Weekly Garden Update #8 – Choosing a Fence

While we’re waiting for the ground to dry out so that we can direct sow some seeds and dig the rest of our garden beds, we realized that we need to figure out how we’re going to keep critters out of our veggies. Where we live, the most problematic animals are deer and rabbits. We definitely have squirrels and birds, but we aren’t going to keep them out.

We’ve always known that we’re going to need a fence, but reaching the point where we need to pick out the one we want to use snuck up on us. Ideally, we would have a limitless budget to pick a fence option that works and is pleasing to the eye. However, that isn’t the case, and choosing an option that is cost-effective is a top priority. I’m going to use this week’s update to discuss what fence option we’re going to use and how we reached that decision.

Short-Term, Not Long-Term

Because we don’t have a limitless budget to build or purchase our dream fence this year, we recognize that the fence we get this year isn’t the one we’ll have forever. There’s a good chance we’ll begin upgrading our fence as soon as next year. But that doesn’t mean we want to buy something that is completely disposable or junk. We don’t need a permanent solution at this time, though. We also want the fence to be minimal and not an eyesore, which removes some of the more expensive and permanent options.

What We Considered

Let’s start by discussing the fence styles we knew wouldn’t be possibilities given our budget and desires for an aesthetically pleasing fence.

Wood fencing – picket fencing is beautiful and iconic, but it’s also expensive ($60 for an 8-foot section of 6-foot-tall panel), regardless of whether or not you’re buying the panels or just the materials to build everything yourself. Also, because we need a fence that’s high enough to keep deer out, a picket fence gives off a vibe that you don’t want your neighbors to see what you’re doing. Rather unfriendly.
Vinyl fencing – see above, only more expensive ($109 for an 8-foot section of 6-foot-tall panel).
Metal fencing – not only is it very expensive ($152 for a 6-foot section of a 6-foot-tall panel), but it also wouldn’t successfully keep the critters out. Deer may not be able to jump it, but rabbits can hop through the spaces.
Chain link fencing – this fencing is very expensive ($139 for a 50-foot roll of 6-foot-tall fence), and it also doesn’t create the vibe we’re looking for. It looks like playground fencing and is anything but minimally intrusive. Our neighbors use this type of fencing for their garden beds, and it doesn’t look natural or happy. It also doesn’t work well because rabbits have learned to dig under it.

Now for the types of fencing we did consider:

Rolled metal fencing – this can be either the chicken wire style with hexagonal openings or the welded type with square openings, but I’m including both in this. It’s pretty affordable (a 150-foot roll of 5-foot fencing can be purchased for $61), relatively easy to install, and successful at keeping the critters out. It can also be used for plants to climb. As a bonus, it looks pretty good.
Rolled plastic fencing – this can be called multiple things, including poultry fencing. It has 3/4-inch openings, is pretty durable, and easy to install. It’s decently affordable ($33 for a 25-foot roll of 4-foot-tall fence). It’s also green, so it blends in with the surrounding nature and doesn’t look out of place.
Construction barrier – this is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the plastic fencing that goes up around construction sites to prevent people from trespassing. It’s often found in orange, but you can find it in green. It’s pretty similar to snow fencing. It’s decently affordable ($45 for a 100-foot roll of 4-foot-tall fence) and very durable, but is an eyesore. The orange was a non-starter, but even the green looks out of place.
Deer fencing – this is also called extruded mesh rolled fencing. It is largely used to prevent deer from getting to orchard trees. It’s not overly durable, but there are many examples of people successfully using it to protect their gardens. It is extremely affordable ($23 for a 100-foot roll of 7-foot-tall fence).

What Did We Choose?

In the end, we’re choosing the deer fencing. It provides us with the ideal blend of price, size of roll, and attractiveness. We’re going to need somewhere between 600 and 700 feet of fencing. The deer fencing is less than $200 in total, while some of the others are well over $300. Because we needed to buy so much stuff to get our garden started this season and we screened in our back porch this year, we wanted to keep costs down where possible.

This deer fencing will not last forever, but we’re okay with that. If it breaks down or gets torn, we can replace it. We are also confident that if we take our time with installing it, it can last longer than expected. We can also repurpose the fencing in the future by using it as netting to protect plants from birds. Since it’s so easy to set up and tear down, this type of fencing will also allow us to replace it with long-term solutions a little at a time. Similarly, at the end of the season, we’ll be able to take the fence down and store it. We’ll let you know how installing it went and what we think of it throughout the growing season. Happy gardening.

May 5, 2025 2

Weekly Garden Update #7 – Making Mistakes, Patience & Construction

Out of busyness, I skipped last week’s garden update. Rather than mail it in with a very light garden update, I ended up taking a week off and coming back this week with a full update. I apologize for skipping last week’s post. We worked on screening in our back porch last week, and it was time-consuming and tiring. In this week’s update, I learned that I’ve made a mistake when it comes to starting seeds, started a bunch of new seeds, and continued learning the importance of patience with gardening.

Seed Starting Mistake

Each day, I check our seed starting trays to see if the plants need water or can be transplanted to a larger growing cell. Two weeks ago, I noticed that a few were a bit laggy and didn’t look as healthy as they did at the start. Since starting the seeds, I had kept the trays on the heat mats and under the lids. I also turned on the grow lights once germination happened. I did a quick Google search and was reminded that the heat mats should be switched off and the lids removed as soon as germination happens. I immediately unplugged the heat mats and removed the lids, but it was too late for some of the starts, and I needed to restart some of them.

