So, I decided to see if my old front tine tiller would crank. I was prepared for the usual cussing,tinkering, general trouble getting it to run aftere the winter.

Cranked and ran second pull!

Damn, I'll be. Then, double damn, now I'll have to actually use it.

The real downer is my little patch is getting shaded over and the deer have taken to eating everything now. Marigolds even.

Oh, deer won't eat ferns. But they will .

There is a photo of my dad running a like machine, so it is in my blood. I just can't stop myself. Beans and tomatoes are out. I'm going to try a deer resistant wildflower mix. Anyone know where to get some deadly nightshade?

Six foot fencing is the only thing that works. "Deer resistant" is a myth as they'll eat anything when they're hungry.

I've got a little Mantis tiller for my raised beds. Put a new carb on it yesterday and I'm ready to go. Just have to wait a few more weeks in these parts.

My dad had a big TroyBilt one growing up, maybe 24" wide tines on it or more. You could rotate the handles on it some and I remember him running that thing with one hand and walking alongside it. Dad was a big fella.

Several years ago I picked up an old Ariens rear tine tiller, he was moving and did not want to take it. I really had no need for it but bought it for $100 and after some carb work got it running. I changed out all the fluids, fuel, filter etc. That thing was a beast and had some pulling power. It had an old Tecumseh engine and was solid metal and built like a tank. When it was new they even offered a plow attachment for it.

It would till effortlessly but I had no need for it so sold it for $300 to a mother and son who had a large garden. I was glad to sell it to someone who would get some use out of it. The old stuff just seemed to last forever and since I worked on small engines as a kid, it is all easy to fix when things do break.

Troybilt Horse and Pony models here. The old Gardenway ones. If it ever quits raining here, and the garden dries up a bit, I'll get it tilled.

Now pruning the orchard? That was work.

Yeah, I rented a front tine and tried to till a spot for a garden, wasn't happening on GA red clay. Bought a rear tine Husqvarna and knocked it out. I also tilled about a 1/2 acre to plant bermuda

MDT 22" front tine bought new in 2004. Big box purchase but I don't remember which one. Never changed the oil and never drained the fuel. Fires on first or second pull every year, including yesterday. More duct tape than steel left on the shroud but the damn thing keeps working.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I've got a little Mantis tiller for my raised beds. Put a new carb on it yesterday and I'm ready to go. Just have to wait a few more weeks in these parts.

The soil in my raised beds is amazing - loose and fluffy loam with >10% organic content. Originally, I purchased the tiller expand it head for my 40V weed whacker, but even that was overkill and messy (ie liked to fling soil out). Now, I just twist the manual claw for deep tillage and follow up with a manual tiller/cultivator for the seed bed. I make zero mess and am done in a single digit minutes.

I bought this old 3hp Honda from a tool rental place about 20 years ago. Machine is propbably 25 years old but runs like a champ. Gets used about an hour per year and it does not get babied. I bought some 10 gal fabric grow bags and am going to try tomatoes in a few of them this year. It's early but warm enough now so I may plant this w-end.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I've got a little Mantis tiller for my raised beds. Put a new carb on it yesterday and I'm ready to go. Just have to wait a few more weeks in these parts.

The soil in my raised beds is amazing - loose and fluffy loam with >10% organic content. Originally, I purchased the tiller expand it head for my 40V weed whacker, but even that was overkill and messy (ie liked to fling soil out). Now, I just twist the manual claw for deep tillage and follow up with a manual tiller/cultivator for the seed bed. I make zero mess and am done in a single digit minutes.

I have four 4X12 beds (plus a few smaller ones) that I put compost and chicken poop in every year. I feel better knowing that it's mixed in real well, and doing the big beds by hand would take quite awhile. The Mantis makes it easy.

A Mantis would dig to China if it had enough gas.

Rented a Honda engine rear-tine from H-D. Paid for breakage insurance, $12.50.

Planted Florida wildflower seed mix and white clover.


Twenty minutes tilling, 25 minutes untangling roots&vines birdsnest jams like my childhood baitcasting reel deja vu. Repeat 5X.

