Oh my,your post brought back a memory of 70-75 years ago. I can see my father now, swinging his scythe, and stopping occasionally to pull his hand file from his overall pocket, swiping the file up and down across the blade and then continuing his great sweeps. No gas lawn mowers back then. Our “lawn” was scythed two or three times a year and that was the extent of our landscaping. I have to laugh now, seeing my children mow, rake and groom their lawn, then blow and wash their asphalt driveways. Mom and dad furnish the berries, fruit and veggies while they labor over fancy lawns and shrubs.
Bought a new Troy-Bilt tiller last year, but it is a killer. Wish I had got the large wheel one. A couple trips up and down the garden has me heading for the lawn chair. It seems to fight me all the way.
>>>Bought a new Troy-Bilt tiller last year, but it is a killer. Wish I had got the large wheel one. A couple trips up and down the garden has me heading for the lawn chair. It seems to fight me all the way.<<<
I don’t know what happened to Troy-Bilt engineering - seems like they lost something along the way.
I’m not sure who manufactures the one I got (possibly MTD) but the same tiller is showing up in quite a few places. It has 16” wheels, both forward and reverse tine rotation (reverse works great breaking up sod and the forward works great for finishing and cultivating) Best part was that the price was a lot less than the Troy-Built. $599 at Sears, same at Northern Tool, as well as Lowe’s. It has a 208cc Briggs & Stratton engine that so far has been a one pull start every time... I like that. It is also very thrifty on fuel too. The counter weight in the front really seems to balance it well - without me needing to provide the muscle to make it work right.
Of course I can always find something to criticize, like I wish they had an overriding wheel drive like the old David Bradley garden tractors did - made for easier turning at the end of the rows.(LOL now that brings back memories - 2 HP DB garden tractor with dozens of attachments - everything from mowers to generators, plows to discs to planters and cultivators and on and on...) But the nicest part of the new one is that it is so easy handling down the rows, but I do wish the backing up (reverse gear) was just a bit slower - But the really nice part is I can cultivate by walking one row over while guiding it with one hand. (I kind of like no footprints after cultivating) I have never had a tiller that was this easy to handle.
Oh boy do I remember what lawns used to be like around here - sandy ground with a tuft of grass here and there... If anyone had anything more growing on it, they usually had a reel type push mower. LOL, with all the sand, you could never keep one of those things sharp and pebbles always seemed to chip the blade or jamb it...
Kids here are about the same - however, one daughter is really taking an interest in growing and they now have some chickens, so she is really getting a kick out of having lots of eggs (they have about 30 layers, so she is selling extras to other teachers). Other daughter is even growing a small salad garden this year. Maybe - just maybe they will get more into it.