Su says:

April 30th, 2009 at 9:06 am

Tillers are HARD work in previously untilled ground - I would hire someone with a tiller. Since you’ve never used one before, it doesn’t appear to make sense to buy one, unless you plan to replace the tractor guy. You may not even need to have him come in every year, if you plant blocks of stuff in “raised beds” and don’t walk in the planted areas. The beds don’t even have to be boxed in to be “raised” - your walking in the pathways will compact them, and the planting areas will end up as low mounds between paths. As you add compost to the beds, they will mound up even more.

laura says:

April 30th, 2009 at 9:34 am

i doubled the size of my garden from 5′x20′ to 12′x20′ this year with the help of a tiller and my father. tilling grass is hard work, and the big tilling monster we rented (2 hrs for $30) was difficult for me to control. my father and i tag teamed it, trading back and forth when we got tired. it took us the entire two hours, and it was totally worth every penny.

it took me three years of hand digging to get my garden up to the 5′x20′ size. i cant fathom trying to dig that much sod up in one year, let alone in time to be ready for planting (especially if working full time). there was a smaller tiller i could have rented, but a smaller tiller would have taken even longer to till the same area, so i went with the bigger one thinking more power would be better(MWAHAHahaha). if i ever do it again, i may well just go with the smaller one so i can control/hang on better.

Debw says:

April 30th, 2009 at 10:18 am

When I converted the back yard to garden we rented a rear tine tiller. I couldn’t beleive how much smoother it worked than the front tiner that we had before! Then the new tiller purchase was rear tine.
I feel your aprehension in not wanting to hand dig the new territory but unless you want tiller guy to come back I would go to the rental center near you and rent a rear tine, get a firm grip with sturdy gloves and go for it, you can do it yourself (but you will have to make your own little medal that says so).

Robyn Dochterman says:

April 30th, 2009 at 10:52 am

Good thoughts and comments here. I asked a neighbor about borrowing theirs, and they’re willing, but it’s too heavy to just heft into my truck bed. So now I either need ramps or I need to tow the thing down the road while it’s in neutral (and that’ll be a two-person job — and is certain to be a circus of its own.)

Margaret says:

April 30th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

Pete, I have a electric mantis that I’ve had for 5 years and it’s done yeoman’s work with only one change of cotter pin. It will bounce on very hard clay soil. (Carpal tunnel!) I have found that it does better on very compacted earth if you swing a pick axe in a few places ahead of time, just to give the teeth something to grab which means less bounce. Also start on the slow setting and move up after you’ve broken the top layer.

Laura C says:

April 30th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

We rented a tiller from Ace a couple years ago when we added a garden to our yard. It worked very well, but it seemed a bit hard to control in our dense clay soil. I would definitely rent again, rather than ever purchasing something so bulky.

flytrap says:

April 30th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

We-that is, my husband more than I-hand dug my garden two years ago when we bought our house. It was about 10′x15′ then, and we were digging up well-established sod. Last year I dug it larger myself (DH vowed to never do that again) to about 16′x22.’ It is possible, and it will only take you a day, but it’s pretty intense work. Then again, I’m sort of a glutton for punishment (read: way to cheap to rent or buy a tiller) and I kinda like getting all sweaty and dirty.

Robin says:

April 30th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

I have the garden tractor with the rototiller attachment that I use in my corn and potato patch and in the strawberry patch. I love it. However, my vegetable garden is raised beds and I use the garden fork to break up the soil and a hand tiller to smooth it out. I am looking for a small tiller that I can weed between the rows of the corn patch and strawberry beds. So I guess I will have all the types of tillers.

robin says:

May 1st, 2009 at 6:37 am

My tiller works beautiful. I was lucky that I had the opportunity to split the cost of a John Deere with my dad. The tiller was part of the package. Now I am looking to add new gardens, just to use the tiller. and it won’t be one season use. I can till in the fall and plant cover crop to grow over the winter and then till back in the spring..

Michelle says:

May 1st, 2009 at 1:13 pm

I have four 4- by 8-foot raised beds, which produce bushels of produce, and I never till at all. I use the newspaper method, laying several layers over the closely mowed grass. I build the raised bed on top of this spot, then fill the bed with compost and some topsoil from a pile in the yard or a 99-cent bag. Depending on my mood & my budget, I’ll add a bag or two of peat, and maybe a little sand until it all feels right. The newspaper keeps the weeds at bay til the vegetable roots & worms finish the tilling. Clean the beds out in the fall, add more compost, and hoe it into the mix in the spring. Easy peas(y). Gotta go work on that fifth bed this weekend!

for foot says:

May 5th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

rent a sod cutter, use the sod or sell to cover the rental. Then roto till.