When this happened, I was down on myself. I really hate making mistakes when it comes to gardening, especially when starting seeds. Maggie reminded me to be nicer to myself, which is something I always need to be told. It’s incredibly comforting to know that mistakes are okay. I have to remind myself that it has been three years since we gardened, so it’s natural to forget some of the details. And I suppose that if mistakes are going to be made, it’s best for them to happen at this stage rather than when they’ve been transplanted and are a lot further in their development.

Transplanting, Restarting, and Starting

After learning that I needed to restart some of the seeds, I kept looking for opportunities last week in between the porch project to transplant starts, start new seeds, and restart some of the ones that failed. Sadly, it took until Friday, when the weather wasn’t great and we needed a day to rest, to find that time. That afternoon, I transplanted a bunch of tomato, pepper, and cantaloupe starts. I even transplanted a dahlia start that had outgrown its small starting cell. We didn’t buy any larger planting pots for this year’s garden after finding 10 or so of the peat pots from our previous garden. Beyond those, we’ve been reusing plastic containers that would otherwise be recycled.

Then, on Saturday morning, I took the time to restart the seeds that had failed and start some new ones that I hadn’t been able to get to. The ones that needed to be restarted were some tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupes, and dahlias. We also had to restart all of the eggplants, tomatillos, ground cherries, broccoli, and onions. The new seeds we started were our cucumbers, winter squash, pumpkins, and melons. We were originally going to start our beans at the same time; however, I read that they don’t need to be started indoors since they grow so fast. Instead, we’ll wait to direct sow them in the garden. With the newly remembered knowledge about heat mats, domes, the importance of air circulation for starts, and watering needs, we wait.

Gardening Requires Patience

I am not a patient person. I struggle to give things time and want to rush them. This is the case for gardening. At this time, we have a few plants that could be transplanted into the ground outside and other seeds that can be directly sown into the garden. However, the weather has been uncooperative, with cold temperatures at night that keep the soil temp low and consecutive rainy days, which isn’t ideal when seeds are trying to germinate or young plants are trying to establish roots. The rain has also prevented us from tilling the last two garden beds. I know that we’ll be able to get all of this done, but not rushing the process is difficult for me.

Up Next

This week, we wait for the recently-planted seeds to germinate and to see how the starts do after being transplanted. The healthy ones have done very well in the first few days, while the ones that weren’t looking great in the original cells still don’t look too good. We also need to mow our grass for the first time this year, which will include mowing down the areas for the new beds and handling some of the grass that has regrown in the existing beds. Finally, we have plans to finish our screened-in porch when we can get to it and to work in the garden. We had success with setting up our rain barrel and have noticed its impact on the ground around where the downspout originally deposited water. I’m hoping for a pretty eventful week in the garden. Happy gardening to you.

April 28, 2025 0

Earthquake MC440 Cultivator Review: Capable of Much More Than You’d Expect

I’ve written about the cultivator we bought in multiple blog posts so far:

As a refresher, we bought the Earthquake MC440 cultivator. It has a 40cc 4-cycle engine and has tines that adjust the working width between 6 and 10 inches. We’ve had it for over a month now and have probably put between 15 and 20 hours on it, so I feel it’s a good time to review it.

Pros

Let’s get this out of the way now: There are a lot more pros than cons to this cultivator, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Power

Despite only being a 40cc engine, this cultivator has plenty of power. If you don’t have a good grip on it and are prepared to hold it back, it will be ripped out of your hands if you use full throttle. Typically, half-throttle is about all you need for most of the cultivating work. It’s powerful enough to break ground in lawns that have never been dug before, allowing it to take on jobs generally reserved for larger tillers.

Mobility

Before we bought our cultivator, I didn’t know that some of the smaller ones don’t have permanently attached wheels. Instead, they’re only used when moving it to and from the garden beds. Ours has a set of wheels that adjust to determine the depth of the tilling tines. When you aren’t actively cultivating, you can raise the wheels back up for transportation. The tiller is also nimble enough to be maneuvered in tight spaces and stored in the corner of your garage.

Weight

This is connected to the mobility section, but the weight of this cultivator makes it a breeze to use. At only 32 or 33 pounds, most people can lift it if necessary. This makes it easy to lift out of the garden bed or into the back of a vehicle for transportation.

Cost

This was one of the biggest reasons we bought this cultivator. While many larger machines were approaching $500, we spent less than $300 for ours. That amount is higher than some of the smaller cultivators we considered, but this one provided us with the perfect balance of size and power at a cost we were comfortable with.

Durability

I know that we have only had our cultivator for around a month, but we have used it a lot. We also haven’t gone easy on it. We’re asking it to cut through ground that has never been anything but grass and turn over the soil below the grass up to a depth of 4 or 5 inches. We’ve also run it for hours on end, and it has yet to give us an issue. It fires up within a few pulls each time (as long as I remember to turn it on), hasn’t stalled, and the tines remain undamaged.

Cons

Weight

The same thing that allows this cultivator to be mobile and easy to maneuver is a con. The heavier a cultivator or tiller is, the easier it is to get the tines deeper into the soil. That leads to less work for the person running the machine. I’ve thought a bit about how to add some weight, possibly by attaching something to the frame, but I haven’t pursued it.

