Small, Quiet and Useful

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Small, Quiet and Useful
Any gardener with a large area to prepare for planting probably wishes they had a tiller by the end of the day if they turned all the soil by hand using a shovel or spading fork. It's hard work in most soils and darn near impossible in a lot of Tucson's native earth. Especially if that soil is full of rocks or caliche. Over time it gets a whole lot easier if you constantly improve your gardening soil by adding soil amendments like steer manure, compost, peat moss or even the occasional bag of potting soil. My vegetable garden is made up of raised beds with regularly amended soil and I used to turn the beds by hand at least twice a year before a spring and fall planting. The work was done with shovel, or spading fork followed by a good leveling with a rake. I always looked at the ritual as a way of getting a bit of needed exercise.

Then one day I visited an acquaintance that wanted to develop a small vegetable garden and needed a bit of gardening advice. He happened to have a small tiller that he used to help prepare his planting bed. As a curious gardener I wanted to borrow the machine to see how it worked and asked about it. He'd let me give the machine a try but, unfortunately, it wasn't working and needed an overhaul to get it running again.

After seeing the machine I couldn't get it out of my mind and went out on the internet looking for other gardeners' opinions about small tillers and eventually came to the conclusion I'd try the Honda brand. I'd owned a couple of their motorcycles when I was younger and always appreciated the quiet running engines. I ordered the tool on-line and once it arrived, I've been pleased with the decision ever since.

The small Honda Harmony tiller will make adding this compost to the vegetable bed quick and easy.

I can till one of my small vegetable beds in a matter of minutes. My entire vegetable garden in less than an hour. I may run into a few complications along the way and have to stop to remove roots that get caught up in the tiller's tines or move a toad or other creature that gets flung from the soil as I till. When I'm finished using the machine for the day I usually take a few minutes to hose down the tiller and let it dry before I place it back in the storage shed.

I like the machine because I don't have to mix gas and oil for the engine. It runs on regular gas from the gas pump. The four cycle engine is quiet compared to a 2-cycle engine that comes on some small tillers. It was easy to assemble and I've never had difficulty starting the engine. Prime the carburetor, set the choke, hit the on switch, and within three yanks of the starter cord the engine is running.

Once you get the hang of holding on to the tiller and letting it do the cultivating it's easy to use. I've also used the tiller to help dig shallow trenches for burying drip lines and low voltage outdoor lighting cables.

I purchased my tiller through mail-order and had to pay shipping charges. Not long after that I noticed the Honda Harmony was available at the local Home Depot. Power equipment is a major purchase because it does cost around $300. But if you're and avid gardener and do yearly soil tilling it might be worth the investment. It's not for heavy duty use and it can lock up if rocks or large roots get caught in the tines. As with all power equipment make sure to wear safety glasses and be sure you know how to use the equipment properly. (2000)

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