Electric tillers

Are electric tillers any good? Particularly when it comes to being used by disabled people?

I don't have an awful lot of ground to deal with, but being the area where I am it is very much a clay soil and sets as hard as rock, and I am no longer able to deal with it the way that I used to. I am trying to improve the structure of it to make things easier, with some success, but to do so really properly I would need tons of top soil/compost (literally) and I simply cannot afford that.

So I wondered about a cheap electric tiller - or would that be either a false economy, or even potentially a really bad idea given that my mobility and balance are not exactly great?

 

Hmmmm, given that it is my balance that is shot as much as anything, it sounds as though they may be more trouble than they are worth. Thanks for the advice folks

 

I have a shredder, so everything gets shredded or chipped and then usually goes into the composters which I can then spread out (or that is the plan); my composters are going to be moved to make them more easily accessible and as part of sorting out the back end of the garden that got way out of control when I was in hospital etc, so their contents will be spread as a base on what is going to become a new sort of raised bed area - will be filling that up with spent compost from this years pots and planters and then topping off with new compost/topsoil at some stage. Once all that is done, the composters will be started again and I will just have to dedicate myself more to getting good compost from them.

 

I did think about using a rotovator (hiring rather than buying) but they seem to be a bit big, and to be honest I don't think I have the balance/body strength to be able to use one. I'll just have to work at it slowly with organic material and digging it over slowly I think. I reckon I would need a couple of hundred quids worth of top soil to make it properly right and I can't afford that at the moment.

 

You could go down the no-dig route as it less labour intensive. For the price of an electric tiller you could get a delivery of mushroom compost. Pay them a fiver tip and they may hump it into your back garden. Mushroom compost is a good conditioner for clay soil, worms will mix it in over winter. A good covering will suppress weeds too.

Just an idea. If you are interested Steve R posted a thread about it.