpened, my scythe made quick work of the overgrowth. A neighbor even stopped to show his appreciation. Liam McCabe and Aubrey Patti/NYT Wirecutter My quest had been inspired by Wirecutter's guide to string trimmers, into which my colleague Doug Mahoney snuck a scythe recommendation. He called it a 'beautiful, meditative tool' for those who are 'constantly looking for a 'different way,' and don't mind being seen as a little odd.' I definitely got my neighbors' attention — some stared, others pretended not to see me, and a few seemed concerned. But there were also people who struck up friendlier conversations and shared their own scything stories. The guy in the SUV told me about the one time he'd used a scythe. Another neighbor talked about watching her Central European grandfather swing a scythe around the garden — even after the Soviet Union had dissolved and lawnmowers became easier to find. Your neighbors will stare, but a scythe is a beautiful, meditative tool. If used correctly, it's very effective at cutting grass or an overgrown area. $197 from Lee Valley Tools As far as actually cutting the grass? Occasionally I bludgeoned the tips off of some leaf blades, but mostly I huffed and puffed without much to show for it. A couple times I convinced myself that I was working more efficiently due to a small adjustment I'd made to my scything stance or the angle of the blade. But that was wishful thinking. After a few weeks, I still hadn't gotten the hang of it, and my front yard was becoming an eyesore. I didn't want to give the neighbors too much to talk about, so I went back to managing it with my mower and string trimmer. Time away from the mower gave me a renewed appreciation for how fast and neat it is to use one. A lawn mower is louder than the scythe, but my front yard sits next to a busy state road, and the traffic is louder than most yard equipment anyway. My mower also runs on batteries, so to the extent that I care about minimizing its impact on the local environment, I'm perfectly comfortable with that setup. As for the string trimmer, meh: It's slow and uncomfortable, and it makes a mess. But it does the job where the mower can't. Still, I'd already spent almost $200 on the scythe setup, and at least it was decent exercise. So I resolved not to give up entirely, and I let my backyard grow into a wild scything laboratory while I tried to figure things out. Some successful scythers suggest that the quickest way to pick up all of the necessary skills is to attend a workshop. But I couldn't find any within driving distance of my house. It was only after I turned to another primordial technology — printed books at a public library — that I finally figured out my problem: I'd never properly sharpened the blade. Scythe Dad — or Sebastian Burke, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania — told me that he'd gotten into scything about a year ago, basically the same way that I did. 'It started as sort of a joke with a friend,' he said. In Burke's viral scything TikToks (filmed and posted by his wife, Lyndsey), each smooth swing of the scythe completely clears a neat semi-circle of grass, so it almost looks like it's lying down and taking a nap. A key difference between us is that Burke spent hundreds of dollars and put in hours of research and sweat equity over several months in order to learn how to sharpen his scythe. I, on the other hand, had tried to save a few bucks. Why buy some obscure sharpening tool — useful only for scythe blades — until I figured out whether I enjoyed scything in the first place? Scythe blades come in a wide range of sizes. I chose a 30-inch blade, which is a good length for slicing light grass and thicker weeds alike. The entire kit weighs only a couple of pounds. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter But that's not how it works. If you're scything, you're also sharpening. European-style blades, like the one I bought, usually need to be 'peened' first. Peening is the process of hammering the business end of the blade's malleable steel into a fine edge. So as much as I tried to hone the fresh factory edge with a whetstone (and later a bastard file), it remained hopelessly dull. For a European-style scythe (like the one we recommend), you'll need to shape the blade's edge before you can really sharpen it. This peening jig is the easiest way to do that. If you don't commit to buying a full set of peening and sharpening gear on day one, and then practice how to use it — essentially an entire hobby on its own — then scything is a waste of time. There's no dabbling. You either need to go all in or stick with your lawnmower and weed whacker. As Burke and I had to do, you'll probably need to teach yourself every aspect of scything: stance, setup, sharpening, all of it. I eventually found great video tutorials on all of those topics. But because scything is such a niche pursuit, the advice didn't land in my feeds with the sort of algorithmic serendipity I'd grown accustomed to for, say, gardening or DIY home improvement. My scythe was hopelessly dull until I hammered it out with a peening jig, which smushes the malleable steel blade into a thinner edge. Everyone I watched on YouTube had mounted the jig in a stump, so that's what I did too. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter The handle, or 'snath,' that I bought wasn't very good (it's not from the kit we recommend). And I've struggled to get a good cutting angle even after some modifications. If I could do it again, I'd spend extra on a better setup. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter My scythe was hopelessly dull until I hammered it out with a peening jig, which smushes the malleable steel blade into a thinner edge. Everyone I watched on YouTube had mounted the jig in a stump, so that's what I did too. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter Burke said he ended up learning a lot through trial and error. He's tried out a few snaths (handles), a half-dozen blades, and other accessories. After experimenting with different peening and honing tools and techniques for a couple of months — going so far as to check the edges under a microscope — he could finally get the blades sharp enough that scything started to feel easy. 'Once I got a feel for it, then it was like, 'I can't go back,'' Burke said. 'It's even starting to dictate how I garden now.' Since a scythe is so much quieter than a lawnmower, he usually cuts the grass before his family wakes up in the morning or after they go to bed. Burke said he finds it easier to scythe the slopes of his property than to push a lawnmower up and down them. The long, neatly cut grass makes a great mulch. He's happy that he's not spraying spools' worth of nylon string trimmer shards into the ecosystem every year. And then there's the vibe: 'The meditative satisfaction is really rewarding … the texture, the feel of it, the sounds — you hear birds all around you.' I'm still chasing that bliss. Even after I bought a peening jig and hammered out the edge of the blade well enough to glide it through all of those overgrown weeds, my scythe still wasn't cutting grass very well. Should I change the angle of the blade? Do I need an even-sharper edge? I need to do more research, and there's probably more gear that I need to buy. Did I mention I like my lawnmower? This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder. Clean up your lawn's ragged edges, awkward corners, and steep slopes with a string trimmer. Keep your lawn looking great with these low-hassle, high-performing mowers. A version of Ego's powerful, efficient, cordless lawn mower has been our top pick since 2019.
New York Times
6 days ago
- New York Times
Sharpening Your Knives Incorrectly Can Damage Their Blades. Here's How to Do It Right.
Before you sharpen your knife, it's important to know its material, its unique shape, and the angle in which to sharpen it. The material determines how often you have to sharpen a knife, the difficulty of the task, and what type of sharpener you should use. Chelsea Miller, a knife forger whose knives have been used in the dining rooms of Michelin-starred restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, explained, 'Carbon steel or high-carbon steel knives are generally easier to sharpen at home, whereas stainless steel knives — the most common manufactured type — are more difficult to sharpen freehand.' (Freehand sharpening is when you sharpen a blade without a guided system and instead use something like a whetstone or a manual, handheld sharpener. These methods usually don't offer the ability to adjust the angle.) Knowing the type of steel a blade is made from helps determine how frequently it needs to be sharpened. Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter High-carbon steel knives contain a higher carbon content than stainless steel, which generally makes them harder, stronger, and easier to achieve a keener edge than stainless steel knives. High-carbon steel knives are also easier to sharpen than stainless steel ones; it takes less effort to remove metal during sharpening due to its iron-carbide-rich composition. But they may require more routine maintenance since they're also less wear-resistant and can develop patina over time. And then there's high-carbon stainless steel, which we recommend in our guide to the best knife sets. It combines the best aspects of high-carbon steel and stainless steel in one, so it's strong, able to hold an edge well, and less prone to rusting, but it's typically pricier. You can expect to have to sharpen it less frequently than a high-carbon steel blade. Once you know the blade's material and how often you need to sharpen it, you can move on to determining the blade's shape and angle, so you can ensure the knife maintains its unique qualities to perform its intended job after it's sharpened. Navigating sharpening instructions is easier when you know the