Mud & Weeds Getting Twisted Around the Tines

This may not be a con with this specific machine or just cultivators in general, but I’ve found that the tines don’t do a great job of preventing mud from getting caked on them. This can reduce the effectiveness of the tines when cultivating. It’s not a huge deal, as it generally only happens when the ground is pretty damp, but it is an inconvenience. Similarly, grass can become twisted around the metal bar that the tines go on. This doesn’t impact the cultivator’s ability to perform, but we typically remove the tines and pull out the grass before putting it away each time we use it. Thankfully, this is an easy process with only one cotter pin on each side holding the tines on. It only takes a few minutes to remove the grass before you’re back in business.

Noise

If you read our post on picking out a cultivator, you’ll remember that we placed a lot of weight on how loud a cultivator would be when considering the power supply. It’s a reason we went with a 4-cycle engine over a 2-cycle. I still think it was a wise decision, because a 2-cycle engine would have been louder, but this cultivator is anything but silent. If the RPMs are kept low, it’s not loud at all; however, if you need extra RPMs to get through tough ground or thick grass, it quickly becomes noisy. I wouldn’t want to use it without some form of ear protection. That being said, any cultivator that uses an internal combustion engine is going to be loud, and it’s still much quieter than a leaf blower, so there’s that.

Would I Recommend the Earthquake MC440?

I would absolutely recommend this cultivator for anyone looking for a lightweight, cost-effective option. While it’s designed to turn over soil and work in existing garden beds, it can punch far above its weight class and does a great job in untouched ground. It has its limitations, but if you are uncomfortable with spending $500 on a large tiller and only plan to use the machine occasionally, this is a perfect cultivator.

April 18, 2025 0

Weekly Garden Update #6 – Transplanting a Pepper Start & Buying Materials for Our Screened-In Porch

This week’s update will be a bit shorter than usual, largely because there wasn’t a lot that happened with our garden. We didn’t start any new seeds, but we did transplant one of our starts, saw more seeds germinate, and bought materials for an upcoming project that sort of has to do with our garden.

Transplanting a Pepper Start

The first start you transplant into a larger pot is a momentous occasion each year. It signifies that the seeds have successfully germinated and your plants are growing closer to being ready to be moved outside and into the ground. For us, the first start that needed to be transplanted is the first Cal Wonder bell pepper seed that germinated. Since it germinated on March 22, the plant has grown to about 4 inches tall and has developed its third set of leaves. That’s the point when most recommend transplanting pepper plants. Luke from the MI Gardener YouTube channel published a video where he talked about the importance of not crowding a pepper plant’s roots, and if that means transplanting a plant to a larger pot multiple times, that’s okay. We decided to go with the 5-inch tall peat pots so that the plants only have to be transplanted once between germination and going in the ground. It also happened to be the size we had on hand.

When I transplanted the start, I mixed in some Garden-Tone, which is an organic well-balanced fertilizer that promotes root development and leaf growth. After wetting the soil, I was extra careful to not disturb the root system when removing the start from its cell. The day after transplanting, I cut the bottom off a Gatorade bottle so that it could be placed over the plant and act as a greenhouse since the start no longer fit under the dome of the seed-starting trays. We’ll keep you posted on the plant’s progress after being transplanted.

More Germination

Last week, I wrote that we started a lot of seeds, including all our tomatoes, husk tomatoes, and cantaloupes. In the week since we started them, every variety of seed has successfully germinated. This doesn’t mean that every cell has germinated, but that at least 1 cell of every seed has germinated. This is a huge step because these vegetables are going to be a large section of our garden. Some of the tomatoes and the cantaloupes have even had to be thinned already.

Buying Materials for Our Screened-In Porch Project

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to be taking on screening in our back porch. We have a nice-sized back porch that we love sitting on. It’s also where we have our grill. The downside to it is that wasps, yellow jackets, and other bugs love it as well and can make sitting out there kind of miserable. It is also open on all 3 sides, so rain gets blown in. We’re addressing all that by screening it in with a set of French doors. The back will have screens that run from the ceiling to the floor, while the sides will have screens that run from the ceiling to the railing, which is waist high. Below the screens, the sides will be closed so that rain can’t be blown in. You may be wondering what this has to do with gardening. Great question.

When we bought the lumber for this project, we bought extra to use as a trellis for our long beans to climb and to build some planter boxes. In the end, we hope to see the trellis incorporated into the porch. We’ll share pictures of the project when it’s done.

Up Next

This week, we’re planning to pick up the rest of the materials we need for the screened-in porch project and to start our beans and cucumbers inside. Outside, the soil is finally starting to warm up, and it’s dried out nicely. That means we should be able to direct sow some of our seeds. We’ve been very patient with them because the soil hasn’t been warm enough to this point. How are your seeds going? We’d love to hear from you. Happy gardening!

April 14, 2025 0

Weekly Garden Update #5 – Lots of Germination, Cleaning Out the Garden Tote & So Much Rain

I hate to say it, but I forgot to start this week’s update until Sunday night. Typically, I will start these on Saturday evening, but as I sit here watching the Boston Red Sox lead the St. Louis Cardinals 18-3 on Sunday Night Baseball, I am much later than usual. So, I apologize if this update ends up being shorter than normal, but I was unwilling to push the update back a day or two or not publish one at all this week. To those who read my gardening content: I can’t thank you enough. Writing here has been a relaxing break from work and helps remind me of why I like writing. I don’t want to postpone it any longer: Here’s this week’s update.

