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#1
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Tiller
We are thinking of buying a tiller for our neglected garden, both for
current "garden beds" and to make new ones by cultivating the soil (now a collection of beatuful weeds on a very uneven ground), then just keep tilling until the weeds are decreasing in density. Finally mix in soil improvements etc. and then use shallow and/or narrow tilling to help keep weeds down. Last time I did it with spadework - lots of it, and the garden beds masses of weeds shows I made a good job of preparing the soil. Now I am older and lazier (and my back hurts more). My brother (in Sweden) sells the Mantis tiller and he tells me that a Mantis is what I should have. However, these are rather expensive outside USA, including in Australia. Therefore I would like some advice on 1) would a tiller be of great / some/ little help? 2) is a 4stroke engine to be preferred above a 2stroke one? 3) is a Mantis worth the extra money? 4) or, what tiller / type of tiller should I buy? |
#2
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Tiller
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#3
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Tiller
wrote in message
news We are thinking of buying a tiller for our neglected garden, both for current "garden beds" and to make new ones by cultivating the soil (now a collection of beatuful weeds on a very uneven ground), then just keep tilling until the weeds are decreasing in density. Finally mix in soil improvements etc. and then use shallow and/or narrow tilling to help keep weeds down. Last time I did it with spadework - lots of it, and the garden beds masses of weeds shows I made a good job of preparing the soil. Now I am older and lazier (and my back hurts more). My brother (in Sweden) sells the Mantis tiller and he tells me that a Mantis is what I should have. However, these are rather expensive outside USA, including in Australia. Therefore I would like some advice on 1) would a tiller be of great / some/ little help? depends how big your yard is - unless you have a very very big yard, buying one would be pointless - one just doesn't use them that often as repeated tilling will bugger your soil structure entirely. once plants are in (which is the point of it ;-) you can't use a rotary hoe anyway. 2) is a 4stroke engine to be preferred above a 2stroke one? dunno :-) 3) is a Mantis worth the extra money? in general, if something is better & costs more, buy it in preference to crap that breaks. however, you also want to balance the quality you need, the country of origin, etc etc. 4) or, what tiller / type of tiller should I buy? again, unless your yard is huge, just don't. they are extraordinarily expensive, you don't want to over-till, and (the clincher, imo) kennards, bunnings (boo hiss), various private persons, & so forth hire them out. :-) we have an enormous yard (because we live in the country) & use the rotary hoe exceedingly rarely. any sections that get hoed only get done once, then they get planted up &/or left to recover (covered) from tilling. we didn't buy ours, it was a present. i very much doubt we would buy one if left to our own devices - i can't imagine it would be worth the cost. it's a great thing to have for when you want it, but on balance, hiring one from time to time (or just not using one at all) would have been equally fine. kylie |
#4
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Tiller
g'day,
most small tillers are little more than toys and only usefull where the soil is already tilled they don't do a very good job if at all of tilling virgin ground. the 7 or 8 hp hoinda model does a good job but it is also expensive. so why not consider raised bed gardening no tilling ever, come see how we do ours on our site. On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:57:48 +1000, wrote: snipped With peace and brightest of blessings, len & bev -- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand." http://www.lensgarden.com.au/ |
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