Laminarman:
<font color="blue">I assume you drive over your garden and let it rip out weeds? </font>
The problem is that CUT's are not very good at "gardening" - other than initial ground preparation. Some of the posts about 5' row spacing proves the point. Adjusting the garden to the equipment. Wider row spacing takes up more space, greatly increases the cost of improving the soil (adding humus, liming, changing clay soil by adding sand, etc, etc) because you are improving ground that is "wasted" and unproductive.
The main reason the old tricycle tractors (such as the Farmall of 1925 and later) were so flexible is that, in addition to their PTO & belt pulley, they had high ground clearance and could straddle the rows for cultivation. (They were the first tractors designed to replace the horse entirely). With the increases use of chemical weed killers in the 1950s this configuration went out of favor. The very best tractor for gardening is the old Allis Chalmer G model (made in the late 1940s). Small, engine in back, good ground clearance & visibility, good wheel spacing adjustment. Many of these have been restored and are still being used. There is a tractor called Saukville (I think they have a wed site) being manufactured today that copies the Allis G. They can even use the old G implements. The second best tractor for gardening is something like the BCS 2 wheel tractors (or, the old Gravelies). These are real tractors and have dozens of implements (just like your CUT) and can do everything from running rotary plows, tillers, mowers, chippers, snow blowers, etc. etc. (just as flexible as a CUT) but on a smaller scale. The old Gravelies even had a backhoe attachment!
Going over the top (required when row spacing is reasonable) to cut weeds limits cultivation because of the 12" or so ground clearance on the average CUT. With 20" or more clearance (such as the Allis G and older tricyle tractors had), the crop can be cultivated (weeded) until the plants are pretty high. And, by then, the plants are well established and shading out the weeds to a large extent. Of course, the 2 wheel tractors are narrow enough to go between reasonably spaced rows.
JEH