The Troy-Bilt Electric Garden Cultivator/Tiller does a great job for an electric model. Click the image above for more details and reviews.
Why I Bought a Garden Cultivator
I never thought I would end up owning an electric garden cultivator. I've always been a bit of a gas powered machine snob. I should start off by saying that although my gardening has fallen off in the past couple of years, I used to do quite a bit of it. I also used to have a lawn care/landscaping business when I was going to college. After I got out of that business, I sold off most of my commercial equipment and settled into just taking care of my own yard. I quit buying equipment that was overkill for the most part, but I never lost my preference for gas powered tools. In my opinion, electric garden cultivators were for people who couldn't handle the power of gas cultivators and tillers. I admit it now... I was wrong. Sometimes professional garden tools that cost four times as much are not really needed.
This spring I decided that I was going to resurrect my old backyard garden space that had grown over with grass during the past couple of summers. My little boy is old enough to help out and enjoy it with me now, and I remember how much fun it was working in the garden with my two daughters when they were his age. So anyway, the thing that was bothering me was the prospect of digging and turning all of that compacted clay soil by hand. I enjoy working outside, but chopping up clay is simply not an enjoyable way to spend the weekend. I’ve done it before and I was never really able to get the soil anything like “loose” using the shovel and chop method. In past years I had borrowed a tiller from a neighbor, but his old machine finally bit the dust, so I was on my own. The idea of buying a new garden cultivator was born.
I have toyed with the idea of buying a heavy duty tiller for a few years now. Obviously it didn’t happen. The idea of spending five or six hundred dollars for a piece of equipment that I might use three times a year at most, just seemed silly to me. I did actually go so far as to rent one once, but after I got it home I found out that the rental place had the adjustment pin locked into place so that it could only till about three inches deep. In other words, it was useless to me. I took it back and got my money refunded for the day’s rental.
Back to this year… I really wanted to get a garden going this season. So I started reading a lot of reviews. I looked up reviews for several garden cultivators and mini tillers. I also poked around a bit checking out full size tillers that were much more expensive. My wife was even on board with buying a gas powered machine that was selling for $399. It was advertised in one of the Sunday paper inserts for Sears. The reviews for it were not good though. The thought of having a four hundred dollar paper weight sitting in the shed next year kept me looking at what people were recommending. I finally followed a trail of four and five star ratings the the Troy-Bilt TB154. Yes, it is an electric model, and that did give me pause. As I said, I’m a big fan of gas powered machines. The cost however was about a hundred dollars less than the gas model that seemed to have about the same size tines. Also, as I mentioned the reviews were glowing. Long story short, I bought the Troy-Bilt electric cultivator / tiller. It is smaller than what I originally thought I would end up buying, but honestly, for what I need it to do, it is more than sufficient.
Now, when I bought this, the urge to break down and charge a gas powered machine would not stop nagging at me. I recalled how much better my gas powered hedge trimmers, chain saw and string trimmers had always performed compared to electric models. I kept remembering the reviews though. I’m glad I did. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever in my life been impressed with an electric garden tool, but this one rocks! As soon as I got it home, I wheeled it to the backyard and ran an extension cord to it. As I expected, it did struggle a bit with unbroken ground covered in established grass, BUT, I spent about five minutes loosening the ground with a shovel and this machine went to town! It broke down the clay soil into a very workable consistency with hardly any effort at all. Seriously.
An Inexpensive and Efficient Garden Cultivator
So here is what I did and how long it took. It was late afternoon and my wife wanted me to grill some food. I got my handy dandy charcoal starter chimney out and fired it up. It usually takes about half an hour to get the charcoal to the point of being ready. While it was working, I spent about ten to fifteen minutes turning over the grass in one section of where the garden is going to be. Understand, I was not chopping it up, just breaking it up a bit and flipping it so the machine could get a foothold. The area I worked for this little test is about four feet wide by about twenty feet, so call it 80 square feet.
When I hit the area with the machine, it had no trouble at all tearing through it. I got that whole section done with the machine just as the charcoals were getting done. Elapsed time from start to finish was probably less than forty minutes. Very nice. I don’t even want to know how long that would have taken to get to the same condition working by hand. I’m sure my back would be feeling it though.
After dinner, I came back and went after an area where some vines had become somewhat established. The Troy-Bilt cut through them, but they did wind around the tines. I was getting ready to spend some time trying to cut them out, when I realized that all I had to do was pull a pin on each side to remove the cutting tines along with the mess of vines. Total time to remove four tines and replace them was under two minutes! That earns another thumbs up from me.
Atlantic Giant Pumpkin
The little garden cultivator I bought only weighs about 35 pounds. That is a plus for handling, but that does mean that you won’t be able to count on the weight of the machine to break new ground (but you knew that anyway). I am truly impressed by not only the performance, but also the price. I also want to mention that this garden cultivator / tiller starts just by pushing a button and squeezing the handle down. There is a cutoff button that stops you from overloading your electrical box in the event you hit some major snag, but it resets just by pushing it.
This thing made getting the soil ready so easy that I decided to start another growing project with my son this season. This week I’m getting another area ready and we are going to plant some giant pumpkin seeds. I also did that with my daughters when they were little and ended up with a pumpkin that was about one hundred pounds. That isn’t world record size, but it was still the biggest pumpkin on the block. It would have been bigger if the vine hadn’t broken. It should be fun. If you have little kids, I recommend giving it a try. I'll probably post about this little project soon.
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Some final thoughts on the Troy-Bilt garden cultivator / tiller and similar machines…
- If you are looking to prepare an entire yard for seeding, this is not the machine for you. You should look into something bigger and more powerful. I've never tried to push any electric garden cultivators to their max, but they certainly aren't made for plowing up acres of land. The larger Troy Bilt tillers got find reviews, but I didn't want to spend that much on garden equipment that would only receive light use.
- For an established garden, this machine is an excellent choice. It makes light work of the chore of preparing the soil. It just isn't made for sod busting.
- I still would not try anything cordless in the garden, unless it was running on gasoline.
- These garden cultivators do not guarantee weed free gardening. My recommendation for easy weeding is to put down something like a layer of garden fabric after you have used your cultivator or tiller. Then, stay on top of the weeding chores so that they never get a chance to establish themselves.
- I did consider a Mantis tiller because another of my neighbors owns one. It was smaller than the garden cultivator I bought though, and cost about a hundred dollars more.
- Although the commercials make them look like a nice alternative to a powered garden cultivator, for me, smaller garden tools like the Garden Weasel just were not a real consideration. The ground around here is just too tough for such a lightweight garden cultivator. This would be a nice piece of garden equipment for working between the rows of an established garden though. I'm all for weed free gardening, and it looks like a nifty little weeder if you've already got loose soil to work with in your garden. (The same goes for the idea of a high wheel cultivator.)
- Honestly, I am very glad that I didn't spend the extra hundred dollars on the gas powered version. I still have no interest in electric mowers or trimmers, but the Troy-Bilt TB154 electric garden cultivator truly impressed me with its performance.
