This garden tool helped me get rid of weeds fast — and it saved my back

(Image credit: Grampa's Weeder)

I'll admit - I never gave much thought to the gardening tool I used to get rid of dandelions. Like my colleague Camilla, I've used a two-pronged weeding tool to get rid of dandelions for years, and it works well. Even better: it costs around $20.

However, my wife decided to use some Amazon points and take a flier on another weeding tool that cost twice as much, but promised not only to rid our yard of dandelions, but save our backs in the process.

Enter Grampa's Weeder: This quaintly named product, which the company says has been around for just over a century, has a simple, but ingenius design. At the bottom of a 45-inch wooden pole are two sets of metal prongs on a hinge; connected to one set is a small lever, about 6 inches long.

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I was a bit skeptical about Grampa's Weeder until I tried it. It was so easy to pull dandelions out of my yard that it turned what was a chore into a kind of sport.

To use the weeder, you drive the prongs down on either side of a dandelion, making sure to bracket its root. Then, you step on the lever with one foot, and pull the pole down towards the ground, and out pops the dandelion, roots and all.

Although I'm the last person who will say no to a new tool in the shed, I was a bit skeptical about Grampa's Weeder until I tried it. It was so easy to pull dandelions out of the yard that it turned what was a chore into a kind of sport. Because I no longer had to bend down to dig out dandelions, it made the task so much more enjoyable.

Grampas weeder pulling out a dandelion — (Image credit: Future)

While I'll still need a pair of the best gardening gloves for other tasks, I also appreciated the fact that I didn't really get my hands dirty, either. You still have to give the weeder a good shake to knock the dandelion out of the prongs, though you could give it a whack on the side of a 5-gallon bucket.

You can find any number of variations of this tool on Amazon and at other home stores; I kind of like the retro design of the one we bought. The company does note that it works best in damp or moist soil, and not so well in drier or rockier conditions. I haven't tried it, but Fiskars 4-claw stand-up weeder ($48, Amazon) appears to have sharper claws, which may work better in drier soil.

Grampa's Weeder has done so well on the dandelions in my yard and is so easy to use, I just might start offering my services to my neighbors.

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Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.