A tiller, cultivator or rotavator can be an essential item of machinery for any garden enthusiast. A must have tool for vegetable gardens, maintaining small holdings and allotments.

In simplistic terms a garden tiller is designed to break up hard compact soil into loose broken up dirt, which in turn can be used for planting.

Having a tiller as part of your garden machinery equipment range can save your hours of hard labour (and potentially a broken back) by crumbling up compact dirt ready for you to start planting.

It is also one of the best ways to create healthy soil in a flower bed, loosing the soil will help promote healthy drainage. The tiller can also speed up the decomposition of organic matter, releasing much needed nutrients into the soil.

As a general rule there are three main types of tillers available to for the garden enthusiast depending on the application you require:

Front tine - This type of garden tiller has bladed at the front of the machine and lends itself well to weeding between rows.

Rear tine - This type of tiller has the tines located at the back of the machine and are usually a heavier more powerful model designed at covering and working over larger areas. Perfect for turning over larger areas that have never been turned over.

The cultivator - This type of machine is more aimed at the domestic market and used in small holdings or vegetable gardens as an example. Similar to that of a garden hoe by mixing loose soil and weeding between plants, only more efficiently.

Some of the ways tillers can be used:

• The perfect machine for preparing and working soil, planting seeds or transplanting vegetables and flowers
• Aerating soil around allotments and plantations
• Weeding between plants and vegetable toes
• Building potatoes hills
• Clearing snow for the winter around allotments.

As you can see a Tiller lends itself really well as an all year round gardening tool, a must have for any garden enthusiast to stay on top of the most challenging of areas in and around your vegetable garden, small holdings or allotment .

Tillers are a great tool but in no way should they be considered a toy. It’s important to follow all the safety and operational instructions at the point of purchase. If you are purchasing one of these machines for this first time we would also recommend chatting to the manufacturer or the sales team to discuss your application helping to ensure you purchase with confidence and you get the correct machine for your application.

Always ensure you have the correct safety gear

• Sturdy boots
• Appropriate clothing that covers the entire legs.
• Work gloves

Inspect and clear your work area

Before you start your work it’s important to inspect the area that you are covering , remove any objects , sticks or rocks as an example. Also ensue items such as a hose are safely away from many areas you are working on.

There are a number of structures around the property that you need to ensure you stay clear of, this will help prevent accidents, damage to the machine and or items around the home. Things to consider are items such as fences, trees, pipes and driveways as an example.

Work within the operational instructions of your tiller

No matter If you are on a certain time frame it’s important not to push your machine beyond its means. Your machine will move forward at its own pace whether it be self propelled or not. Give it a small nudge to keep it going but always let the tines take the strain.

Due to the dangers of deadly carbon monoxide, it's important to never run your petrol tiller indoors or inside any enclosed area. This includes a garage. Carbon monoxide is emitted by the exhaust system on your tiller. Even with your garage door open, the fumes can become highly concentrated because there's not enough air flow to remove it from the area.

Tillers and cultivators are powerful machines, and once you know how to use them safely, they become machines that you can enjoy using.

This year Hyundai have launched their new HYT150 to the market. The HYT150 is a 4-stroke petrol garden tiller and cultivator.

Powered by a Hyundai IC150V 150cc petrol engine, the HYT150 features recoil starting mechanism. Its heavy-duty gearbox is ideal for getting enough power to the rotating tines and break the soil ready for planting.

Designed using the latest technology to cater to the changing conditions of the British garden, the rotary tiller/ rotavator/cultivator is designed that the rotating tines/blades self-propel the machine forward.

The depth can be easily controlled by the rear adjustable depth control rod and the long rear handles and fingertip controls make it easy to steer and control the tiller.

The four robust steel rotating tines/blades each have 4 angled teeth and cover a width of 560mm to make fast, almost effortless work, of breaking up and turning over the soil of any type.

With an adjustable tilling depth of up to 260mm you are able to complete projects easily and precisely, saving you time.

The front wheel is designed to move the machine between jobs and can be easily lifted up into a cultivating position.

Fitted with an ergonomically positioned speed adjuster control on its handlebars the HYT150 gives the operator comfortable and complete control while tilling.

The HYT150 is an affordable yet versatile petrol tiller, great for a variety of gardening situations and allowing you to maintain your allotment on a budget. Powered by a reliable Hyundai 4-stroke petrol engine this cultivator is excellent value for money with exceptional performance that saves hours of time and back-breaking digging.

We hope you have found this blog helpful and if you are in the market for a garden tiller hopefully this has taken some of the stress out of your purchase. If you would like any further information please do get in touch with the team over at Hyundai [email protected]