Got it back 15
minutes before 4 hr rental deadline and afternoon thunderstorm.

Try to back it off trailer, clutch won't work. Two H-D employees can't work it.

Breakage insurance is good when renting, 'nom sayin?

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Troybilt Horse and Pony models here.

I spent my formative years behind one of those. I was mesmerized by the smooth dirt row left behind after a few passes.

I could not imagine spending hours behind it now. It seemed like the neutral level and disengaging the engine was always needing adjustment.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Six foot fencing is the only thing that works. "Deer resistant" is a myth as they'll eat anything when they're hungry.

The deer in my 'hood clear a six-foot fence with ease. I have found that the only somewhat deterrent is a motion-activated sprinkler on a tripod, when it starts up, they skeedaddle. Plus, the noise of the sprinkler going off gets me out to scare off the ones that didn't get the memo. It has reduced, but not eliminated crop loss.

I get the OP with the roto-tilling, if the machine is big enough to do a decent job, it takes as much out of the operator as it does the soil.

I sometimes fantasize about getting truck load deliveries of sand+humus+vermiculite dumped on the garden and tilling it in so as to lighten our heavy clay soil, but I'm not at all sure I could handle the work any more. Old men's fantasies are not like young men's fantasies, enjoy them while you can!

We had a large garden as a kid, and a local farmer would come in the spring with his tractor and turn the soil. My job was to run a JD Front Tine 4 rotor tiller and smooth the soil out.

At 16 I used it as a workout machine, no tine in the soil to help, just crank it up to the max throttle and hold it back by muscle, hell of a workout.

Tried that a year ago after we pulled an Oak out of the front yard and I was tilling back the pulled up soil, nope, dropped the guide tine in the ground LOL.. Still a good workout.

I've got a dead tiller in my shed, think it just needs a carb, or just some good gas.
Messed with it a bit & couldn't get it to stay running. Haven't had the time/desire to mess with it recently.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Troybilt Horse and Pony models here.

I spent my formative years behind one of those. I was mesmerized by the smooth dirt row left behind after a few passes.

I could not imagine spending hours behind it now. It seemed like the neutral level and disengaging the engine was always needing adjustment.

Brings back memories! Dad had a Troy Built Horse (this was like 35-40 years ago). I remember wrestling with that big gear lever trying to jam it into position. I could pick the sound of that engine out of a lineup of others right now. I also remember how fine/smooth the top of the row would look after a few passes, and trying to keep the whole area looking like that before I was done. Dad would send me to various neighbors and tell me to till their garden (and to not take any money in return). Good times.

I thought it was a law,
No front tine tillers to anyone over 30 y.o.

I bought a Troy Built Horse in the mid 1970s. I wore the tines down to a nub… welded them back up with hard surface rod and wore them out again, along with the engine and the worm gear in the transmission. Let’s just say I have run one over many many acres.

Too old for that now, it sits in a corner… disassembled… just in case I get the dang fool notion to use it again
I do have a small front tine one for small spots.

I found the absolute old man replacement for the Troy Built!

If only I had this thing 30 years ago!

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
I found the absolute old man replacement for the Troy Built!

Yes you did! A 1025R with a front end loader and a 4' tiller is a gardener's delight.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Rented a Honda engine rear-tine from H-D. Paid for breakage insurance, $12.50.

Planted Florida wildflower seed mix and white clover.


Twenty minutes tilling, 25 minutes untangling roots&vines birdsnest jams like my childhood baitcasting reel deja vu. Repeat 5X.

Got it back 15
minutes before 4 hr rental deadline and afternoon thunderstorm.

Try to back it off trailer, clutch won't work. Two H-D employees can't work it.

Breakage insurance is good when renting, 'nom sayin?

when I did a big garden, I rented a honda from HD, the started it, I loaded it, and then got to the house, started right up, used and returned in a few hrs,

easy peasy,

rear tines, did not pay attention once and got one that was wore out, tines were like toothpics, took it back, showed them, got another and done in a few ,


bought a smaller troy built a couple years ago, f friend took it to his buddy and got it running, and I mistakenly let it park for too long, now it won't start,

so no garden (not that I have time for it) this year,