Much Germination

In last week’s update, I discussed the difficulties we were experiencing with getting seeds to successfully germinate. This was largely concentrated to our peppers, where we only had two of our 12 pepper cells germinate. I’m proud to report that after we altered the watering process and re-sowed the seeds, we’ve had much better germination. All six of our bell pepper cells, two of the Scotch Bonnet cells, and one of the Hungarian wax cells have sprouted. The bell pepper seeds have been successful enough that earlier today, we thinned the cells so that only one plant per cell will grow.

We also had successful germination with all three dahlia cells, all six eggplant cells, and all 21 bunching onion cells. We feel so blessed that we’ve been able to turn the poor germination rate around and have successfully started many other seeds.

We also started some new seeds earlier today:

3 cantaloupe cells
3 ground cherry cells
3 tomatillo cells
6 broccoli cells
And all of our tomato seeds (6 principe borghese, 3 Queen Aliquippa, 3 indigo pear, 3 blue beauty, 3 yellow pear, 3 black krim, and 3 mushroom basket)

We’ve been very careful to track what we’re planting in each cell. We use a piece of paper with a hand-drawn chart on it for the one tray, and our other tray came with a cardboard chart. I’m also tracking these on a spreadsheet in case the physical copies get destroy or the ink smudges.

Seed Starting, Garden Organization — Seed Tray Chart

Cleaning Out Our Garden Tote

This weekend, we spent some time in our garage (also my woodworking shop) cleaning it out. I recently finished a guitar stand project, and when I’m wrapping up a project, I tend to make a huge mess and not worry about cleaning up as I go. That leads to a lot of sawdust, tools, and scraps being spewed everywhere. I needed to clean everything up from that project and reorganize everything so that the spring and summer things are at the front, with the winter items moved to the back. In doing so, I uncovered our tote of gardening supplies, which was pretty cool.

I didn’t forget that we have this tote, but I did forget some of the stuff in it. There were a lot of supplies that we used when we had our container garden in 2022, including soil amendments, organic fertilizers, and hand tools. Some things weren’t worth using anymore, such as the open bags of seed-starting mix and peat moss, but the amendments were still good. I actually repurposed the peat moss and starting mix by pouring it on our garden beds. We’re also able to use the larger seed pots by transferring our pepper plants into them when the time is right. It was fun remembering everything we had bought for that garden three years ago. It helped me to realize how far we’ve come in three short years and how thankful I am to be able to garden again, especially with some of the same items.

So Much Rain…

In last week’s update, I said that a goal for the week was to get gypsum into garden beds 3 and 4 and do the final tilling. I was able to do that on Monday before a large weather system entered the area and brought a lot of rain. I estimate that we received somewhere between 2 and 2.5 inches total from Monday afternoon through Saturday. It made our garden beds nice and muddy, so we can see that we’re still having some drainage problems, but it’s a work in progress. Also, it’s been a very wet spring that has arrived on the back of a snowy winter, so the ground was already pretty wet. As the ground dries out this week, the goal is to get back into the garden and till the final two beds and perhaps even get some seeds in the ground. We also need to get the parts we need for the rain barrel, which will help with some of the moisture problems.

Up Next

The weather forecast is much better this week, so hopefully, the garden beds and yard can finally dry out. If that happens, we’ll likely try to start beds 5 and 6. If that happens, it’ll be great, but if not, that’s okay too. We’re in a great place at this time and need to be patient. In the meantime, we’re going to be screening in our back porch in a few weeks and need to get it prepped by taking measurements, cleaning everything, and making sure we have our supplies list figured out so that we can get everything we need. When we pick up the supplies for that project, we’re also going to get some materials to build some planter boxes and a trellis or two.

Happy Gardening!

April 7, 2025 0

Which Cultivator Is Right for Digging Garden Beds?

Picking out a tiller for your garden is a big deal, and there are many factors to consider to ensure you’re getting one that best fits your needs, including size, power method, and price. We recently bought one for our garden and want to share our experiences with picking out the perfect model. We only plan to use ours when initially starting garden beds or turning over soil in flower beds. After that, we’re going to be as no-till as possible, so we didn’t want to pay a bunch of money for something that will only be lightly used after the first year. With that being said, what all went into our decision?

Gas Over Electric

We initially thought that we were going to buy an electric tiller. They’re cost-effective ($150-$200 range), and the reviews for many of them are strong, with people even saying they’ve used them to break ground on gardens. Electric tools have come a long way from the mediocre weed eaters and mowers of the 1990s. Modern tools are durable, powerful, and often do 80% of the work that gas models do. We also liked that an electric tiller would be quiet. So, why didn’t we buy an electric one?

The cost of an electric tiller may be cheap, but 100-foot 10-gauge extension cords are not, which is the length we need for our yard. That would have added at least $100 to the price of the tiller, bringing the total cost closer to that of a gas model. We also started to realize how big of an area we will be tilling and were less sure that an electric model could endure that level of abuse. At that point, we started to consider gas models.

