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To dig or not to dig...

First time I've started a thread so be gentle! I'm about to start a job on a patch of garden that up til last year was a well tended veg plot and I'm laying turf surrounded on 3 sides by low maintenance borders (membrane, evergreen plants and slate). The size of the area is roughly 9m x 9m and covered in weeds which I sprayed with roundup probio 2 weeks ago. I've dug part of it over by hand and the soil is pretty decent. Would you all use a rotavator or dig over manually? Cheers Paul

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    I would reach for a machine anytime I can.  If the going is good, get a tiller to level off and dig over where the borders will be, hope it goes well.

  • Small rotavator every time unless we couldn't get one in
  • if the ground is quite even and not to compact you could use a trident and a lute for the turf area and a fork for the boarders

  • Hi Paul.

    I have a small Mantis rotavator which, as long as the soil is relatively good, does the job in a fraction of the time compared to digging, and provides a much better result regarding fineness of the soil once finished, depending on how many runs you make.

    For me, it is still hard work using it, at least much harder than the sunny promo vids have us believe, but I wouldn't go back to digging.

    81m2 is a lot to dig.

     

  • Thanks for the advice gents. I'm picking up a rotavator/tiller on Monday from the hire shop much to the dismay of my retired gardener Dad who I think sees this as some kind of weakness!!
    • I did a 200m2 area the other day including loading/unloading, rotavating, levelling then seeding was about 2-3 hours
  • I purchased a 2nd hand honda tiller it paid for itself in hours worked out about a weeks hire and its all mine :)
  • I would dig all over by hand then cultivate with a rotavator to achive a fine tilts . I do not believe in just running over a site with a rotavator then thinking you can lay a lawn the finished product is rubbish.
    • I am struggling to see how digging will make a difference if your using a proper rotavator!

      If it's a tiller then yes you would need to dig first!
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