Recommendations for smaller tiller/WORKHORSE

Need a tiller that's on the smaller side. A friend has a SMALL one she bought for $100 but her beds are set and it's just upkeep. That works great. I'm looking for a small tiller (relatively) and dont want to spend more than I have to ($300-400?) but dont know if this is realistic. I am converting a grassy area to flower beds, a little at a time. So far, I have been digging by hand, then friend told me about hers. I want a tiller that will dig up the grass and dig a trench. Saw a great video on Youtube, but it's a UK company/item. Am I being unrealistic? I finally have a sunny backyard and want to fill the border with beds of lovely plants to attract butterflies, hummingbirds, bees...have been doing my homework re: perennials, bought some starter bushes like butterfly bushes, weiglea, etc and planning for fall planting. So ideally would like to buy in August and prep areas. The soil is rather compacted/hard with some stones. Unfortunately my backyard is "up a level" so it's not condusive to bringing in soil or mulch by delivery/truckload, we have been bringing it up by bags, and both my husband and I are getting on in years. We bought our retirement home fairly recently and the front yard is mostly professionally landscaped by the previous owner. I am VERY excited about this project, but have to pace myself as my back is not the best....and a "workhorse" tiller that would dig up the lawn and trench down would be heavenly! :o)
Photo of area attached

I live in UK, believe me, I have 10 acres and know of NO small tiller that will cut and chopp into grass AND break up compacted soil especially where there are known stones.
My advice would be to go to DIY stores to garden machinery section, ask questions, ask for leaflets / Catalogues, once you get a few branded names you THINK may be your choice, then go on line directly to the chosen company, they will have someone to advise you, tell them exactly what your looking for and be truthful about the type of project you are planning to make this machine work for you and ask what they would recommend. We have always had great help and advice for the people within the named companies and in fact, they have been honest enough to recomend other companies to us IF there machinery wont tackle the jobs at hand.

The other think to try is, Garden machinery HIRE companies, they hire machinery for a day, week, whatever and IF you have the project laid out and ready for the machinery arriving, then you might NOT require the outlay of purchasing a tiller, just hiring one evey weekend or however long, may be better than one you purchased and it sits idle in your garage for years unused as after the job was done it was redundant, believe me, the garden stores love folks who buy expensive gadgets and the money laid out was not really needed after the work was done,
Maybe look out for a second hand one, there are garages all over UK with unused garden equipment that was a great idea at the time.

Hope this gives you food for thought.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

I would suggest renting a bigger one until the initial breaking is done, then buying a smaller one that you can use seasonally as needed. I have used a tractor mounted tiller, and a rear-tine tiller, and both are much better than any front tine tiller. The front tine tillers are OK once the initial breaking is done, and the soil is reasonable.

Here is how I would do this:

1) Spray the grasses and any other nasty weeds (bermuda grass, morning glory, whatever local nasties you have) to kill them. Spray at least twice before you begin removal.

2) Lightly till as a way of breaking loose the dead material, and rake up all you can. This is more of a scraping of the surface rather than digging up much dirt. A small tiller will probably do this.

3) Now use the heavy tiller (rented) and really go to town on breaking up the soil. Do it a couple of times, raking out more dead material (and especially anything that did not die!)

4) While the soil is soft build mounds or whatever, trench for irrigation and any other soil moving you want to do.

5) Install irrigation, header board, low voltage lighting wire.

6) Add LOTS of organic matter. If your small tiller will do the deep work while the soil is still soft from being worked with the rented machine, do that. Otherwise get the big machine back.

7) Last rake through, giving you a finished grade, and removal of the last bits of dead material.

I agree that a better quality, though used, tiller is a better buy than a new one that is cheap junk. Keep your eye on Craig's List, garage sales and other sources. Ask at repair shops near you. Around here if a machine is not picked up soon it is sold, basically for the cost of whatever repairs were done. Does not happen often, but it is worth asking. Also, the local rental yards sell off their old, but well maintained equipment. Get to know when they do this.

