Backhoe as Tiller

[CompactTractorFan]

Can you use a backhoe as a poor-man's tiller??? I'd like to have a small garden next year and I don't think a tiller is in the budget. So, has anyone done this before??? I think I once saw a video of it being done.

 

[BruceWard]

You certainly can break loose and turn over the soil with backhoe.

How large is your garden area?

 

[CompactTractorFan]

We don't have a garden yet, but I was thinking about planting pumpkins next year after I read another post on here.

 

[2458n]

You could certainly make a bunch of little hills with the backhoe and Roundup the areas inbetween the hills. A long ago Mother Earth Mag had you digging trenches with the backhoe. These trenches had brush,sticks,twigs lining the bottom. Tne dirt was then backfilled over the trench. It seemed like alot of work then as it still does now. Put an AD in the local paper and trade a freshly dug hole for the use of a #3 point tiller for a week.

 

[chopped]

YouTube - Tilling a garden with a Backhoe?

 

[nickel plate]

Can you use a backhoe as a poor-man's tiller???

That strikes me as funny-a mega multi mucho thousand dollar backhoe owned by a poor man??? If your conditions are right, level land, reasonably soft soil, etc. have someone qualified drive the tractor and you run the backhoe. Your bucket should be real narrow or have a ripper tooth device for trenching. Kidding aside, shell out a few hundred bucks for a proper tilling device and do it safe and right.

 

[jgrreed]

There's nothing poor about a backhoe over a tiller!!

-Jer.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I don't see why you couldn't do it. Both tiller and a backhoe are more or less replacements for a shovel. When you're done, you'll have a very uneven seed bed no matter how good you are. Drag it a few times or use your FEL to level it. Should be just fine.

 

[Argosy]

NO!! Especially the way it's being done in the video. I thought I would see the teeth being used to break up the dirt. Some of the holes he's digging are a few inches, some a foot deep. All he's doing is making a mess for planting.

A backhoe will compress the dirt when you dig. What's left will have chunks of dirt to break up and air pockets under ground which roots don't like. If you don't break it up right away the chunks will harden it will be worse to deal with than hand digging the area.

A backhoe is a glorified shovel but it is not a tiller. A tiller will powder the ground, when you walk across it you will leave 3 or 4 inch deep tracks. The ground is ready to plant without any other work.

I would hand dig a spot for a few pumpkins, find a tiller or get it tilled before dealing with using a back hoe as a tiller.

 

[Ductape]

Why not buy a used walk behind tiller for a few hundred dollars? Wouldn't that make more sense?

 

[MBDiagMan]

If you're gonna do it as in the video I sure you hope you have deep enough top soil. If the top soil is shallow with clay underneath, you will bring the clay to the top and make for a very poor garden.

 

[Car Doc]

Ya know somethings are just better left to the tools designed for the job just hire the neighbor kid to bring his walk behind over it will be a way better seed bed that guy just made a mess if ya ask me.

Then there are the weeds to consider a walk behind tiller is a pretty handy thing to have around even if you have a 3pt tiller or manage to make the BH work. :thumbsup:

But on the other hand tear it up now let the winter water it good and then let the neighbor kid till it next spring! my .02

 

[CompactTractorFan]

OK, well to answer all your questions:

I was just thinking of planting a couple of pumpkins next year with seeds saved from this year.

We arn't planning on getting any tillage equipment anytime soon. (alot of other things to come before a $2k tiller for a couple of pumpkins) = can't use backhoe - no pumpkins...

I just used "poor-mans" just as an expression. The backhoe was more expensive than a tiller, but that's what we have because we use the backhoe more than we would a tiller.

Oh well...it was just an idea...

 

[TripleR]

Good grief, my 88 year old mother makes a garden every year with only a spade.

 

[Johndeere3720]

You know, i have a middle buster and that sure works good for tilling. Yeah, it isnt as nice as my tiller, but it is way cheaper and does a pretty good job. You can get used ones usually for under $200. does your BX25 have a 3 point?

 

[CompactTractorFan]

You know, i have a middle buster and that sure works good for tilling. Yeah, it isnt as nice as my tiller, but it is way cheaper and does a pretty good job. You can get used ones usually for under $200. does your BX25 have a 3 point?

Yes, we did get the three point kit. Don't think a middle buster is on our list of attachments. Well, I guess you can never have to many...

 

[dillo99]

I created and tilled a garden with a backhoe a few years ago. It works. Takes some time and you do have to be careful how deep you go and how you break up the chunks. But it does work.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Yes, we did get the three point kit. Don't think a middle buster is on our list of attachments. Well, I guess you can never have to many...

It is imposible to have to many. :laughing: They arent cheap but once you get each one you wonder, "how did I live without this?" :laughing:

 

[Speedfreak]

Just post a add on craigslist and trade some backhoe work for some tiller work. Here in So. IL. we have people posting in the barter section all the time for this kind of stuff. You move a couple 300 pound rocks and have some guy with a $2000 tiller fluf your yard.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Another option is getting a weekend job with the tractor. I have done this many times and in the end, you can potentially get enough funds to get a nice used or possibly new implement. With your implements, a great start would be moving gravel, grading a driveway, light excavation, or stump removal.