LIVING THE DREAM FOR A DOLLAR AN ACRE
(Page 6 of 9)
As with the other machines, we went over the Ryobi's
chrome, painted, and nonvinyl plastic surfaces with Nu
Finish. We lightly oiled and greased the surfaces of the
few exposed hinge-pins and cables. Other than keeping the
split-shaft connection well greased, we wouldn't suggest
lubricating the power shaft or gearing any more thoroughly
or often than the instructions indicate.
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When we developed a need for a small power-cultivator and
tiller, we considered ordering the rotary-cultivator for
the Ryobi. We finally questioned whether a four-foot-long,
quarter-inch, flexible power cable should be asked to grind
away at our rocky soil for hours on end.
We don't doubt that the Ryobi cultivator can do as
promised: cultivate already-prepared soil. But, unless we
wanted to do a great deal of hand-digging every year, we
needed a real mini-tiller to make soil from sod in the many
niche-garden vegetable beds we have, scattered among the
rocks, ornamentals, and tree roots.
Garden Power for the Small Place
You've seen ads for the Mantis: a pair of chrome handles on
a small engine located low to the ground that powers a set
of spiky disk tines with a short, robust drive system. It
is so light that the ads show it being carried by a petite
lady gardener.
Like the DR, you can get a video of the machine and its
accessories in action by calling a toll-free number (see
Sources). Prices are similar to mail order and lower than
you might expect. Low enough, in fact, to keep hundreds of
thousands selling; they are perfect for tending narrow
flower-borders and the small vegetable-plots that are all
that many people have time to tend.
Even more convincing than the video is the machine itself.
It assembles in minutes. It needs a mix of gas and oil for
a two-cycle engine that is clean enough to satisfy even the
strict California environmental regulations. It starts
easily, is quieter than most two-cycles, and will eat up
anything you feed it — if you give it time to chew.
Because it is light enough to carry around easily, and
featherweight when tilling, the Mantis is an ideal
compromise between a weeding hoe and a big $2,000 rotary
tiller and power-composter.
We tested it, John Henry-like, against our favorite hand
tools. With a minimum of guidance, the Mantis will convert
lawn into fine, loamy garden soil in less time than it
takes to dig and chop finely by hand. It will do this with
substantially less sweat and fewer blisters and bug bites.
It won't cut through thick tree roots or extract big rocks,
but neither will any garden machine short of a Farmall H
with a subsoiler or our thirty-year-old Gravely L with its
seven horsepower, quarter-of-a-Model-A engine and rotary
plow. But the Farmall is a full-sized farm tractor, and the
Gravely and plow are a shoulder-wrenching definition of
overkill on anything smaller than a quarter-acre garden.
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