Thank you for yr input!!!!

valal, I had a lot of difficulty planting in the northeast area of our house where the soil is compacted clay and stones ranging from pebbles to 1-ft. boulders and the tree roots of the surrounding forest have filled the soil. So basically I gave up and I decided to top the area with mulch and compost and plant in the compost. However, that would require starting with small plants with roots no bigger than 6 inches at the beginning, otherwise you have gigantic mountains next to the grass. A small shrub can grow very large in a few years, so even a plant with only 6" roots can still look fine.

WeeNel has provided wise advice about renting equipment and Diana's step-by-step plan is excellent, but if there's a particular area that is just too difficult to till as a last resort you can always just order soil from a local dealer. If you're interested Google "loam Massachusetts" and you will see many companies that offer loam, compost, and mulch by the square yard. I live in Hopkinton near you and I get $4 hay bales which is excellent growing medium once composted. However, hay is the least attractive mulch so if you want nice-looking beds from day one put a layer of soil on the hay. - N.G.

Quick note:
Bulk material (soil, soil conditioner, rock.. ) is sold by volume, cubic yard. Not by area (square yard).

DG. Thank you for yr Northeast input...you are right in my neck of the woods. Part of my problem stems from the fact that when our home was built, it was built so that you drive up the driveway to a wall of rocks on top of which is our backyard behind a fence, So having soil or mulch delivered entails hauling this up wheelbarrow full up a set of stairs and around the house to the back yard. Either that or have someone with big machinery come in and lift the soil or mulch up a story into the backyard over a fence. Does not make my prospect of doing so really enticing.

I have, however, done a lot of research including reviews and found a Mantis is tiller/cultivation with a one year customer satisfaction guarantee. I'm getting ready to order one and see well it works for me!

Diana, yes loam is sold by cubic yard. I'm not good at math and geometry or the terms. When I order loam, sawdust, and mulch I just say how many yards I need.

valal, I see the logistics are too difficult for loam delivery. Good luck with your new tiller! N.G.

You are right, that setting is a nightmare for bulk deliveries. I would still get all you can, perhaps in bags that are light enough for you to handle, just plenty of them.

That's my plan....buy by the bag. Hubby says that's going to be (more) expensive, but it just dont see any other logistics. Hubby is older than I am and can haul bag few at a time, but dont want to overtax him!

As I see it, there is NOOOOOO cheep way to get some jobs done and done properly,, there must be some landscape companies around that you coulp pick their brains as I am absolutely sure that they MUST come across areas like your's where they have to use machinery to get any supplies to the place they are required.

There are other places that hire equipment like chutes to carry good back, up ,down , or along, you may have to call in friend or relations to give extra hands BUT this job is surely a ONE OFF. therefore you have to do it right and NOT skimp on materials, therefore THAT conclusion merits the extra hands, extra machinery help OR extra money, you wont manage without at least one of those.
Just take your time and think about it and all the different ways before you either dismiss an idea or go for the idea's.

Good luck I'm sure you'll find a way.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

I work for such a company, and there are some jobs that just call for some wheelbarrow, carry-by-hand or similar solution.

While it is true that you might figure out how to get some equipment to do the job (conveyor or something) by the time you add up rental cost and man power to load it at one end and unload at the other you might just as well buy twice as much compost in bags and host a bar-b-que for all your strong, able bodied friends. Price of admission: 10 trips up and down to move bags of compost.

If you have any friends that sell or deliver roofing supplies, that is the sort of truck you need. They deliver roofing material to the roof from the driveway via conveyor belt that is truck mounted.

Excellent ideas given so far but if I may add one more...
Our city offers free compost to residents on a one cubic yard per month basis but you have to haul it yourself. Since I don't haven't had a pickup truck in several years now, I've accumulated about a half dozen 5 gallon buckets which I take to the facility and fill myself using a shovel. While it's not quite as neatly "convenient" as bagged compost or soil, it's free and I can fill all of the buckets or just a couple as needed. In addition, the buckets are easy to carry and about half the weight of bagged materials. Lastly,I end up with no plastic bags to have to recycle or get rid of in some fashion...
Check with your city and see if they offer a similar service or even a local "sell by volume" type garden retailer near you.
Hope this helps...
Steve

A suggestion to save you, cover the area with cardboard then material to hold it in place... grass clippings, leaves, compost, soil. Leave it till spring. Let this soften your garden area and kill off the grass. Come spring time, put your plants in place.

