My 13 year old son just bought 2 of those tillers at an auction this weekend, I'm in charge of helping him get them both running (down to 1 left to get running). You have shown us both the way to operate this tiller for best results, thank you. Hope your back has healed up. 👍
Wow, good for you guys! I'm glad my video helped in some way. I never actually had any back pain after that work. But someone made a helpful suggestion that I didn't try until recently. If you raise the handlebars you don't have to bend so far to walk along with it. Good luck getting those tillers in good order! Thanks for watching.
The hardest that tiller will work is busting sods in heavy clay. It’ll be smooth sailing now. You certainly put in the work to get yourself a nice garden. My back was hurting just watching you do it. Best wishes for a bountiful harvest and thanks for sharing your experience. 😊
You finally learned to let the tiller do the work. Fortunately, you have a 4-speed machine with the tine disengage for travel. I bought a 7 HP with a Kohler engine that did not have the disengage. I made 3 different gardens at different locations. I tilled back and forth then side to side then back and forth. I have a hiller-furrower to make wide raised beds and covered the walks between the beds with 4 to 6 layers of old newspapers for mulch(tilled in after the season). The newspaper disappears. I also used straw on the paper to keep it from blowing away. Adjust the handles up so you don't bend over so much, they are adjustable left and right with the T-handle on the transmission as well as bolts for the up and down adjustments. I planned my gardens so I did not plant the same thing on the same spot each year. Good gardening with that tiller, it is great.
I learned very quickly... that no matter what I do, working this virgin clay is a hard struggle. A lot of commenters don't understand how hard and dense this stuff is, until after it's blended with equal part compost. I raised the handlebars that Fall (when the video was made), and used it that way ever since. It's a two edge sword. The bars being high helps very little with tilling, but make it more difficult to climb out of the bed and turn the machine around, while keeping the rotating tines off the ground. (Because the handlebars are so high.) I should probably try lowering them halfway to see how that works. Thank you for watching and commenting!
Thanks for sharing. I got a troy bilt tiller and its a bit smaller. I never knew what I was doing wrong with it, but I think I might be able to get it work now. Thanks for the content. I bet some red wigglers would love that woodchipped tilled area.
You're welcome. I'm happy it helped. Yes, I've been wondering how many worms may have moved in by themselves. There will be more wood chips added in the Spring. Maybe I should add worms too? Thank you for watching and commenting!
You only should need to till once. Till 12 inches and lay down then added hardwood bark. I plowed my garden 35 yrs ago 200 ft X 150 ft. I bought 14 dump truck loads of hardwood bark that had mushroom spores in it. I just added 66 yards every years after that. After 5 years my land has need able to provide all the mulch my garden will ever need. I have just the 1 Acer garden. More then I need for sure. Better to have to much then not enough. Tilling after kills all the worms on your garden. Just use a garden fork to loosen the top lays and make you rows and plant water and grow. Of course pray for rain and a good harvest. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thank you. I've been wondering how much tilling I should do after the first soil prep. We only have a small garden so far, so I'll be doing more tilling and adding compost, etc., as we gradually expand it. This clay is so dense and so difficult to till, I'm thinking of using a subsoiler on my tractor to break it up initially, then add compost and till. Thank you for watching and commenting!
You might want to rase your handle bars and try 2nd gear by moving the drive belt , this will increases the tine speed for a finer till and not change the ground speed all that much
Yep. I've raised the handle bars to see how it is in the Fall. I'll definitely try out your suggestion of changing the second belt position. Thank you!
Hello. If you grind the mud into dust (as you did), it will lose its structure and turn into asphalt after rain. A small area could be dug up in thin layers for the winter, mixed with compost, and then walked once in the spring with a motorized cultivator at low rpm. Working on the ground is very hard. Good luck in your endeavors.
Thank you for your suggestions. It's been years since that video was published. This soil is getting better as I add compost each Spring. I didn't "grind the mud into dust." I can't till this soil wet, or it simply turns into a big rotating ball of clay, totally packing the tines - mud is untillable. Moisture is a fine balance here. If it's too wet, it's untillable. All I get is clogged tines. If it's too dry, it's too hard to till at all. This clay would be good for making bricks. The only thing I've found that actually works is mixing in LOTS of compost. We've stopped at 20 X 30 feet for now. Breaking new ground is VERY tough. There's also a limit to how much time we want to spend weeding! Thank you for watching and commenting.
@@GerryVillalobos I've tried adjusting the handles and any position they're in has drawbacks. If they're up high it makes it more difficult to turn around at the end of each row. And in this hard soil having them lower makes it easier to apply down pressure. Which is very necessary to make the tines dig deeper. No matter what, there's no saving my back with this machine. ThanK you for watching and commenting.
We also have that red clay. We have added the sahes frm the wood stove. Manure from the chickens sheep and rabbits. After about 10 years it will grow a garden. We grow corn 10 ft tall. We plant potatoes by laying the seed potatoes on top of the untilled ground. cover with well rotted organic hay. And we have success that way. Our land all has a plow pan or hard pan. I have been using a homebrew subsoiler to break that up.
Those are all good ideas. Our garden grows great weeds! I want to get a couple trailer loads of manure from a local farm who offers it for free... till it in before the Winter weather hits. More organic matter every year should help.
I had a Troy bilt horse tiller for 30 years. They have adjustable handlebars. No reason to stoop so much. The other thing is you need to add a little bit of water. Not too much just enough to be able to till better.
Yeah, I adjusted the bars in the Fall. Water is very tricky here. My clay is so dense it's next to impossible to work it. The clay is so saturated in the Spring, I can't till until it's dry enough to not turn into a sticky mud ball. The tines get totally clogged and I have to constantly dig the thick mud out. There's a fine line and short window of time, between dry enough to till, and too hard to till. But a little dryer is better, because it actually breaks up a little. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thank you. Yep. Our first year with the garden produced more than we knew what to do with. Same on the second. But we're learning how to store and preserve more as we go.
Might wanna think about adjusting the tiller handles up so you don't have to bend over to push them down to make the tines dig deeper. Kinda painful watching you bend over like that, mate. 😅 Edit: Oops nevermind. I see yoire already onto it. Cheers! Love watching that old Horse work. I just picked up a 1979 model I'll be using to prep a much larger garden for next year.
I saw your earlier video and commented that your belt tensioner needed adjusting badly. The belt is still squealing here some. The belt can be tightened more so that when the tines get into tough soil, the engine labors and actually bogs. The belt should never slip as much as this.
The belt was so worn out when I got the machine, it couldn't be tightened enough to work. After installing a new belt and readjusting after some break in time, it's doing fine. Thank you!
Yeah, I know. My neighbors add sand every year. I told them that's how you make bricks. In reality, if you add enough sand, that won't happen. You'll just end up with sandy soil. But that would have to be a heck of a lot of sand. I'm just adding organic matter. As much compost as I can get for CHEAP. I certainly can't make enough. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Also meant to recommend getting the Hiller/Furrower attachment for this tiller. Does multiple jobs and you can make raised beds with it too. I used to hand hill all my rows with a hoe, which was fine (a good workout haha) but that Hiller/Furrower attachment does 90% of the work. You should be able to find one online used or Earthquake makes them. Troybilt still makes them but they’re overpriced on the website.