anatomy of a knife. NYT Wirecutter There are two key blade factors to consider before you start sharpening: its grind (the cross-sectional shape) and edge (the shape of the cutting surface, or the bevel). The most common kitchen blade grind is flat ground; that means the blade, generally speaking, tapers from the spine to the edge, and the cross-section forms a V- or a wedge-like shape, much like our budget-pick chef's knife, the Victorinox Swiss Classic Chef's Knife. (For a true full-flat grind knife, opt for a Japanese gyuto knife, like our runner-up chef's knife, the Tojiro F-808, which has a much thinner V-shaped blade than that of Western-style chef's knives.) Another popular grind is hollow ground, a blade with a concave edge that, depending on the knife, can start on the edge and slope all the way up to the spine. This isn't as popular among kitchen knives, but is common among pocket knives, like our top pick, the CRKT Drifter. The most common cutting edges among kitchen knives are typically V-edge (symmetrical edge bevels that form a 'V' shape) and compound beveled edge (a V-edge featuring multiple-edge bevels, like double bevels, which enhance cutting performance), such as the Tojiro F-808. Western knives usually have double bevels, meaning both sides of the blade angle towards the center. While many Japanese knives typically feature a single bevel, where one side of the blade is angled and the other remains flat, double-bevel variations are available as well, like the F-808. Sharpening a knife — especially one designed for a specific task — at the wrong angle can severely alter its performance. 'Say you're using a boning knife whose angle was manufactured for that task, and you start sharpening it to another angle — like one more geared towards cutting vegetables rather than deboning a fish — you can completely change the angle and its performance,' Miller said. You can generally find the appropriate angle to sharpen a knife via the manufacturer, either on their website or in a booklet provided at the time of purchase. However, if the information is unavailable, Miller recommends following general guidelines based on the shape of your knife. Most standard types of knives — like a chef's knife or paring knife — share similar angles regardless of the manufacturer. Miller also recommended examining an edge by carefully holding a knife straight out in front of you, perpendicular to your eyes, and getting a good look straight down the knife's edge. She said you should analyze from tip to heel and from heel to tip to get a better idea of the adequate sharpening angle. Carefully look down the knife's edge to analyze the blade's angle. Repeat the process from tip to heel and heel to tip. (Squinting one eye can help make it easier to see.) Maki Yazawa/NYT Wirecutter
New York Times
6 days ago
- New York Times
These Are the Best Weeding Tools, From Roundup to Flame Thrower
If you were to sketch a yard designed for testing weed-control methods, it might look a lot like mine. My yard is in New Jersey, with a temperate climate (plenty of sunshine, plenty of rain, rarely blazing, rarely arctic). The soil is a type called Downer (the official soil of New Jersey), and it's productive stuff, earning the Garden State its nickname. The lot is oriented northeast-southwest, so some areas receive full sun all day and some areas get shade in the morning or afternoon. And, thanks to three huge walnut trees, some areas are dark and dank for the entirety of the growing season. Whatever conditions a plant prefers, it can find them here. The yard has not been tended in a long time, and 'volunteers' (gardener-speak for stuff you didn't plant and may not want) have taken hold. When the weather turns warm in the spring, whole sections of it sprout monocultures of creeping Charlie and purple dead nettle. The fences disappear behind walls of English ivy. Bumper crops of Asiatic dayflower and Asiatic smartweed grow in the raised beds. Broadleaf plantains and common dandelions march across the grassy sections like spear bearers. All of these things are non-native, and some of them are invasive (that means they're non-native and also harmful, crowding out native plants or otherwise disrupting ecosystems). This poison ivy vine was about 2 inches across and had climbed 30 feet up a tree. I treated it once with Roundup Weed & Grass Killer, and it never came back. Tim Heffernan/NYT Wirecutter Getting rid of them piecemeal would be the work of a lifetime, which is why I'm planning to kill everything and start over. My short-term goal was to get the worst of the weeds under control, make the property less of an eyesore, and maybe even make the yard pleasant to hang out in. State-school agricultural extensions proved to be a goldmine of advice. And I would encourage you to explore yours: It may identify locally problematic species or raise other concerns specific to where you live. In addition, I found North Carolina State University