This year I had a bunch of pine needles and put them around my tomato
plants. Probalby several inches thick as I had a large pine removed and
needed to do something with the needles.

Can I use my tiler to grind them into the soil or should I try and rake
them out. There is a lot of grass growing around them now from when I
pulled up the tomato plants and their cages so I would not be able to
save them for next year.