The Day the Tiller Won - Greeneville, TN Organic Farm

I'm from the flatlands and don't have a ton of gardening experience - probably more from books than practice - so my first experience with a tiller was a memorable one....

As you can see we are using a pretty standard tiller - you know, the kind I've seen sweet old ladies using in their beautiful garden patch with no weeds unlike the garden above. I cranked the tiller up and when I set it down on the hard clay it shot off pulling me behind it. I held on for dear life to slow it down and actually til the land (and weeds). After three rows I was completely exhausted.

I called up my co-worker Debra - she's also a local. She came out to the garden and I asked "Am I doing this right?" I cranked it up and showed her a row. "Yes" was the deadpan reply as I dripped sweat and breathed hard. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I told you it would work you hard" she said. I thought maybe it would be easier to pull the weeds by hand!

Well, I've used the machine a few more times since then and had much better success even though it still works me hard. Seems that first time no one told me that if it hadn't rained in three weeks the clay may not be receptive to the tiller. And no one told me to maybe water some the night or morning before I planned on using it. Debra still gets a big ol' laugh out of me calling her to see if I was using it right.