Garden tillers

Garden tiller: General Information

In order to create a flowering garden, a green lawn or a vegetable-garden, the gardener has to plan and plant and sow, which implicates a lengthy preliminary session of soil preparation. This is the part of gardening and where the garden tiller is used. This essential instrument has robust heavy-duty tines, these are long hard metal prongs or blades which can rotate and dig into earth, while turning the soil at the same time. Thus, a garden tiller is a gardening tool for soil loosening. The working depths are between 2 and 10 cm. The working depth of the cultivator can be regulated.

There are basically four types of tillers:

- rear-tine tillers are the heavy-duty version which delve into hard-packed earth with ease;

- the CRT (Counter-Rotating Tines) tiller is a heavyweight machine with rotating tines ideal for preparing tough unyielding land;

- front-tine tillers are a lighter version designed for weeding or earth-turning in areas where there is softer soil;

- the mini light-weight model, also called a "cultivator", lighter and with smaller tines, is indicated for small-to-medium gardens and flower-beds. This version is popular as it is small and light, with folding handles for easy storage, and both the depth and width of the tines are adjustable. It is powerful enough, electric or gas powered using one or two-horsepower engines, more than adequate for the average garden.

History and manufacturers today

Arthur Howard, an Australian farmer, developed a tilling machine powered by a farm-tractor in 1912, but in the same year, in Switzerland, a patent was granted to Dr. Konrad von Meyenburg for his "Machine for Mechanical Tillage". In America the Model A1 Tiller, manufactured by the Troy-Bilt Company, was already on the market in 1937. This historic company still makes garden tillers for today's gardeners, another specialised company is Staub, along with many others such as Kubota, Honda, Husqvarna and Benassi. These manufacturers produce also other lawn and garden equipment.