Garden cleaning implement for cutting/macerating weeds above and below ground

A method of cutting and macerating weeds and the like, both above and below the ground line, comprising:

• a) providing a hand carryable cutting mechanism, including
• i) a rotatable shaft operationally connectable to an associated source of rotational power;
• and
• ii) a rotatable cutting member in functionally rigid attachment with said rotatable shaft, said rotatable cutting member having at least one functional cutting point rotatable within a plane capable of cutting weeds above the ground and macerating their roots within the ground;
• and
• an associated guard mechanism, including
• iii) a moveable, retractable housing having a enclosing cavity of a size sufficient to receive therein said rotatable cutting member when said rotatable cutting member is rotating;
• and
• iv) a guide, in operational connection between said retractable housing and said cutting mechanism and located above said cutting member, for guiding the retraction of said retractable housing along a path extending above said cutting member between first and second positions, said first position being a position in which said rotatable cutting member is disposed within said enclosing cavity functionally isolating it from adjacent vegetation outside of said housing, and said second position being a position in which said rotatable cutting member is below and outside of said enclosing cavity, allowing it to be relatively easily pushed down into the ground while rotatably being driven to macerate the roots of the weeds;
• b) manually moving said cutting mechanism around above the ground in a side ways and then up and down fashion, cutting the weeds above the ground as the weeds enter into said housing in said first position while using the housing to protect any surrounding vegetation outside of the housing;
• c) manually pushing said cutting member down into the ground while said housing is inherently moved up to said second position above said cutting member along said path due to the lower, bottom peripheral edges of the housing contacting and being resisted by the ground, macerating the roots of the weeds and tilling the surrounding ground;
• and
• d) thereafter manually moving the cutting member up out of the ground, causing said housing to again move down about said cutting member along said path toward said first position.