Chickens and Gas

This is my gas powered chicken. It is a small tiller powered by a very small 2 stroke engine made by Mantis. I think of it as a chicken because of the way it runs around in front of me scratching the earth if I am just cruising to a new site for tilling. It is very much the size and reminiscent of a chicken. It does a great job busting sod, tilling raised beds, between exisiting plants or just general flat out tilling.

I grew up using my dad's rear tine pony made by troy built. At the time it was the cadillac of tillers, so to speak. It was powerful and would take you for a run if you put the tines down hard enough to lift the wheels. And I thought it was the best thing to happen to gardening. Not that I was much of a gardener at the time. Times have changed, I guess. Now that it is my house and my garden, I do much more intensive gardening. I like raised beds that save my back. I keep things packed in tight so I am not weeding much open space. But this tiller is definitely my choice for anything from busting sod, like this picture, or if it is tilling the long soft beds in my well established garden below.

I have been building these raised beds for the last five years. The pictures don't show it, but the paths between the beds are nice gravel paths. This is because when I started, the dirt was about 1 third gravel. And not pea gravel either. Lots of chunks that got stuck in the tines of either the "little chicken" or my dad's pony. I have been sifting the soil for the last five years, moving the sifted soil to the raised beds and the using the gravel for the paths (and other projects, there was a lot of gravel). This area was the streambed of a glacial river and if the soil isn't gravely, its sandy.

At this point, the soil is pretty easily worked because it has lots of organic content and the gravel has been removed. The little chicken just powers through this and easily handles the tight quarters. I wouldn't dare take the pony into these beds for fear of collapsing the side walls of the beds. Anyway, I like my little chicken.

And this has to do with running the rooming house why? Well, maintaining the house and grounds are a major part of managing the household. The gardens add an attractive homey feel to the house. They help people feel at ease here. And, it attracts the kind of tennants I enjoy having around. That's what it has to do with the rooming house. It's an adaptation of what your highschool guidence councelor said.

And having the right tools makes all the difference. I like this mantis tiller. I like my shindowa string trimmer, although, to be honest, I don't trim the edge work. If I can't do it with the mower chances are it grows. And I really like my mower, an older 48 inch bobcat ransom walk behind mower. I used to use a 24" selfpropelled mower and I had a lawn tractor. Both of them took three hours to dow the lawn. With the bobcat, I get it done in about an hour. It's about size, and manueverability. And I bought these items on the advice of others. That's another thing that comes in handy, good advice.