Minitillers prove mighty useful

If you have spent time recently spading your vegetable garden or creating a new flower bed, chances are that you also created something else -- a heck of an aching back. Maybe it's time to look at power tillers.

You won't need one of those humongous five- or six-horsepower beasts, unless you have 5,000 or more square feet to garden. Chances are your combined garden area is much smaller. If that's the case, set your sights on a minitiller.

Mantis brought out the first minitiller in 1980. It was quickly embraced by women but shunned by men. The macho thing, I suspect, plus men tended to think of them as mere toys. How wrong they were! Once they found what a mighty minitiller can do that a full-size tiller couldn't do in a small garden, they also became fans of these powerful little helpers.

A number of other brands of minitillers are now available: Stihl, Echo, Troy-Bilt, Craftsman and Honda, along with others. Today, minitillers far outsell all other rototillers combined -- the reason being that as residential lots have become increasing smaller, there has been a diminishing need for larger tillers.

KINDS OF MINITILLERS: Minitillers are available either with two-stroke and four-stroke engines or with electric motors. A gasoline and oil mixture fuels two-stroke engines. Although they do an excellent job in the garden, they are often harder to start than their four-stroke cousins. They are also noisier, tend to smoke, smell and add lots of pollution to the atmosphere. The bottom line: Don't seriously consider a minitiller with a two-stroke engine.

Four-stroke engines power most of today's minitillers. Generally they are easy to start, plus they perform exceptionally well in the garden. They will do everything a two-stroke tiller will and they aren't quite as noisy. And they don't produce nearly as much pollution.

An electric minitiller's real advantage is that you just have to plug it in, press the starter button and you're ready to till. And they are quieter than gas-powered tillers. But they require an extension cord and a close by electrical outlet. And they simply don't have the power that the other two have. You can add only so many extension cords before they begin to lose power. Still, they may be the right tiller for you if your gardening area is near your house and you have loose soil to work with. An electric tiller may be the best tiller for you if you have arthritis or other health problems that make gardening difficult.

JOBS MINITILLERS CAN DO: Minitillers can do more than just till the soil. Because they can go places that larger tillers cannot, they can be used to cultivate between rows in vegetable gardens. They are exceptionally useful in working up raised beds, getting into corners and other tight spaces.

Minitillers are also helpful for mixing fertilizer and other amendments into the soil with ease. They can even be used to mix and turn small compost piles. And these small tillers weigh between 20 pounds and 30 pounds, which makes it easy to store them and to carry them back and forth from your garden shed to your garden.

Four- and two-cycle tillers can also dig up lawn turf and change it into new garden spaces.

Minitillers can even be used to plant shrubs and trees. First, till an area the size you need. Then scoop out the tilled soil. Repeat the process until the hole is the right size depth.

Most minitillers also have accessories available that can change tillers into edgers, pruners or even hedge trimmers. But they really don't do as good a job as tools made specifically for these jobs. Care to try to trim a hedge holding up a 20-pound minitiller? And add-ons are far from being inexpensive.

NO GARDEN TOOL IS PERFECT: Minitillers aren't the perfect garden tool. Like larger tillers, they can destroy your soil's structure if misused. Churning your soil over and over again with any tiller will break down the soil aggregates and change it into powder. When you overtill your soil, it loses its capacity to store oxygen water needed by roots. Whether cultivating or tilling your soil, make as few passes as necessary to do the job.

WHAT THEY COST: All three kinds of minitillers are relatively expensive, usually costing between $200 and $350. But with careful use, they should last for a number of years, depending on how often they are used. Over six years, the average cost per year will be less than $60 a year. And isn't that a lot less expensive than visiting a chiropractor every year?

* Gardening columnist Jim McLain can be reached at 509 697-6112 or ongardening@compwrx.com.

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