[mrpotatohead]

New Mantis 4 stroke tiller arrived today. oil and fuel in, up to the plots and away we go. I was delighted with the quiet motor, and the great job it did of tilling the soil. wonderful machine.

[domw001]

Got mine last week but because of the rain I haven't really put it through its paces yet.

I have clay soil and a lot of my plot, although not compact, had not been dug over at the end of last year and the Mantis ony seemed to turn the top 3 or 4 inches.

The areas that had been dug over were nice and soft and the tiller went further down.

I think for  loamy/sandy soil it works a treat straight out of the box, but clay soil still requires that winter digging to get the depth.

Once I get 3 or 4 days rain-free i will give it a good workout.

[snowdrops]

New Mantis 4 stroke tiller arrived today. oil and fuel in, up to the plots and away we go. I was delighted with the quiet motor, and the great job it did of tilling the soil. wonderful machine.

How exciting, I keep looking at them & wondering how useful it would be. We have a rotovator but it's a bit heavy for me to use.

[Ivor Backache]

I wouldn't say 'goodbye spade'.
I still believe in hand digging in the autumn, Get the weeds out and the compost amd manure in the ground.
If you have 10 bindweed roots in the ground, when you have finished you will have a 100.

[mumofstig]

You'll still need to loosen the lower layers from time to time or you end up with hard pan drainage problems 

[Plot74]

i may be sad but i quite enjoy the digging.
  john