In our price range of $200-300, we knew we’d be looking at a small gas model, perhaps one with a narrower working width than an electric tiller. But because it is gas-powered rather than electric, we had more confidence in its ability to run nearly nonstop for hours without issue. Additionally, if there is an issue with the engine, I can likely fix it. The final item that pushed us over the edge is the cost of electricity vs. gasoline. Our town has pretty affordable electricity, but running an electric power tool all-out for many hours would raise our electric bill. Meanwhile, gas is in the $3.50 range here, and most of the tillers we were considering had fuel capacities of less than 1/2 gallon, so for a little over $3, we could run it nearly all day.

As an aside, we never considered a battery-powered one. We have a few outdoor tools that are battery-powered, including a chainsaw and a lawn mower. Both work great, but I’m aware of the battery life on those and how long they take to charge when completely drained. Being hindered by that was not something we were interested in.

2-Cycle vs 4-Cycle Gas Tiller

We next needed to decide between a 2-cycle (or stroke) and a 4-cycle gas tiller. Both are great and have their advantages and disadvantages. Two-cycle engines are more powerful for their size and have a simpler design. They last a long time and are easy to maintain and work on. However, they are loud, use more fuel, and require pre-mixed gas and oil, which is an extra step.

Four-cycle engines, however, are quieter (think lawn mower vs. chainsaw), easier to operate, and more fuel-efficient. I’m someone who loves the sound of chainsaws every now and then, and I grew up around 2-stroke dirt bikes and 4-wheelers, so I get the attraction to the sound. But we live in town and don’t want to anger our neighbors. Another benefit to the 4-cycle engine is that it is slightly heavier than its 2-cycle cousin, which should, in theory, make tilling the soil a bit easier.

Which Models Did We Look At?

We looked at quite a few tillers, all in the $200-$300 range. I’ll break them down by manufacturer and discuss the individual models.

Earthquake

MC33 10″ 33cc 2-cycle – The same working width as the two that follow but only has a 33cc 2-cycle engine. This is designed for light-duty work like weeding and only weighs 33 pounds. This was available from Amazon for $199 and Lowes for $239.
MC43 10″ 43cc 2-cycle – A 10″ working width with adjustable tines and a powerful 2-cycle engine and weighing 38 pounds. It was available at two stores: Tractor Supply and Amazon, both for $249.
MC440 10″ 40cc 4-cycle – Like the above model, this one has a 10″ working width with adjustable tines but has a 4-cycle engine. This model weighs 37 pounds and is the one we purchased. It was available at Tractor Supply for $299, Family Farm & Home for $299 (on sale for $259), and Amazon for $265. As you know, we bought ours from Amazon.
Badger 21″ 160cc 4-cycle – This one is substantially larger than the other models we considered. It’s a true tiller while the others are technically cultivators. It has a 21″ working width and weighs a whopping 107 pounds! It would have been heavy to move and difficult to lift but would have required no effort to force the tines into the soil. It was only available at Menards for $449, but it was on sale at the time for $299.

Champion

12″ 43cc 2-cycle – Similar to the Earthquake MC43, this model has a powerful 43cc 2-cycle engine but a wider working width than most at 12″. It’s light at 33 pounds and is designed to be operated in small spaces. This was available from Tractor Supply for $297, Home Depot for $299, and Amazon for $299.

Troy-Bilt

TB225 9″ 25cc 2-cycle – This is a very light (23 pounds) model that is designed for weeding existing garden beds or turning the soil over before planting. It was available at Tractor Supply for $230.
TBC304 12″ 30cc 4-cycle – Much more substantial than the 2-cycle model, this machine weighs 38 pounds and is built for a bit heavier work. It was available from Home Depot for $279.

Toro

10″ 43cc 2-cycle – I’m 99 percent sure this is the same model as the Earthquake MC43. They look nearly identical in engine and frame design with the only difference between the manufacturer stickers. This was available at Family Farm & Home for $229 (on sale for $199), at Lowes for $248, and at Tractor Supply for $256.

Predator

9″ 43cc 2-cycle – This is Harbor Freight’s in-house brand of outdoor power equipment but is built similarly to the Toro model above. It weighs 32 pounds and has a narrower working width than some of the other models on this list. It’s only available at Harbor Freight and is $220, so cheaper than the Toro. As an aside, a lot of people are wary of Harbor Freight’s tools, but I’ve generally had positive experiences with them. So far, we have a battery-powered chainsaw and a host of electric woodworking tools and haven’t had any issues with them. If this had a 4-cycle engine instead of a 2-cycle one, we probably would have bought it.

Why We Picked the Earthquake MC440

In the end, we picked the Earthquake MC440 10″ 40cc 4-cycle cultivator from Amazon, as mentioned above. We landed on this model because it met all the criteria we had and was easy to purchase. We were certain we wanted a 4-cycle engine over a 2-cycle for noise and ease of use. We also wanted one with adjustable tines that could go as wide as possible. We later learned about models with wheels that have to be removed before tilling and didn’t want one of those. Finally, we were looking for the heaviest one we could find in our price range. The more a cultivator weighs, the less force you have to apply to keep the tines in the ground.

Recognizing that we were probably going to push it to its upper limits, we wanted a model that would be durable and reliable. Granted, because these aren’t tools you can “test drive,” you have to rely on reviews and how they appear to be assembled. The Earthquake models all had great reviews, especially the MC440. There were many reviews where the person said they used it to dig garden beds into lawns, which, to be fair, isn’t what it’s designed to do.

