MotoAlliance guy - I know I am late to the party here, so hope you are still listening, as someone who owns and uses your cat 0 implements, the number one thing I would like to see for cat 0 is a quick hitch. Another thing I would like is a hydraulic post hole digger. I have contemplated making one, but if there was one available around $750, I would buy it.
For everyone else, I am sorry, you do not need a 2000lb+ machine for a 5000 sq ft kitchen garden. I owned a 25 HP diesel SCUT with a cat 1 hitch, a loader and backhoe when I had 5 acres. I used it for maintaining the property, but even then I only had a kitchen garden, and it sucked to maneuver it in there, so I kept a garden tractor for that. Now that I have only 1.25 acres, I sold the SCUT but still have a garden tractor. I used to own an 11 hp two wheeled tractor (Grillo 107D) that pulled a potato plow without a problem. It has a lot of implements available for it (I only sold it because an old shoulder injury made it hard to use as I got older). I have an 800lb 1972 MTD 990 that I threw a 13hp Predator into, just to pull cat 0 implements through the garden (moldboard plow, discs and a tollbar with tines or hilling discs.) I used it for a few years until a few months ago a part of the lift wore out that I cannot find a replacement for. It will still pull implements, just not lift them very well. I just got a smaller 725lb Ingersoll 3018 with an 18hp Onan, because parts are still available for it.
Another garden tractor I used to own was a 1994 Yardman 998. It was 18hp and had a loader and a backhoe from Kwik-Way. Someone offered to buy the tractor for way more than I had in it, so I said yes and got the SCUT. I also had a matching White GT1855 (same thing just grey). I used it for mowing, working the garden and I had a cat 0 48" box blade for it that I used to maintain about a 1/4 mile dirt driveway. It worked well so I never got a box blade for the SCUT. At the time, a Cat 1 Box blade would have cost more than I paid for the tractor. I sold it when I moved and got the Grillo.
Garden tractors with cat 0 implements are not right for everyone, but neither is a sub-compact utility tractor. I cannot justify paying $14,000+ for a SCUT that is way too big for my space. I also cannot justify the price for heavy duty cat 1 implements. For my situation Cat 0 implements have a better cost for the amount I use them ratio. Even though they are light duty, for the amount I use them, they are plenty strong enough. I loved the two wheel Grillo, it worked great for my current yard and garden, but my shoulder cannot handle it anymore. So I need a small 4 wheel garden tractor. Unfortunately parts are getting hard to find for a lot of old garden tractors and new "garden tractors" are not really garden tractors, they are just large, overpowered, complex, luxury lawnmowers. It would be nice if someone still made true garden tractors in the $5,000 to $7,500 range, designed as simple working machines with a cat 0 lift.
For the pics or it didn't happen crowd, here are some of the machines I have owned. The yardman, I took the picture because someone asked me the lift height on the loader. The Grillo, I made the cart for it out of a Tractor Supply wagon. The 990 (blue tractor) I took the picture after painting it (backyard rattle can job), before putting the seat and new front tires on it. The Ingersoll is where I bought it before bringing it home.
