One way to deal with the never ending chore of cultivating and weeding the garden is with some type of tiller. Putting some motorized power to work is great when you can do it. Nut the typical tiller is a relatively large machine, and can often be a hassle to get out and fire up for just a small patch of garden that needs to be refreshed or weeded. But a mini tiller can be taken out to the garden much more easily, and will work in areas that a normal tiller can't be taken like in elevated flower beds or raised gardens.
The lighter weight of these smaller tillers is an advantage, and the flexibility in power choices is another. Let's look a the choices in powering a small tiller.
Gas powered tillers - Just like their larger siblings, you can find tillers powered by gasoline. Like the larger tillers you will find many gas powered mini tillers. Gas powered tillers have a lot of power, are not limited in their range by the need to have a cord. The larger tillers are usually four cycle engines, and it's becoming more common to find these engines on mini tillers as well. Four cycle engines also have better power at low speeds, and will tend to have fewer emissions when running, and are often easier to start. Two cycle engines are less expensive to buy, require a fuel oil mix instead of gas, but don't need oil changes.
Electric tillers have a few advantages of their own. They are easy to start, have no emissions (ignoring the power plant) and are much quieter. They are limited in power, however, either from the battery pack or the fact that you can only get so much power out of a 120 volt line through an extension cord. The cord also limits the range that you can use a electric mini tiller.
Generally you will find that a mini tiller is a good choice for cultivating an area that has been worked before, or for weeding an area that's been planted previously. If you want to bust sod for a new garden of a few hundred square feet, you probably need a full sized tiller.
Of course there are many other features to consider when buying a mini tiller, like the type of tines, the handle types, and the wheel choices, to name a few. And there is another option that is almost as effective yet costs less than half of these tillers...
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