We’ve now had our cultivator/tiller for close to a month and have used it to establish five garden beds with two more in the works. To say it’s met our expectations would be an understatement. In the next week or so, I will write a full review of the machine. Is there a cultivator or tiller that you use for your garden? I’d love to hear in the comments. Happy Gardening!

April 3, 2025 1

Weekly Garden Update #4 – More Garden Beds, Eggplant Germination & Re-Sowing Seeds

In this week’s garden update, we continued our journey of tilling all the garden beds we need. We admitted defeat with some of the pepper seeds and decided to re-sow a few of them. We also started two new seeds inside and celebrated that two of our eggplant cells have already germinated.

Continuing to Create Garden Beds

After a few discussions and planning sessions, we determined how many garden beds we need and where they are going. Essentially, we are turning about half of the second lot we have into a garden, which will be divided among six beds, plus one for wildflowers that will attract pollinators. Heading into this past week, we had three started, but none were completely ready to go. At the end of this week, we have four started and two ready to go with rows tilled.

Our process for tilling the beds looks like this:

One initial till that removes the bulk of the grass followed by raking to scrape the grass away from the soil.
A second perpendicular till that goes across the original one. This tilling is deeper than the first one and helps to clean up any strips of grass that were missed on the first pass. The bed gets raked after this pass as well.
Apply a layer of gypsum.
A third tilling that works the gypsum into the soil and establishes the rows we’ll plant in.
We may do a light fourth tilling right before planting to work in any soil amendments we use.

It’s been interesting to see how the soil and bed change after each pass. The first two passes leave the bed moist and muddy. But within 30 minutes, the top layer of soil begins to dry. Then, after the third pass, it starts to look like a garden with loose, workable soil between walking paths.

We’ve developed a good system for creating the beds when we’re both available to work on them. I’ll go around and create the border for the new bed. Magz follows that up with the first pass, and I’ll rake behind her. She’ll also do the second pass that runs perpendicular to the first one. I’ll then rake it off again, add the gypsum, and handle establishing the rows. It’s been a very productive system.

Eggplant Germination

In last week’s update, I wrote that we started our eggplant seeds on Saturday, March 22. These were supposed to take 10-15 days to germinate but ultimately sprouted in seven days with the first seedlings breaking through the soil on the 29th. That is a big change from the experience we’ve had with our pepper seeds, but more on that in the next section.

The eggplant variety we’re growing is Ping Tung from Baker Creek. They are an Asian variety named for the location in Taiwan where they originate. They are a thinner eggplant than the bell-shaped varieties that most are familiar with and can grow up to 14 inches long.

Re-Sowing Seeds & Starting New Ones

I alluded to this in the previous section, but we’ve had some difficulty with our pepper seeds. Of the 12 cells we started, only two have germinated after three weeks: one sweet bell pepper and one Scotch Bonnet. We haven’t had any of the Hungarian wax peppers germinate. Yesterday, we made the decision to re-sow the cells that hadn’t germinated yet – five sweet peppers, two Scotch Bonnet seeds, and three Hungarian wax seeds. I’m not entirely sure what caused these seeds to fail, but I think it was inadequate moisture. I intended to pre-moisten the seed starting mix before starting the seeds but forgot to. I also used a spray bottle to water the seeds, but I don’t think I was giving them enough water at a time. That changed when I started the eggplant seeds. Instead of using the spray bottle, I started pouring water on the cells and letting it drain through the soil. It meant I only needed to water the seeds every few days rather than daily. We’ll see how the pepper seeds do with this change in the watering process.

That day, we also started two new seeds. One is the Ishikura bunching onion, which is a Japanese scallion-style onion that grows like a green onion rather than a long day onion. This onion doesn’t develop a bulb below the soil, but instead, the tops can be cut and will re-grow. We started 18 cells of these and will sow additional cells in the upcoming weeks. We love spring onions and want to have fresh ones all growing season.

The second seed we started is a dahlia. In addition to growing vegetables, we are growing quite a few flowers this year, mostly perennials that attract pollinators like butterflies and honeybees. We have very little experience growing flowers, especially from seed, but we’re excited to see how it goes.

Up Next

The goal this week will be to create rows in garden beds three and four. If we’re able to get started on the final two beds, that’d be great. It could also be overly optimistic, though. We also want to direct sow some seeds in our garden beds. Some of the greens and flowers can be started this early.

Happy gardening!

March 31, 2025 1

Weekly Garden Update #3 – Germination, Compacted Soil & Rain Barrel

In this week’s garden update, we have a lot to go over. We have updates regarding our seedlings, began creating our garden beds, realized what our soil is like, and began addressing a water runoff problem. Finally, which seed did we start? Let’s dive in.

Houston, We Have Liftoff! (Or Germination)

It was touch-and-go for a bit, but our first seeds have started to germinate. On March 8, we started 12 cells of pepper seeds – 6 sweet peppers, 3 Scotch Bonnets, and 3 Hungarian Wax. The seeds were supposed to take 10-15 days to germinate, so as we got to the 2-week mark, we started getting a bit nervous that they weren’t going to germinate. However, when I checked the starting tray on Saturday (March 22) morning, one of the sweet peppers seeds had germinated. Wonderful!

