Garden Tiller

Whether you buy, rent or borrow a garden tiller, you will find that it has many uses. In some countries, particularly in Southeast Asia where farms are small, a rotary garden tiller is a general purpose farm tool. It can be a general purpose garden tool for you.

A garden tiller can be fitted with attachments to do jobs other than garden tilling. Some of the small hand-held garden tiller models can be equipped with dethatching tines or rotary brushes. Some of the larger rear-tine garden tiller models can handle a snow/dirt blade or a middle buster (lister); and can have the entire garden tiller assembly replaced with a sicklebar mower, a shredder/grinder or even a generator. These attachments can be useful, but may not work as well as separate machines. You have to decide whether this capability will be useful for you.

A Rotary garden tiller can be used for primary tillage (working up the garden in the spring), secondary tillage (breaking up clods and preparing the soil for planting) and for cultivation while the crop is growing. Under ideal conditions, one pass with the garden tiller may provide both primary and secondary tillage, leaving a good seedbed. Under other conditions, multiple passes of the garden tiller may be needed to chop up existing vegetation and then prepare the seedbed.

If vegetation is heavy, it is often helpful to make one or two passes by the garden tiller and then leave it alone until after the next rain before tilling again. This process will help the vegetation to break down. Primary tillage requires the slowest speed (lowest gear) available, but you can sometimes use a garden tiller’s higher gear for secondary tillage. You should always run your garden tiller at full engine rpm and then shift up or down as needed.

A garden tiller can be effective at cultivating around crops, and the cultivation can usually be done at a higher ground speed than you would use for primary or secondary tillage. Be careful to use the garden tiller with a very shallow depth setting when cultivating to avoid damaging crop roots. It is best to avoid walking on the cultivated ground since weeds will germinate and/or re-establish better in your footprints.

A rotary garden tiller can contribute to the health of your garden soil by incorporating cover crops and green manure crops. In our climate, it is difficult to increase organic matter permanenly, but you can improve structure and tilth by incorporating vegetation and/or compost. A garden tiller can also be used in planting cover crops. After a seedbed is prepared, you can broadcast seed and then run the garden tiller over the ground at high speed and minimum depth to cover the seeds. A garden tiller is most effective at covering larger seeds such as peas. Small cover crop seeds such as ryegrass may be covered too deeply by a garden tiller; raking or dragging is more effective for small seeds.

Probably the most useful accessory for your garden tiller is a wide sweep or middlebuster (sometimes called a "furrower"). This tool attaches to the rear of the garden tiller (with the tines still in place) and allows you to dig a shallow furrow. Two adjacent passes with a sweep or middlebuster will throw up a raised bed. You can then use the garden tiller to level the top of the raised bed and plant your crops there.

A garden tiller also has uses outside of the garden. A garden tiller can be helpful when digging a ditch or trench. Just run the garden tiller over the ditch line to loosen the soil, then shovel out the loosened soil and repeat until you reach the desired depth.

Garden tiller is a useful garden helper. It is difficult to manage a large garden without one. Proper use of the garden tiller can make your gardening experience more pleasant and productive.

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