Extension's article Are There Alternatives to Glyphosate for Weed Control in Landscapes? to be a gem of clarity and concision. And it's a great general-purpose primer on glyphosate (which you may know as Roundup), other herbicides, non-herbicidal control methods, and the plants and situations they're most effective at addressing. The article A Guide to Weed Life Cycles, from UMass Amherst's Extension Turf Program, is also terrific, and it explains how to identify the different classes of weeds and why managing them requires different approaches. Then I gathered some equipment. I already had a transplanting spade (even before I wrote our guide to them), and I don't think there's a better tool for uprooting shrubs and trees. I also had our top-pick string trimmer and a hori-hori (a digging knife with a dozen uses, including weed removal). To these I added a couple of weed-pulling tools: a propane blowtorch; the first gallon of Roundup I've ever bought (as fraught a moment as ordering my first legal-age beer); and several herbicides that fall under the Environmental Protection Agency's 25(b) 'minimum risk' exemption from FIFRA registration. I added a spray bottle for general Roundup application and a couple of small applicators for daubing it on freshly cut stumps. They mostly proved effective at the different jobs for which they're intended, and this provided my first take-away: You'll get the best results if you keep multiple weed-fighting tools on hand. Connie Park/NYT Wirecutter The trademarked name Roundup is often used interchangeably with glyphosate, a powerful and controversial herbicide that Monsanto patented and began selling under the Roundup name in 1974. (Monsanto's exclusive right to sell glyphosate in the US expired in 2000, and then many other companies began using it in their formulas.) But as of 2024, no Roundup residential lawn-and-garden products contain glyphosate, including the basic Weed & Grass Killer that I used. This basic herbicide rapidly kills most plants, and it degrades quickly, allowing replanting within days or weeks. Roundup Weed & Grass Killer now contains three active ingredients. Triclopyr triethylamine salt (TEA) is what's called a systemic herbicide. Herbicides of this type get absorbed by the plants they're used on and spread to all of the plants' tissues, killing them down to the roots. TEA is also what's called a selective herbicide, which means it's most effective on certain kinds of plants — in TEA's case, woody plants and vines. It's applied to cut stumps to prevent regrowth (and it's frequently used to combat invasive species). TEA specifically works by mimicking an auxin, a plant growth hormone, triggering uncontrolled growth that kills treated plants within days or weeks. The EPA considers TEA slightly toxic to humans, not classifiable as a human carcinogen, practically nontoxic to slightly toxic to birds and marine/estuarine invertebrates, and practically nontoxic to fish and freshwater invertebrates. It is degraded by soil microbes within a few weeks. Fluazifop-p-butyl is a selective, systemic herbicide that's used mainly to kill grasses, and it's not effective on broad-leaved plants. It works by inhibiting lipid (fat and oil) synthesis, and that leads to the breakdown of cell membranes. The EPA considers it of low acute toxicity and unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans. It is degraded by microbes in the soil, and it does not travel well through soil, though the EPA notes that using both fluazifop-p-butyl and triclopyr 'in areas where soil is permeable, particularly where the water table is shallow, may result in groundwater contamination.' Like TEA, fluazifop-p-butyl is frequently used to combat invasives. Diquat dibromide kills by disrupting plants' cell membranes. It's non-systemic, which means it kills only the parts of a plant that it touches. And it's non-selective, which means it's effective on almost all plant types. The EPA considers it non-carcinogenic, of low oral toxicity, and of moderate to severe acute dermal toxicity to humans. It does not migrate through soil, and it's unlikely to get into surface and groundwater. Taken together, this mixture makes the Weed & Grass Killer a broadly effective herbicide in yards and gardens, and one that's quite safe to use and does not persist in the environment. (This allows for replanting of treated areas in as little as a day.) Still, I have qualms about using pesticides in general, and when I do, I make an effort to use as little as possible. In spring 2025, I tried three herbicides — from Sunday and Procter & Gamble — that are heavily marketed as being safer or greener alternatives to traditional formulas. Before using them in my yard, I spoke at length with Trent Lewis, Sunday's co-founder and head of R&D, and Mary Jane Watson, research and development senior scientist at Procter & Gamble. Sunday's Dandelion Doom uses chelated iron (iron HEDTA) to induce fatal iron toxicity in