Vanity: Garden Tillers: Advice & Opinions Needed

2-09-12 | Jed Eckert

[Jed Eckert]

Good morning fellow gardening Freepers. I'm in need of a good affordable garden tiller and was wondering what you folks think. I used to simply rent one but that option is pretty much out now since nearly all the rental places quit carrying tillers. The one place left that does rent tillers is prohibitively expensive.

So, I'm considering just buying a smaller one. The Mantis XP fits my budget and they make a convincing sales pitch (good warranty, free shipping, Honda Engine) but I don't have a clue if they're any good. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

I'm working a 30' x 30' plot. I'm in East Central Florida so my soil is sandy, no rocks, but can have a pretty tough, nasty layer of sod/weeds whenever I break new ground. I usually plant twice during a year, Spring and Fall, so the tiller will probably get about double the use that Northern gardeners would give it.

[Harold Shea]

We used to use methyl bromide under plastic to kill

weeds for plant beds...went to black plastic after mb

was outlawed...we use the black plastic for the garden

as well..the grass comes up and dies from heat/no light

Have cleaned up tobacco fields with a Troy tiller,great

machine,tho one must be very,very careful when backing

it up with the tines turning.

[tubebender]

I’m a day late and haven’t read the replies but I question why you would need a tiller for 900 square feet. My wife and I are in our 70s and turn our large garden with a pair of shovels, all 4,000 square feet of it. I have had 3 big Troybilts, a piece of crap Sears and I still have a small Troy Salad Mixer that I haven’t started it in 3 years. We were gardening on about 7,500 sf in 3 locations in those days.