Tiller or Pitchfork?

I love my pitchfork.

Seriously, I can loosen up dirt around plants and pull out just the weeds, instead of shoveling out the good stuff as well. I can double spade a garden. I could aerate too, I suppose, if I had a whole lot of time on my hands and Littlest wasn't trying to stand under my next steps...

Tillers are Amazing!

I was able to borrow a tiller from a neighbor friend (thank you, thank you!), and think tillers are amazing! Granted, they don't go as deep as shovel and pitchfork, but they are FAST!! I've buried some sod and cardboard from last years' sod killing, covered it, and made mounds for planting. It'll be a few years before it's really established as a fully full flower bed (annuals this year, perennials as the serendipity of sales and clippings allow)...if I do annuals first, and the grass comes back, I can hack at it again without having to negotiate around perennials...hmmm. Okay, so it snowed a couple of days ago, so no pressure on planting! Next project is fixing all the broken sprinklers, anyway...