Would someone tell me what the difference is between a tiller a cultivator and
a disk harrow is. I have seen these and am wondering which one to buy for my
lawn tractor. As you can tell I am a beginner at this....I have an area about
25 by40 feet that my wife wants to plant some veggies in and it is up to me to
prepare the soil.
Thanks
Bob

Ink addict wrote:

Would someone tell me what the difference is between a tiller a cultivator and
a disk harrow is. I have seen these and am wondering which one to buy for my
lawn tractor. As you can tell I am a beginner at this....I have an area about
25 by40 feet that my wife wants to plant some veggies in and it is up to me to
prepare the soil.




A tiller has rotating tines that stir the soil, destroying all the
vegetation in its path (hopefully weeds) and making the soil loose and
easy to plant things in. The tiller usually gets used before planting
and possibly again at the end of the season before putting in a cover
crop.

A cultivator just drags something through the soil to disturb the roots
of whatever is in its path, hopefully weeds, in order to kill them. The
cultivator, properly spaced to miss the crop, can be used through the
growing season. Most lawn/garden tractors are not set up for this, since
you have to drive the tractor over the crop. Cultivating tractors for
farm use have high clearance for this purpose. Also, if you're using the
tractor to mow your lawn, you have to take off the mower when working on
the garden. You can get around this by leaving very wide spaces between
rows and cultivating to the side, but again, most lawn/garden tractors
don't have the attachments for this.

A disk harrow is a rough tool which is really designed to chop up old
crop such as cornstalks or pumpkin vines. It does not do anywhere near
as nice-looking a job as the tiller, although it can produce a nice
field with some practice. In general, it does not stir the soil as deep
as a tiller. It does a very poor job when tall grass is on the surface,
since the grass will actually hold the disks up without letting them get
a bite into the soil.

For a 25 x 40 foot garden, I'd recommend a walk-behind tiller separate
from the lawn tractor.