Then, later that day, I went down to check the tray again and one of the hot peppers had sprouted! The next morning, I set up our grow light and configured the settings so the light stays on for 12 hours, so the plants should begin to take off. The first seeds to germinate each year is such a monumental occasion. It feels like it takes the concept of a garden and turns it into a reality.

Starting to Till the Garden Beds

In last week’s update, I shared that we received our rototiller and were waiting to begin the tilling process. Last Wednesday afternoon, we got it in the ground, and it was more difficult than I anticipated. I believe I have used a tiller before but can’t remember with 100% certainty, and if I have used one, it was only to turn over soil that had already been used for gardening. I’ve never established a garden from scratch. And if you haven’t used one, lugging a 30-pound machine around and preventing it from bouncing is a workout.

Our lawn has very thick grass and the ground below it is soft, almost like a peat bog with compacted soil. There is basically no top soil, so if there’s any moisture in the ground, it’s essentially soft, muddy clay. Your feet sink into, and the soil sticks to your shoes. It was a bit disheartening to realize the soil’s composition, but not unexpected given that loamy clay soil is common in this part of Pennsylvania.

We began by roughly determining where we want our beds to be, and on the first pass, we focused on removing the grass. That was largely successful, and after raking, we could see the soil. The second pass was deeper and started to turn the soil over, which is when we noticed that we need to address the moisture/drainage issue of the soil. Clay soil is wonderful because it’s full of nutrients and minerals, but not so great because it doesn’t allow excess moisture to drain. Over time, this will be resolved through the addition of organic compost, natural soil breakup from plant roots, and cover crops in the fall and winter.

Immediately, though, we have to address the issue before planting this season, which we’re going to do with gypsum. Many of the Google search results I found pointed us in the direction of gypsum, which is a naturally occurring mineral that breaks up soil and improves drainage. Thankfully, it’s also cheap at $10 for a 40-pound bag. Our plan is to spread it on top of our garden beds and till it into the soil a few inches. In the meantime, though, we’re already starting to see the soil dry out. Within 15 minutes of removing the grass, the top layer of soil starts to dry out, which is a remarkable improvement.

Diverting Downspout Runoff

Compounding the issue of our loamy clay soil and thick lawn is that one of the downspouts on our garage directs water into the part of the yard where our garden is going. Our garage roof isn’t big, but the amount of water draining off it is enough to exacerbate an existing problem. One option is to divert the downspout to have the water exit in a different location, but it would still make our drainage problem worse. Instead, we decided to use a rain barrel as a catchment device. On Saturday, we bought a 55-gallon blue plastic barrel from Rural King that was previously used for food, so once we thoroughly clean it, it’ll be safe for watering our garden. We have discussed having a rain barrel, but the plan was expedited as a result of the downspout and drainage problems. We still need to buy a spigot and filter, plus we need to figure out a platform, but we’re on the right track. We’ll provide more updates once we install the rain barrel.

Starting Eggplant Seeds

Saturday was also the day we started our second type of seeds: eggplants. Like the sweet peppers, we started 6 cells of these with 3 seeds in each cell. These will take 10-14 days to germinate, similar to the peppers.

Up Next

We won’t be starting any more seeds indoors until April, but if we get our garden beds prepped in time, we will be planting mustard greens outside. On Friday, Magz also tilled a bed at the back of our property, which we’re going to use for wildflowers that will benefit pollinators like butterflies and honeybees. That area of our property doesn’t get the best sunlight (partial) and is close to a drainage ditch, so we don’t want to grow vegetables there. We’ll be ready to plant those flower seeds as soon as the weather is consistently warm enough and the soil is where want it.

We’ll also continue to prep our garden beds with the tiller and gypsum. In the meantime, do you have any experience with a rain barrel or other catchment system? How about poorly draining soil? We’d love to hear how you’ve navigated it and apply any tips you have. Happy Gardening!

March 24, 2025 3

Difficulties of Buying Local

Nearly everyone you talk to expresses a desire to shop locally and support small businesses rather than buying things from Amazon and Wal-Mart. Magz and I are no different. We enjoy buying things in person and from a store in our town and try to use Amazon Prime if we strike out elsewhere. An issue we’ve been encountering is that our local stores rarely have what we need in stock, and nowhere has this been more of a reality than with garden supplies.

Our Local Stores

We live in a small town of about 8,000 people. The population has stayed almost the same since 1990. We are surrounded by towns with even smaller populations – 3,500, 800, 1,900, and 2,000. To get to a town with more than 15,000 people, you need to drive about 30 minutes. Our town isn’t void of stores, though. We have an Ace Hardware, a Tractor Supply, an Agway Feed Store, and a small Wal-Mart that doesn’t have a grocery section. Those stores all carry some gardening supplies, but because we are in the center of many small towns, as well as three colleges within a 10-mile radius, these stores have to cater to a large area and a wide array of shoppers.

Ace Hardware has a small selection of seed-starting items, a great selection of hand tools, and a small offering of engine-driven equipment, with most of the in-stock items being fairly pricey STIHL products. Tractor Supply has more power tools, including affordable options, but our local store wasn’t going to have any in stock until April. We could have ordered the tiller we bought at a higher price and shipped it to our local store for free or paid to have it shipped to our house. Either way, it was going to be more expensive than what we got from Amazon.

