CompactTractorFan
Super Member
Can you use a backhoe as a poor-man's tiller??? I'd like to have a small garden next year and I don't think a tiller is in the budget. So, has anyone done this before??? I think I once saw a video of it being done.
Backhoe as Tiller
- Thread starter CompactTractorFan
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BruceWard
Platinum Member
You certainly can break loose and turn over the soil with backhoe.
How large is your garden area?
How large is your garden area?
OP
CompactTractorFan
Super Member
We don't have a garden yet, but I was thinking about planting pumpkins next year after I read another post on here.
You could certainly make a bunch of little hills with the backhoe and Roundup the areas inbetween the hills. A long ago Mother Earth Mag had you digging trenches with the backhoe. These trenches had brush,sticks,twigs lining the bottom. Tne dirt was then backfilled over the trench. It seemed like alot of work then as it still does now. Put an AD in the local paper and trade a freshly dug hole for the use of a #3 point tiller for a week.
chopped
Veteran Member
nickel plate
Veteran Member
That strikes me as funny-a mega multi mucho thousand dollar backhoe owned by a poor man??? If your conditions are right, level land, reasonably soft soil, etc. have someone qualified drive the tractor and you run the backhoe. Your bucket should be real narrow or have a ripper tooth device for trenching. Kidding aside, shell out a few hundred bucks for a proper tilling device and do it safe and right.
jgrreed
Platinum Member
There's nothing poor about a backhoe over a tiller!!
-Jer.
-Jer.
Iplayfarmer
Super Member
I don't see why you couldn't do it. Both tiller and a backhoe are more or less replacements for a shovel. When you're done, you'll have a very uneven seed bed no matter how good you are. Drag it a few times or use your FEL to level it. Should be just fine.
NO!! Especially the way it's being done in the video. I thought I would see the teeth being used to break up the dirt. Some of the holes he's digging are a few inches, some a foot deep. All he's doing is making a mess for planting.
A backhoe will compress the dirt when you dig. What's left will have chunks of dirt to break up and air pockets under ground which roots don't like. If you don't break it up right away the chunks will harden it will be worse to deal with than hand digging the area.
A backhoe is a glorified shovel but it is not a tiller. A tiller will powder the ground, when you walk across it you will leave 3 or 4 inch deep tracks. The ground is ready to plant without any other work.
I would hand dig a spot for a few pumpkins, find a tiller or get it tilled before dealing with using a back hoe as a tiller.
A backhoe will compress the dirt when you dig. What's left will have chunks of dirt to break up and air pockets under ground which roots don't like. If you don't break it up right away the chunks will harden it will be worse to deal with than hand digging the area.
A backhoe is a glorified shovel but it is not a tiller. A tiller will powder the ground, when you walk across it you will leave 3 or 4 inch deep tracks. The ground is ready to plant without any other work.
I would hand dig a spot for a few pumpkins, find a tiller or get it tilled before dealing with using a back hoe as a tiller.
Ductape
Elite Member
Why not buy a used walk behind tiller for a few hundred dollars? Wouldn't that make more sense?