Set the new plants in proper soil into the ground (anywhere) to winter over in their nursery containers.

My in Hopkinton...just 're read this and am wondering where u get yr hay. I got a price of $8 for a bale...twice what u pay!

valal, I used to get $4.50 hay bales from JB Sawmill in Hopkinton, but they sold out this year so they gave me the number of the guy who they buy from. I can't remember his number, but the folks at the sawmill can give you his contact information:

http://jbsawmill.com/

It's good hay and my rabbits like it better than the Sweet Meadow hay I used to give them. And a mother wild turkey likes to bring her chicks to forage the hay as well (see attached picture).

Nancy G.

Hay is good food for animals. May be grass (any of several sorts, or a blend) usually cut before it goes to seed, or any of several legumes (alfalfa is most common out here) or a blend of legume + grass.
As it is intended for animal feed it will be grown with that in mind, and harvested just right for optimum nutrition. Cost will be more because of this care in producing a valuable crop.

Straw works just as well for garden use. Straw is the waste material from a (usually) grass crop such as rice, wheat, oats or similar. It is the remaining stems, usually not much leaf matter, after the real crop (the grain) has been harvested. As the straw is a secondary crop, it is cheaper, partially because the care has gone into producing a good harvest of grain. Clearing the field after the grain harvest is not so critical, so this part of the harvest is cheaper.

Look for straw as erosion control materials and animal bedding. Either way you still have the problem of getting the material (often bales are 100+ lbs) to the site.

This message was edited Aug 22, 2014 6:01 AM

Diana, yes hay tends to be more expensive than straw. I got hay early this year, so the hay man only had 1st cut hay which includes all the straw, weeds, etc. from last year's crop overwintering. He was worried I wouldn't want it because rabbit people usually prefer 2nd cut hay which is greener and softer and pure grass without straw or weeds. However, all my rabbits have preferred 1st cut hay and it's crunchier which is good for their teeth, and I like when my rabbits are happy (see picture).

Also, when the field is left to overwinter the plants decompose and add nutrients to the soil so the first crop of hay (1st cut) takes most of the nutrients, therefore, the 2nd cut and 3rd cut are not as nutritious. Thus, 1st cut hay is best for rabbits even though it's not the conventional rabbit hay. Anyway, for purposes of garden mulch, both hay and straw are great. So I look for the least expensive option of what's available that season. - Nancy G.

Cute rabbits- The silver one looks like he wants to know why you are taking a picture.

Diana, yes, they are cute! However, the silver one is a female. Her name is Star. The babies on the left are hers, and they look even cuter at two months (attached photo).

Nancy G.

Nancy,

Thanks so much for the straw/sawmill info. Do you buy alot at a time? I'm only looking for a few bales for the garden, so this guy might not think I'm worth the bother :) I will follow up as needed.
I LOVE your bunnies..they are so adorable. And your silver girl ...walks on a leash?? How many bunnies do you have? Do you raise/sell them or for yourself. THOROUGHLY enjoyed your photos including the wild turkeys! We've had some wild turkeys on occassion in the yard, but non so little as your babies...Mostly adolescents and/or just adults.

A couple years ago, my husband was cleaning some leaves out on the border of our back yard (wooded) and came in for dinner; my 8 lb. shih tzu went out and was standing in that area barking. he's a barker and I thought he found a toad or something, but he wouldn't come. So i went over and there huddled in a hole were 4 baby bunnies (wild). I couldn't find the photo..must be on the other computer.

As an added note, I started this topic looking for a "workhorse" tiller. Well, I ordered a Mantis, and it just arrived this past week and today (my day off!) I got my first passes in. What a GREAT tool. I am SO thrilled with it! I spent an hour and a half and got a good deal done in that short amount of time. I've got my work cut out for me but this slices thru the ground like butter! AMAZING! I'm a very happy camper! Have a great weekend!