Agway has a lot of gardening items but few tools. It’s a great store for buying top soil and mulch in bulk, soil implements like diatomaceous earth and fertilizers, and seed-starting cells, but our local store doesn’t carry any tools. Finally, we get to Wal-Mart. We generally don’t like our Wal-Mart. Because it’s a small store without a grocery section, it is limited in the items it carries, and to maximize the number of aisles, there is a less-than-average amount of walkway space between aisles. They have a gardening section with some seed-starting stuff, but ours doesn’t carry cultivators or tillers nor does it keep soil additives in stock. You can buy everything online through Wal-Mart, but that’s no better than purchasing from Amazon.

Moving outside of our town, you need to drive about 30 minutes to shop at a Lowe’s or Home Depot. When we were at Lowe’s a couple of weeks ago, we were pleased with the gardening section they had but didn’t see any gas-powered tillers. We also recently learned that some Tractor Supply stores have a garden center. The ones closest to us don’t have garden centers, but there are a few within 45 minutes that do. In the future, we’ll check one out and see how much more it carries compared to our local store. There’s another feed store about 20 minutes north of us that we want to visit this year to see if they have a better selection than our local Agway.

What to Do When You Want to Shop Local But Can’t

This was a dilemma we found ourselves in. Since we started planning this year’s garden, we’ve looked for local options when making purchases. We did end up buying our starting tray, starting mix, and gloves at our closest Lowe’s. That wasn’t in our town, but it was in person and regional. The frustration has come when looking for larger tools, such as a tiller or cultivator. The tiller we bought, an Earthquake model with a 43 cc, 4-cycle engine, is sold at a lot of stores, including Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware, and Wal-Mart, but none of the stores in our town had them in stock. Menards actually had the best sale, but the closest store is about 50 minutes away, and we were unsure if we’d be able to get there before the sale expired. The only other place we looked into was Family Farm & Home, with the closest location about 45 minutes away. We love the drive, but there was no way to check the store’s stock without doing so in person, and driving that far only to learn it wasn’t in stock seemed like a bad gamble.

It’s a very frustrating spot to be in: wanting to shop locally and in person but being unable to. You don’t want to give in to online shopping for everything, even when it’s cheaper and you’re already paying for an Amazon Prime membership, but we have found ourselves with no alternatives recently. Sure, we could have paid $100 to have a tiller shipped to us from another store or waited for it to be shipped to the local store. We also could have driven to Menards or Family Farm & Home, but at that point, we’re not shopping locally. Family Farm & Home is in a different county, while Menards is in another state. In all these situations, we’d either be paying more money, waiting longer, or taking a chance on it not being in stock. Amazon was simply the best option, and I think that’s okay.

We should be allowed to give ourselves a pass when Amazon is the best option. We also shouldn’t be forced to feel bad because we don’t want to overspend, drive long distances, or buy an inferior product. I think we should look for a local option first, but if the stores in your town won’t carry what you need, it’s not your fault. We ended up buying the tiller that best fits our needs and budget, and we’re happy with it, which is the most important thing.

I try not to complain about things in my writing and won’t make a habit of this, but I’ve been processing these thoughts for quite a while now, and it’s not just with gardening supplies. Do you struggle with the pressure of buying locally or the guilt of shopping online? If so, I hope you can get some reprieve from it and feel confident when you make the best decision for your needs. Happy gardening!

March 20, 2025 1

Weekly Garden Update #2 – Buying Our Tiller

This week’s garden update will be brief, as we haven’t started any more seeds and are in a holding pattern as we wait for the ground to dry out. All of the snow has melted and has been followed by some rain, so our soil is quite saturated.

In last week’s update, I mentioned that we may be starting eggplant seeds this week, but after consulting the seeding starting spreadsheet, we realized that this weekend was a bit too early. We’ll actually be starting them this week, likely Thursday. Instead, the big thing that happened this week was that we bought our rototiller.

Which Tiller Did We Buy?

Buying a tiller or cultivator is a big decision; much bigger than I thought it would be. In the future, I’ll likely write a standalone article that discusses what went into the decision we made, but for now, we bought this tiller:

It is an Earthquake 40 cc 4-cycle tiller (technically, it’s a mini cultivator) that can till up to a 10-inch wide path at one time. Two of the tines can be removed to till a narrower path, and it has a working depth of 8 inches. We bought ours from Amazon, although it is also available at Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware. We wanted to buy locally, but the Tractor Supply in our town didn’t have it in stock, Ace was far more expensive than Amazon, and the closest Lowe’s to us is about 30 minutes away. Meanwhile, Amazon was able to deliver it the next day.

It arrived on Thursday afternoon, and it only took about half an hour to put together. Afterward, I had to give it a go and see how it worked. The engine fired right away, and we did a quick trial run in the mulch bed by our back porch and in our yard. It worked extremely well in the mulch bed, which was expected, and did pretty well in the yard, which has never been tilled. We weren’t expecting it to have much success in the yard since the ground was very wet and we hadn’t set the depth on the tiller yet. We’re very excited to have a tiller and can’t wait to get our garden laid out. The plan is to till the garden later this month, but if it dries out before then, we’ll likely start sooner.

What’s Next?

As mentioned in the intro, we were originally planning to start our eggplant seeds this weekend but realized it was too early. Instead, that will happen this week. Those will be the only other seeds we’ll be starting in March. Everything else will be started in April or May. Happy gardening!

March 17, 2025 2