broad-leaved plants. Iron HEDTA is used extensively as a supplemental fertilizer (all photosynthetic plants need some iron), and using it as an herbicide is effectively a matter of vastly over-fertilizing. The EPA has found no reports of adverse effects from exposure to iron HEDTA, and it says that 'pesticidal usage of this biochemical will not have any harmful environmental effects.' Sunday's Weed Warrior is an ammoniated soap. Herbicidal soaps kill by disrupting the protective waxy coating on leaves and damaging leaf-cell walls; this leads to desiccation and cell death. I reviewed the Safety Data Sheets of several widely available brands, including Weed Warrior, and the warnings are that they can irritate the eyes, skin, or lungs and should not be swallowed; these warnings are similar to the warnings on dishwashing soap. Procter & Gamble's Spruce meets the EPA's 25(b) 'minimum risk' conditions. Essentially, this means a pesticide can contain only active ingredients that the EPA believes 'pose little to no risk to human health or the environment,' and in fact many of those ingredients are widely used in food and cosmetic products. Spruce's active ingredients are sodium lauryl sulfate (a surfactant found in a lot of soaps and shampoos), geraniol (geranium essential oil), and cornmint oil. Putting aside all other considerations, it smells delicious. (That wasn't a given. The complete list of 25(b) active ingredients includes dried blood and 'putrescent whole egg solids.') I didn't find any of them as effective as the Roundup. Neither did Wirecutter's Sebastian Compagnucci, an avid gardener who optimizes his weeding practices. This was largely expected: They are not systemic herbicides, which are absorbed into and kill every part of a plant. As both Lewis and Watson noted, that means treated plants' roots can and often do survive and regrow. It typically took two applications of the Sunday and Spruce products to kill the aboveground parts of the grasses, dandelions, and other weeds I used them on. Also, for the products to be the most effective, the plants have to be thoroughly drenched — not just lightly sprayed or wetted with a drop or two. So I wound up using a lot more of the Sunday and Spruce products than I did of the Roundup. Spruce comes in proprietary aerosol cans (they spray straight down), manual spray bottles, and jugs with built-in, battery-powered spray wands. Sunday's Weed Warrior and Dandelion Doom come in manual spray bottles and in jugs and pouches with battery-powered wands. Sunday sells refills for all of them, so you can reuse the original containers. But those wands aren't built to last, and the batteries will die. Spruce sells refills for its jugs and spray bottles but not for the aerosol cans, and its battery-powered wands aren't built to last, either. The incongruity between these 'earth-friendly' herbicides and all of that material waste struck both Seb and me. All told, I'm happier using tiny, targeted amounts of the Roundup Weed & Grass Killer and durable applicators of my own choosing. And I don't plan to keep using Sunday or Spruce after the batches we ordered run out. But I absolutely acknowledge their virtues, too. Connie Park/NYT Wirecutter If you've watched more than a couple of YouTube videos about gardening, I suspect you've gotten ads for Grampa's Weeder. It's pitched as an Olde Tyme secret weapon against unwanted grasses and broad-leaved lawn invaders like dandelions. Given my target-rich environment, I had to try it out. I also tried a similar tool made by Fiskars. This simple tool is an ace at pulling up deep-rooted lawn weeds like dandelions, but it's ineffective on other intruders and in rocky soil. On my dandelions and plantains, Grampa's Weeder and the Fiskars tool both performed as advertised, usually managing to pull out most of the taproots along with the foliage and thus killing the individual plant. (If you don't remove the taproots, a plant will just grow back.) Both the Grampa's Weeder and the Fiskars (shown) are adept at pulling out dandelions, taproots and all. Tim Heffernan/NYT Wirecutter Conveniently, you don't have to lean down or get on your knees to use either tool, the way you do with a traditional hand weeder. (You do have to use your foot to push them into the soil, however.) And they don't leave big holes in the lawn, the way a shovel or trowel can. That said, they are one-trick ponies. Neither worked well on the little walnut sprouts, for example, because the flexible but tough stems prevented the tools' claws from centering on and gripping the roots. They're useless in rocky soil, too, because the claws can't penetrate. I kept the Grampa's Weeder. It lacks the little ejector mechanism of the Fiskars weed puller, but I didn't find that to be much of a time-saver anyway. The simple bamboo-and-metal construction is sturdy, and it's comfortable to hold. And, above all, it's nearly silent. Using it became meditative after a while. The Fiskars weed