I finally made it! I've been trying to post here for two days straight, but other aspects of my life kept intervening. I'm basically a hand weeder, but carry some small (not nearly on the scale of Daves!) tools with me as I go. One gets to know weeds intimately when one is down on one's knees pulling them one by one. I know exactly which weeds will pull easily and which ones need a bit of persuasion from my tools. Basically, I carry with me a special trowel and a an ordinarily hand weeder (see below). The hand weeder is for smaller weeds and tight places, the trowel is for larger ones. I like this particular trowel because it is serrated on the sides, so I can saw right through tough roots, even if they're half an inch thick. It also has a ruler on its face, so that I can measure the depth of a hole when I plant something.
I used to weed without gloves, but since nitrile gloves came along, I've been wearing those. Weeding between low-growing cactus plants calls for heavy rubber gloves that extend halfway up my arm. They also come in handy for groping around in the mud and trimming roses.
