Martha Stewart (and Her Pro Gardeners) Swear by This $30 Japanese Tool

To domestic queen Martha Stewart, gardening is a form of meditation and one of the ways she can bring herself out of a funk — but one needs to have the right tools to make gardening fun and relaxing rather than stressful. In a recent episode of The Martha Stewart Podcast, Stewart sat down with actress and activist Jameela Jamil (who admits she’s, well, a little green when it comes to gardening) to talk about how Jamil can get better acquainted with the craft — starting with tools. 

While there are few basic things all gardeners need (like gloves and pruners), there’s one tool that Stewart gives to everyone who works in her personal gardens: a hori hori knife. And if this gardening knife is a favorite of the queen of gardening herself, it’s probably about to become a favorite of yours, too. Hori hori knives originated in Japan and the name translates to “dig dig” — a hint at all the ways you can use this versatile tool.  You can find them at garden centers and on Amazon, but Stewart sells her own version on QVC, too, for $30. Here’s why you need one. 

A hori hori knife has serrated edges, Stewart told Jamil. “I took it out in the garden because I was struggling cutting the leaves off an agave plant. … They’re very big and prickly and dangerous,” she said. “That [knife] cuts through agave leaves so perfectly, so you can prune right close to the center of the agave. … I gave one to every single person who works in my garden.”

When Stewart was designing her own version of a hori hori, she thought about what uses she’d have for it. Her knife is angled inward, so you can use it to dig the same way you would with a trowel and you can measure depth for planting bulbs thanks to the millimeter markers on the tool. One edge of the knife is serrated and the other is smooth, so you can use it to cut a variety of different foliage throughout the garden.

This set from QVC also comes with an additional serrated knife that you can either use for slicing tomatoes in the kitchen or trimming indoor plants. Both knives come with sheaths, and the hori hori’s sheath is actually a wearable holster, so you can keep it within arm’s reach while in the garden.

“Both of these tools have done so much work for me! They are tools you didn’t know you needed. … Now I will never be without them!” one QVC reviewer wrote. Someone else added, “Works wonderfully. Martha Stewart retains her quality. They remove clumps of unwanted grass easier than anything else I’ve tried.”

“These knives are just what we needed,” another shopper wrote. “My husband and I volunteer at two gardening locations. They cut right through roots, and we use the smaller one for weeds growing up through stone and brick patios and walkways.”

For gardeners of every type — not just Martha Stewart-level! — this small tool is worth pocketing.