I would look on craigslist. That's where I'll probably be buying mine. I'd also look at the Echo TC-210 tiller.

Some of those have some pretty poor reviews, so read the user reviews before buying one...

If the funds are not ready to buy a tiller , I believe you can rent one for 4 hours.

Thanks for the input guys, I do not need anything big, the soil in my raised garden is not compacted at all, I am sure I could just rake it by hand but I thought one of those miniature tillers would be the ticket.

Hi gang. I am new to this thread. I have not had a garden or so much as aflower bed for nearly 5 years. To make a long story short I've been in a rent house. It was too painful to think about planting stuff and then moving on. An I am a houseplant killer. (There are wanted dead or alive signs of me up at the postoffice in Plantland.) We move in two weeks and I can't wait! Ya see I'm really a planthead. I was a perennial grower for a big plant farm in East Texas for years. I loved it. Our new place has plenty of room for gardening and some nice beds for perennials and it will be my home for years and years so I am ready to get after it. Perennials are my first love and I love herbs nearly as much. (I'm sure to do some simple veggies too.)
If anybody has any extra seed or plant starts I would truly be grateful. I used to thin my perennials out every spring so I hope you don't think I'm being greedy or anything. I'll pass along anything I have coming up in my beds when spring hits. Anyway, I look forward to spending some happy hours in this thread. Happy growing!!

Good to have you in the nieghborhood! I do'nt know exactly where Boyd is, but I'm assuming the Dallas area. I've found winter crops to be more "friendly". I still garden year around, but each summer I get more discouraged with the insect wars. Stink bugs, squash bugs, aphids, white flies... you get the picture. Then about the time I get a good crop of tomatoes set, it turns off hot aaargh! I gotta stop before I talk myself out of a spring garden.
If starting from seed, it's time for tomatoes and peppers. I usually put transplants in 1 gal. pots as soon as good specimens show up at the nurseries, mid Feb. Then plant in the ground around Spring break.
I'm located on a line with San Antonio and Del Rio, so right now I've got spinach, turnips, beets, english peas, carrots, dill, and parsley. Even pulled some green beans through a couple of the first frosts and had them for X-mas dinner. I've got a few white flies but, they are'nt doing any significant damage. All of the se crops, with the exception of the beans, are cold hardy crops. May be a little late or early for these depending on where your at.
Lots of good information here. Been kinda slow lately, but things should heat up soon.

I can't wait to get my hands back in the soil!! It's been too long....

Had a question for chipper/shredder owners or anyone that might know. I have been making good amounts of compost with just a hoe and a big kitchen knife. And this winter I have been using my mower to cut up all the bags of leaves I collect each week, with good results. But I have been considering getting a used chipper/shredder just so I could make more/faster compost. Do any of you guys use a chipper/shredder in your compost making and if so, would you recommend one or not? Thanks very much for any thoughts.

If you want some vegetable seeds I got some you can have. PM me your address and I'll put them in the snail mail sometime soon. It's seed I've got left over from last years garden so it should still be good.

Most pots are cylinders or are cylinder-ish, and there is a simple math equation to figure out the volume of a cylinder:
volume of cylinder= pi * radius squared * height
Let's break that down: you first figure out the area of a circle, which is pi (3.14) multiplied by the radius squared. Containers are generally sold by diameter - so an 18" pot is 18" diameter at the top, and it is that circle whose area we'll calculate. Most containers taper so that the bottom is smaller than the top, but for the sake of estimating, it's easiest to pretend your container is the same diameter throughout. The radius is half of the diameter, so the radius of an 18" pot is 9". That means the radius squared - 9" multiplied by 9" - is 81". We'll multiply that by pi, rounded to a convenient 3.14 which gives us 254.34 square inches - that's the area of the circle, or the surface, of the container.
Now we need to multiply that by the height of the container. Let's say that our 18" pot is 14" high:

254.34 square inches x 14 inches = 3560.76 cubic inches

When we multiplied by the height, we went from square inches to cubic inches, so the volume of our 18" wide, 14" high pot is 3560.76 cubic inches.

But potting mix isn't sold in cubic inches - it's sold in dry quarts or cubic feet. So we need to convert our result into a relevant number by dividing it by the number of cubic inches contained in one:

quart - 67.2 cubic inches per dry quart
or
cubic foot - 1728 cubic inches per cubic foot

(you can use this handy site to do the converting for you if you'd like)

So to fill one 18" wide, 14" high container, we'll need 52.98 quarts or 2.06 cubic feet of potting mix.

If you have a square or rectangular container, just find the area of the top surface by multiplying the length times the width, then multiply that result by the height of the container.

Add up the volumes of all the containers you need to fill to know how much potting mix you'll need to buy. Remember that estimates are on the generous side, especially for tapered containers, and that they don't allow for the space that the roots will take up or the 1-2" space you'll leave at the top for watering.


Or you can just fill until the container is full.

It's been over 30 years since I had any kind of math but you explained it perfectly, dude. Thanks.

Btw: "(you can use this handy site to do the converting for you if you'd like)"

You didn't post a link.

"Or you can just fill until the container is full."

I figured I'd get that response from someone but after your most excellent explanation I'll let it slide.

you really need to know the volume of the containers before you can figure whats needed. Try here http://www.bonnieplants.com/LearnGrowLib...ag-of-Soil.aspx

Buy a small amount and fill one of the containers. Take note how much soil it took to fill. Then if the other containers are the same size you should be able to figure how many bags you need.

I am doing a lasagna garden this year, be my first time to try it.

I do all organic myself. Keep us updated.

Will do! I am excited.

What the heck is a lasagna garden?

You have any extra noodle seeds?

Google is your friend

Is it time to plant onions? I figure it should be close.

That's a tough call for your area. I'd probably wait until after Valentine's Day. The reason being if we get a couple more cycles of freezing/warm/freezing/warm, it's going to hinder their growth and it would be difficult for you to get any good sized onions...

it's (almost) that time of year again.

anyone plannin anything interesting this year?