[The Red Baron]

Howdi, hope everyone is loving the sunshine this afternoon.
Right, I'm thinking of buying a mantis tiller for my allotment when I get it up and running! I'm planning on having 10' x 5' raised beds.....approx 5 or so of them....is a tiller a worthy purchase for these or is hand dug better? In just after perfection after all haha

[gavinjconway]

Not nearly enough space to use it... just dig it over with manure if possible, let it weather and then fork in some fertilizer 2 weeks before planting.. It will be a fine tilth just by doing that.. simples.

You have about 23 sq mt.. I can dig 5 sq mt in to one spade depth and turn the sods in about 40 minutes and I'm not fit... so digging should take no longer than 5 hours.. And by looking at your name you could possibly halve the time!!

So.... No to Mantis and Yes to all digging yourself. Also unless you going to spend big money and get a heavy duty machine you will still need to dig and turn the sods to do with a small Mantis..

[The Red Baron]

Ahhh I thought as much. I think I'm just looking for an excuse to indulge my gadget obsession!

[Paulj]

Well they do have other attachments too that mke them very useful. 

I've just used mine on my allotment and it was brilliant (after digging first), have used the scarifying attachment in the garden and that ws great too.  I've got the edger attachment but have yet to use it on either the allotment or garden but do need to.

It was the first of my garden gadgets, now I have too many!  Last night we were out for dinner with friends and we (the blokes) discovered we all had thissecret obsession with them, which bored our other halves enough tht they dispperd to look at new baby bits.

[The Red Baron]

Ah you've sold me there Paul, I do like the look of the de-thatcher attachment and lets face it, any tool with multiple attachments is a winner

[telsteph]

We use the Mantis Rotovator/Tiller on our raised beds. Works brilliantly to get a fine top soil.(after digging with fork, that is).
Our raised beds are 12' x 12' and 24' x 6'.

Tel Steph

[Moz278]

Brilliant piece of kit. Use it every spring after winter digging. My plot is divided into sections, each one about 30' x 15', so plenty of room, but I do have to temporarily put boards along the sides while using Mantis, otherwise the gravel paths would fill up with tilled soil. I guess it would fit in your raised beds, because I've used it in my tunnel, which has beds about 1 metre wide. Again with temporary boards to avoid spilling.
Remember it's a tiller, not a rotovator, so great for making a fine filth, not an alternative to proper digging.
Lawn raker is great, but very aggressive. Which is good, as long as you're prepared for a bare lawn for a few weeks.

[wil4025]

I go for adding topsoil, compost and horse manure. The more work and adding home made compost will help over the years.