puller, whose plastic parts never ceased clicking and clacking while I worked, became increasingly irritating to use. I think I'd find excuses to not use it, and that's how weeds take over. Connie Park/NYT Wirecutter Let's get one thing out of the way first: Flame weeding is not flamethrowing. Banish visions of Rambo torching the jungle from your mind. Using targeted heat to kill weeds, though, is an established practice. Steam and hot-foam equipment is used by some professionals, but for homeowners, propane torches are the way to go. For obvious reasons, they can't be used everywhere. They're intended for flame-resistant surfaces like concrete, asphalt, rock, and gravel — places where weeding by hand is difficult or impossible. The University of California's Agricultural and Natural Resources department has some additional guidelines on flame weeding safety, including advice on keeping extinguishing materials nearby and avoiding use in windy, dry, high fire-risk conditions. I tested a popular torch made by Bernzomatic. It hooks up to a standard 16-ounce propane cylinder (available for about $10 at any hardware or outdoors store), so it's light enough to carry in one hand. It has a built-in manual igniter, and its long flame tube lets you stand upright while working. This torch is lightweight, self-igniting, and long enough to use standing upright. It's a good (and satisfying) tool for controlling weeds on nonflammable surfaces. The test area consisted of gravel-choked sidewalk cracks, which the dandelions and plantains consider an excellent place to raise children. The Bernzomatic torch was easy to set up and made quick work of the weeding. After sweeping away any dead leaves and dry grass clippings with a push broom (to avoid unwanted flareups), I simply held the flame over each plant for a second or two — just long enough to make the foliage change to a slightly darker green. This indicates that the plant tissue has been heated enough to kill it; there's no need to burn the weeds to ashes. Seared to perfection. This picture was taken about 18 hours after I torched a strip of the driveway, but the plants actually withered within a few hours of being treated. Tim Heffernan/NYT Wirecutter One thing to note: Torches destroy only above-ground foliage. That's usually enough to kill young weeds outright, per the North Carolina State Extension's guide to glyphosate alternatives, but you usually have to go back and hit mature plants again. Drawing on energy stored in their roots, they can come back several times before their reserves are used up. Like weed pullers, weed torches are essentially one-trick ponies. You should not use them on lawns or in brush (a fire danger), and the flame isn't precise enough to target individual weeds within a crowded garden bed. With care, they can be used in open beds, but if the beds are mulched, make sure that the mulch is properly soaked before you light up. However, people do use weed torches for a few non-gardening purposes, like igniting brush piles and melting ice on sidewalks. There are more efficient ways to do both, but there's something to be said for the fun of wielding the awesome power of fire in your very own hands. None of the above options are ideal for use in vegetable gardens and flowerbeds. And Roundup should never be used anywhere you'll be planting food crops — not even to kill weeds beforehand. Try a stirrup hoe instead. Wirecutter's Sebastian Compagnucci got his stirrup hoe during the pandemic, when his garden became a refuge, and due to this tool's precise, efficient action, his weeding time was cut in half. For uprooting unwanted shrubs and small trees, I've never found a better tool than a transplanting spade. As the name suggests, this tool is also ideal for transplanting (or simply planting) things. And due to its short handles, a transplanting spade is much more maneuverable in the confines of a yard than a standard shovel. A hori-hori is one of our favorite gardening tools. Shaped like a short sword but dished like a trowel, it's great for digging out deep-rooted weeds that are growing close to plants you want to keep. In my raised beds, I found my hori-hori more effective than the weed pullers, which tended to sink into the soft soil and didn't get enough leverage to work properly. A string trimmer can keep weeds knocked down, and it can give desirable plants time to grow and eventually crowd out the weeds for good. I also use mine as a makeshift edger. All this said, now that I've gotten our weed situation under a modicum of control, I find myself frequently turning to the simplest tool of all: my own hands. It really doesn't take long to yank the weeds out of a patch of lawn or the corner of a raised bed. And this approach somehow seems more fair. The plants we call weeds are some of the great survivors and settlers of the living world. The least I can do is give them an honest fight. This article was edited by Jen Gushue and Harry Sawyers.
