Tried that 'rent a tiller from the hardware store' for my garden plot and it was a total dud

I spent $65 renting a rear-tine tiller from the Ace in Marietta for my 20x30 plot, and it barely broke through the clay soil after 3 hours of wrestling it. Ended up borrowing my neighbor's old front-tine Craftsman (which felt like it was from the 80s) and it did the job in 45 minutes flat. Has anyone else had luck with those rental tillers, or is it always a gamble based on the machine's shape?

2 comments

2 Comments

paule531d ago

I rented a rear-tine tiller from Home Depot a few years back for my 30x40 garden and it just bounced on top of the clay like a jackhammer on concrete. What worked was soaking the ground with a hose the night before and going slow with a borrowed old Troy-Bilt from a neighbor. The rental machines get beat up fast and you never know if you're getting one that's been maintained right.

noah88021h ago

Wait, you soaked the ground the NIGHT before and it still bounced? That's nuts. I mean, I know clay is tough, but I figured a good soak would soften it up enough for any tiller. Maybe your clay is worse than mine, or that rental was just junk. It's crazy how much difference a well-maintained machine makes though, like the old Troy-Bilt vs a beat up rental. Did you ever try breaking it up with a pickaxe first, or was the ground just too hard no matter what?

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