Ken, Barry, Phil, Thanks for the comments.
I had been thinking on this for a while, and decided to go ahead with the Mini-hoe with what I had available. I have almost finished a fully articulated Front-hoe, I just need to make a firm decision on the valves that I want to use. I have 4 sets of forks, and decided to make some other use for them. I had posted over a year ago a plant digger using a cut down water tank to make a scoop for plants, which bolted to one of the forks. It works fairly well, but it is thin gage metal. I also made an engine hoist with extendable boom. When I get the time, I intend to make a three bladed tree spade, to push all three blades in the ground and lift a medium size plant, for transplanting, or installing new plants.