The Best Tiller for Your Home Garden Needs

 
Tilling the soil for planting has been done as long as humans have been sowing seeds. The first manual tillers used were wooden sticks, with durable metal blades eventually added for increased effectiveness. Eventually, the blades were mounted and fixed in one position which allowed tillers to be pulled along by oxen and horses until the advent of steam engine powered units in 1857 and the first small engine gasoline-powered tiller in 1936.

Powered tillers were initially made with an engine mounted above a set of rotating tines, steered by a couple of crude handles. Granted, you would still have to spend some time muscling around a heavyweight unit, but the design allowed greater operator control and a tilling pace unmatched by either manual or animal-powered tilling.

Modern powered tillers are extremely useful machines for breaking up soil, tackling tough weeding, and even mixing compost into the soil before and after planting. For more information on the types of power sources driving these machines, you can refer to our lawn equipment power source buyer's guide which gives you a breakdown of what types are appropriate for your landscaping needs.

Tiller Types

Front Tines

Front tine tillers are the "do-it-all tillers" which are available in a wide variety of sizes suitable for virtually any garden plot out there. They may still have guide wheels at the back, but these aren’t powered and only serve to add stability when you’re tilling.

These tillers can be light enough to cultivate between garden rows or heavy enough to break up the soil on smaller-to-medium garden plots. They’re a bit more labor-intensive to use than rear tined varieties, but their size and lower weight make them extremely versatile.

There are some specialized front tine tillers available that have drive wheels and are made for huge gardens or acres of land, but for the most part, front tine tillers will work fine for the majority of light-to-medium-duty situations you’re likely to encounter.

Rear Tines

Rear tine tillers have drive wheels on the front which help pull the tiller along. This setup makes these tillers larger and bulkier, so they’re best used for larger plots of land. They're the easiest to use because you literally just hang on and steer while the wheels and tines do all the work.

Because the wheels make these units self-propelled (as well as having larger engines), they come larger and heavier than front tined models. These heavy-duty components make rear tine tillers perfect for large gardens or acres of land where you’ll need to break up tough, hard-packed soil.

Features

Adjustable Depth

On smaller mini-tillers, the depth is operator adjustable; the harder you push on the handles, the deeper the blades will dig into the soil. The adjustable depth is the height of the front axle above the ground which is typically about 4 inches deep.

On the front and rear tine tillers, the depth should be adjustable at the wheels by lowering or raising them, depending on how deep or shallow you want to till. Generally, higher-priced units will have height adjustments on a separate handle, while lower-priced models will have manual adjustments located on the wheels themselves.

Tires

The tires on a rototiller can either be solid, rubber, plastic, or air-filled pneumatic options. Guide wheels are almost always solid since all they need to do is to keep you on course. The best-powered drive wheels are pneumatic because they’ll adhere better to the terrain and cause less slippage during the tilling process.

Removable Tines

This feature is found mainly on front-drive tillers to add to their versatility. Removing specific tines will allow you to leave one or two on the unit to better cultivate and weed between rows. For example, you can remove the two inner tines on a four-tine tiller, allowing the center of the unit to safely pass over smaller plants while weeding or composting around them.

Counter Rotational Tines

These can be found on higher-end tillers which gives the operator a more aggressive, and therefore a more efficient, tiller. These are the best tine types for breaking up hard-packed soil, but these are also the heaviest units in their class due to the extra tines and mechanics needed to make them work efficiently.

What's Best for You

Small Gardens

The lightest in weight and the least expensive tillers are electrically powered. They’re all fairly light-duty and would be perfect for smaller gardens as long as you are within the recommended cord length of 100 feet. Small, gasoline-powered mini-tillers which are lightweight, and easy to maneuver are also suitable.

Most lighter-weight tillers can be used for weeding between the rows, as well as mulching and overall garden care. While these light-duty tillers won’t do break up extremely hardened soil, they’re good for regular spring tilling of established soil.

Medium Gardens

Front tined tillers work best here in medium-sized garden settings; those with removable tines are especially useful as they can be converted to till between rows. Since front tined tillers are a bit more labor-intensive, operator fatigue tends to set in a little sooner. However, for most homeowners with somewhat larger gardens or areas of land to till, these would be the best types to consider.

Large Gardens or Plots of Land

Rear tined units are made for large gardens or large plots of land. They have the capability of chopping through hardened dirt and will run and work as long as you can. Although some of these units may have removable tines, rear-tined units are generally much too heavy-duty for anything but the most extreme tilling jobs. The larger engines and the overall increased weight make them a better bet for going in straight lines over multiple acres of land. Realistically, they could till acres of land with the least amount of operator fatigue, but if you have that much land, a tractor-driven tiller would be a more sensible investment.