Breaking up soil.

jamie_128

surely once you have done a pass at the 150mm i could then move that soil onto the lower part of the garden and then go at the mound again? id say the mound is about 50cm higher than the rest of the garden. 

travis-powers

Yeah no problem yours sound worse than mine!

pmartin86

Id got for a rotovator, i had a very uneven garden, probably a difference of up to 1m in parts, I hired a petrol-driven rotovator and had it done in a weekend. One good run over the whole area, shovel and a wheelbarrow to level off the larger bits, another run, shovel/rake/repeat.Id say it was probably about 14-16 hours work all in, for reference I'm a 34yr old male whos office based, a couple of stone overweight and quite unfit, it was hard going, but doable. A friend and a case of beer would have smoothed the process considerably.

jamie_128

pmartin86 said:

Id got for a rotovator, i had a very uneven garden, probably a difference of up to 1m in parts, I hired a petrol-driven rotovator and had it done in a weekend. One good run over the whole area, shovel and a wheelbarrow to level off the larger bits, another run, shovel/rake/repeat.Id say it was probably about 14-16 hours work all in, for reference I'm a 34yr old male whos office based, a couple of stone overweight and quite unfit, it was hard going, but doable. A friend and a case of beer would have smoothed the process considerably.

I think the tiller is just a smaller rotavator is it not? might just take more passes but im not too bothered aslong as its a lot easier than doing it by hand lol. 

pmartin86

Yes essentially. I went for a rotovator mainly because my soil is mostly clay, and I just wanted the power!

FreeBear

travis-powers said: I’m doing the same thing, I got a electric tiller (small rotovator) from screwfix £49.99 it’s still hard work though but it turned my lawn into fine soil to move.

Ordered one yesterday and a neighbour collected it for me this morning. A couple of observations.

Any weeds or grass needs to me mown down first.

It doesn't like long stringy roots or lumps of buried wood.

On the small area I've done so far (grassed area that hasn't been touched for 50+ years), it has turned it in to a fine loam. Helps that the soil around here is sand, so dead easy to dig over.

But after an hour and a half, I think I've killed it. Going to check the fuse and let things cool down a little and have another go after lunch.

FreeBear

FreeBear said: But after an hour and a half, I think I've killed it. Going to check the fuse and let things cool down a little and have another go after lunch.

Just a thermal cutout thankfully.

Making short work of the ground, and I now know why it was never dug over. Loads of stones & bits of bricks with the odd bit of glass mixed in.

TELLIT01

FreeBear said:

Just a thermal cutout thankfully.

Yours or the tillers?