If you have a smaller-sized garden with maybe only a little bit of ground set aside for growing vegetables you are likely to need a mini-sized garden tiller. There is a wide range of models available on the market so which one is the best mini tiller for you and your garden?
Most of the mini tillers available are petrol powered but there are also a number of electric powered mini tillers which have come on to the market recently, in part to address growing concerns over the environment and the impact of emissions from petrol tillers. Perhaps the most popular of these has been the Handy THET-A Electric Tiller / Cultivator. This innovative small-sized electric tiller for the smaller garden can be used for turning over topsoil on flower beds and border areas as well as for use on vegetable patches so it really is a real time and labour saver. Best of all, the Handy electric tiller/cultivator is on special offer at MowDirect at only £99 and should be at a low enough price to suit even the tightest of budgets.
One of the other great advantages of cordless electric tillers is that they are low in weight and so great for senior gardeners. The Handy THET-A Electric Tiller/Cultivator weighs just 7.5 kg, which should make it suitable for most people. This is the smallest, lightest tiller we supply. We do however offer a cordless tiller from Stiga, The Stiga SRC48AE Cordless Tiller, which weighs just 12 kg but has the added advantage of being battery powered so is very manoeuvrable in small spaces and will save you hours of work traditionally undertaken with a fork and trowel.
Another option is the Mountfield MR-48LI Cordless Tiller, a great value tiller from a name everyone trusts which offers quiet operation, easy manoeuvrability, zero-emission, take-it-anywhere cultivating power at well under £200.
If you are working on a larger budget and looking for a great quality electric tiller available to maintain perhaps slightly larger sized areas of ground we would recommend the WOLF-Garten C30E Electric Tiller/Cultivator. It features self-sharpening rotating tines which are tough enough to break up even compacted clumps of soil in clay or tough sod. Another interesting feature on the WOLF-Garten electric tiller is its ability to work between existing rows of crops, due to its compact design, while its integrated carry-handle and adjustable, foldable handlebars ensure that transport and storage are easy.
Handy also produces a 4-stroke petrol mini tiller, the Handy TH-TILL3.5 Petrol Garden Tiller, offering high-performance capabilities and the added reliability of a premium-grade 3.5hp Briggs & Stratton Classic four-stroke engine very robust durable all-steel construction.
If you are looking for a more cost-effective solution, you might consider our Apache Euro 1 Garden Tiller, with ergonomic design, a powerful engine and which is compatible with accessories such as a ridger, a dethatcher and an aerator and represents a great deal at under £300!
The other main type of mini garden tiller available is the small-sized front tine petrol tillers with 4-stroke engine produced by manufacturers such as Al-Ko, MTD and Honda. The most expensive of these is the MD Loncin Petrol Cultivator with Reverse Drive, which is available at £529. Although this machine does offer top-end specifications and assured premier Loncin quality, there are some perfectly good alternatives at considerably lower prices for those looking to spend less. The Al-Ko Hobby MH350-4 Tiller / Cultivator has long been amongst our best sellers and offers the good, traditional build quality that you always get from a German manufactured product and handy features such as fold-down handles and front transport wheels. Our favourite front-tine mini tiller of this kind, however, is a tiller mentioned previously in this Blog, the new MTD T205 Garden Tiller. It has great specifications including a 40cm/16″ tilling width and robust worm-drive transmission as well as good features such as transport wheel and fold-down handle. We also really love the fact that MTD has supplied this product with a modern low emission OHV petrol engine – a real bonus for the environmentally conscious gardener.
Why not have a look at our petrol mini-tiller best buys here and our complete mini-tiller range on these pages
Updated March 2018.
