People who know me are surprised that I’m a big fan of community gardens.
For one thing, I like to be in control and not follow every stinking rule in the universe. I also tend to like my solitude and peace. Give me a book and I’m fine.
A community garden, as the name implies, is meant to foster relationships and help you grow as a human (pun intended). You meet people from all walks of life, united in the common bond of agriculture. They are a little hard to avoid. Yes, there are a lot of rules about what you can plant, how often you need to decimate the weeds in your plot, and even when you can be on the grounds. And yet, it’s remarkable how fulfilling it can be.
Recently, I paid for two garden plots at a place near my house. I brought along the Craftsman V20 Cordless Tiller/Cultivator to help with the really tough gardening work; namely, cultivating the ground and ridding my garden of weeds.
The tiller serves both purposes, even if a tiller has one main purpose in life (since most people use a tiller to cultivate the ground and prepare for planting seeds). I know quite a few gardeners who also use a hand cultivator throughout the season for getting rid of weeds.
Honestly, this is a smaller tiller with an 8-inch tilling width and a 6.5-inch depth, so it works fine but it will take quite a while to till a large garden. My garden plots are about 20 feet by 10 feet, and it worked great for that size. However, as a cultivator meant to dispatch weeds, it can work for much larger plots.
What the Craftsman V20 Cordless Tiller/Cultivator brings to the table is some serious electric power. I had no trouble tilling my pots and ridding the garden of all weeds, both after my initial run before planting and then as the weeks progressed using the device to kill any other weeds.
The tiller lasts about 50 minutes which is perfect for most gardening tasks. I happen to have a couple extra battery packs, but I tilled the entire garden with just one battery (both plots). Also, it’s super easy to use. Pull a lever and off you go. The safety switch makes it impossible to have the tiller running unless you are in full control.
The tiller weights 15.2 pounds and I never felt like it was dragging me down. Since there are no wheels, you can maneuver quickly into position and zap weeds like nobody’s business. I’ve used electric tillers with wheels before and they have their advantages, but I feel the weeding process was faster and more efficient with this more portable handheld tool.
The tiller has a low and high setting, which was useful in a few conditions. With some thicker weeds, I set the tiller on high and just went to town. For more finesse tilling and cultivating, and especially for loosening the soil and preparing for planting (meaning, the real intended use of a tiller), the low setting worked a bit better because it churned away at the soil without creating too much of a mess or scattering dirt everywhere to kingdom come.
I really liked the tiller and the price of $139. I have no complaints other than perhaps wanting a more robust machine for a larger plot and wheels in case my arms get tired.
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