Choosing a garden cultivator

Listen to this radio show (MP3 download) or read below.

Radio interview source: Chip Pryor, product marketing manager, Husqvarna Wheeled Goods

Weeding is not one of my favorite outdoor activities. When I was a kid, my dad made us weed all summer in the strawberry fields. I felt like I lived at the end of the hoe. It would have been nice to have had a little gas-powered cultivator to rev through the rows lickety-split. My job would have gone a lot quicker. Of course, that would have left more time for me to get into trouble. I think Dad knew exactly what he was doing!

If you don't want to be a slave to the weeds, get a cultivator. These machines work great in narrow or tight spaces, and there are many models available. Chip Pryor is the product marketing manager for a garden tool company and says rather than using a cultivator for digging up a new garden bed, use it for turning the soil periodically.

"It's very good for weeding, but try to use a cultivator at the beginning of the season to prepare your soil, and it's going to take you a long time because typically the cultivating whip is only about 10 inches or maybe smaller," Pryor says. "And the second thing is that it just doesn't go that deep into the ground."

Break out a rototiller for heavy digging. Cultivators don't have as much torque as a tiller, but run at higher speeds.