Great to hear the tiller is working for you. What model did you get? I see a lot of ads for the Mantis brand name.

Valal, you're welcome! I was told that Steve doesn't have a minimum order, but I needed a lot of hay to prepare for next year's garden so I got 18 bales. I'm not sure what town he works in but it was in Massachusetts and quite a distance from Hopkinton. Or you might want to consider picking up the hay at his location.

My bunnies like to go out on a leash but it's impossible to train a rabbit to walk on a leash like a dog would. The leash is just to prevent them from getting lost. The silver rabbit and her daughters (Marina and Soleil) were adopted and now I only have two (1st photo). I use rabbit manure to fertilize my garden and it work's great because as far as I know rabbits are the only animals that produce cold fertilizer that can be applied fresh on the garden without composting.

Next to my rabbits are photos of plants that have benefited from their "help". I completely covered my south garden in rabbit manure and hay and now everything I plant their thrives. I had tried growing clematis about five times and failed then I got 1 1/2 flowers from my Earnest Markham planted in a pot last year, but this year when I put it in the south garden it bloomed twice and produced dozens of flowers (2nd photo). There was a white hydrangea in my south garden that stopped blooming for years but with this new soil and updated irrigation system it is blooming again (right side of 3rd photo). My 15" Invincebelle Spirit Hydrangea produced many blooms the first year and the woman who sold it to me was surprised when I told her it had a 7" bloom 2 months after it was planted. In its second season it is 4 ft. high and has been blooming all summer (4th photo).

Nancy G.

Nancy,

Your bunnies are ADORABLE! Sounds like they MORE than earn their keep! :)

Have been thinking of going to local horse barn and ask for hay/manure (stall cleanouts) but my back has been acting up so I'm pacing myself.

I have always wanted a clematis...it's on my list....LOVELY flowers! Enjoyed your photos...SO beautiful. Just goes to show you if you feed your plants good stuff, they will pay you back in spades! :)

Have a great day..I'm off to the garden!
Val

Val, it's a great day for gardening in Massachusetts! We had a nice summer with very little humidity, though I guess beachgoers prefer hotter weather. Normally, I have to wear mosquito gear when I garden in the summer because we live next to a swamp and the humidity and layers of clothing make gardening a chore. For me, fun gardening time is in the spring and autumn when the weather cools.

Anyway, regarding feeding plants I'm not recommending any method, but I just wanted to add that I use the layering method of gardening which is just piling on thing on top of another. It's also known as the lasagna method and the permaculture people (permies) use this method as well. There are a lot of excellent and successful ways to garden, and it's more art than else. But I just wanted to clarify that I put the rabbit manure and all other fertilizers, hay, bark dust, etc. directly on top of the soil and just keep adding layer upon layer, so I hope this helps in case anyone reading wanted to try the amendments I recommended. - Nancy G.

Morning Nancy,

Yes, I'm THRILLED with our summer weather, unlike alot of the "beach goers". I am NOT a heat/humidity type person. Yes, I like to going to the beach, but endless months of heat/humidity are not my type of fun. So I have much enjoyed this summer, esp'lly since I'm working on my gardening project. Most summers I dont want to go out in the garden in the summer! LOL!

I had seen the lasagna method of gardening, but a bit too late. VERY interesting. I started my compost pile this year and am going to go that route. Husband (who doesnt garden) didnt like the "straw bale" garden idea that I thought would be fun to try. Am curious what other fertilzers you use in your layering...do you use a powder/granular? or other composted manure or such?

Val

Val, I used to add plain rabbit droppings to the ground but I didn't want to see the little poops in my garden so now I've begun to compost rabbit manure. In the past I've had great success with Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food, so although I had vowed to only use organic fertilizer I will make an exception for that type. A 10-pound box is a good deal. By the way, I don't mix it with water; I just put it in a plastic fish bowl and walk around the garden throwing it on the ground and it is absorbed when it rains, or you can hose water the area and the blue fertilizer will disappear in a minute.

