Lidl - hand/manual cultivator

[KevinM67]

I popped into Lidl yesterday and they are selling these manual cultivator/tiller things for about £17 or £19.

Having really clay soil, and despite constant digging and trying to add beneficial materials - do these things work in achieving the fine tilth we all aspire to?

[veggiechicken]

Any pictures Kevin? I can't find it in the offers?

[KevinM67]

Any pictures Kevin? I can't find it in the offers?

Sorry veggiec,

I've trawled through website - but they only seem to show recent offers.

For the price, I'm going back on Friday (hopefully they will have some left)

[bearded bloke]

I'm going to guess it is one of the "rotary star" type,similar to ...





If so the yes it will give a fine crumble to soil that has already been forked over & roughly broken up to remove the large lumps

[KevinM67]

Cheers bearded bloke - that's the type they're selling.

Good to hear they work, exactly the thing I need for my soil.

[bearded bloke]

No prob's Kevin,not sure how big an area you will want to do with it though as they are quite hard work,IIRC they were originally designed to till between existing plants in borders.

[KevinM67]

I've got a big plot - which despite many hours of hard graft, still has some areas needing attention to break down the clay soil.

Every little thing helps I suppose - but I'm in no great rush for perfection.

I have 8 large beds dedicated to veg, and due to crop rotation - the one with the best soil tilth is full of spuds - seems such a waste.

[Mumbles]

I have a large plot too and my other half was going to get me one to help sort mine out. It may a job for him if it's hard work 😜


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[Bill HH]

Talking of Lidl my missus came back with a plastic chair, I don't like plastic chairs but this one was really good, it has a cushion that does the seat and back, sturdy arms and is tough, it folds up and is very Comfy too. It was about £20 (although my wife often fibs so I don't start moaning).

[Mumbles]

Also, is this going to cut all my weed roots into hundreds of pieces- just like using a roatavator?
Thanks


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[bearded bloke]

Also, is this going to cut all my weed roots into hundreds of pieces- just like using a roatavator?
Thanks

Practically speaking no,this only tills about 2" deep,so effectively it does the same to weeds that hoeing or raking does.

[Mumbles]

That's ok then thanks


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[bearded bloke]

It does dawn on me,the gardener at "the big house" only used his "star cultivator" on the actual seed sowing strips of the veg patch,NOT the whole area,major saving in energy

[Fleurisa]

I used the wolf-garten version last week to prepare a row for sowing peas into, I was really impressed with it so ordered one for myself. It was a little tricky to get going at first. They aren't supposed to be too good on heavy clay soil, or soil with lots of large stones