As for other organic fertilizers, I just use what is available. I was experimenting on how to compost manure quickly so I got a few gallons of a "manure digester" that farmers use to compost cow waste, but now that I use the layering method for my compost I don't need it for its original purpose; but it has yucca which is excellent for compost so I throw some on the compost every now and then and I also throw it on the ground next to my plants. The astilbe with the yucca look much better than the ones without it. The yucca fertilized astilbe are dark green and still have lush leaves but the others have lighter colored leaves that died soon after the flowers went away, but they also have more sunlight so that could be a factor.

I've been placing the yucca in my south garden for two years, and that is the most fertile garden. Last year I planted a mouse ears hosta in my north garden and it only grew about four sickly leaves and was attacked by a leaf-eating pest, so I transplanted it in the south garden and now it has over 40 thick healthy leaves and produced many flowers. However, the south garden has had so many layers added and I've worked for years building the soil. I also, add greensand to my garden (from Texas), and I've found that plants that have greensand need less water.

I add Epsom Salts to my garden such as for my tomato plant that produced I think about 900 cherry tomatoes, but the Epsom salt killed a potted rue in less than 24 hours so I use it in small quantities and dilute it. I heard lava rock is good for plants so this year I added Chinchilla bath dust on my plants. Because I use so many fertilizers and compost, it's difficult to say exactly why some plants do well. However, almost all my plants did well this year so I will continue plodding along learning new things as I go. - Nancy G.

Best way to figure out what to use is to do a soil test, or see if someone has already done one in your area. Add the fertilizers that the soil is low in. As the plants grow better they will start using all the elements more and more, so it is a constant, slow system of adding what they use in something close to the amounts they use.

Epsom salt is good if the soil is low in magnesium. But an overdose can remove the water from the root cells, killing the plant.
Most manures have low levels of actual nutrients, only a little more than are used by the microorganisms that decompose the manures. However, they add a lot of organic matter to the soil when they are used often, and this benefits the soil organisms, and changes the pH of the soil so that whatever nutrients are there become more available to the plants.
Adding minerals such as greensand should be done only if the soil needs it. This is a source of potassium. Plants use potassium to regulate their water content. If the plants responded to it, this is a sign that the soil was low in potassium.
Lava rock is baked so hard by the earth that whatever minerals are in it are almost totally locked up.

V: so what Mantis model did you get? We're needing a new one. Our tiller is worn out.

Hi birder!
I bought the 4 cycle tiller. I didnt want to mess with the oil/gas combination, wanted to go "as simple as possible" for upkeep and filling....as I've never used one. I have to say I highly recommend it and it has done everything I had hoped and made my life so much easier and I've gotten SO much done in the yard/digging up the grass for garden beds!
I have run into roots (and rocks) and the tines are very easy to take off, clean out, and put back on..
What kind of tiller have you been using? A smaller hand one, or a BIG one?
If you have any other questions, please feel free to post or Dmail me!
Val

Hi,

I am considering purchasing a new garden tiller; I figure I should purchase it now so I have it when the season begins. I am checking whether anyone has any proposals/suggestions for me. Anything from brand, style, and so on would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Check out MANTIS tillers on line (www.mantis.com)....you can also find them locally, but I bought mine on line as they have a 90 day money back guarantee, I did a lot of research and watched YouTube and other demos....I wanted to make sure it would do what I wanted and what it professed to do. I was NOT disappointed. They have different options....I went with the 4 cycle to avoid gas/oil mixture and the prices were reasonable....a bargain for what it does! You can opt 4 monthly payments also. I could never have created so many new garden beds this year without! And I would give rave reviews to anyone who asks. It's not too heavy, relatively easy to maneuver ( just don't let it run too far ahead of you....it's easier if you pull back to till) Comes with 5 yr warranty and lifetime blade warranty. If roots etc get stuck in blades, it's simple to clean.

If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer

This message was edited Jan 2, 2015 8:27 PM