You don't need a green thumb to understand how much work it takes to plant and maintain a stunning garden.

With the help of a powered garden cultivator, however, the time you spend working can go from painstaking to productive.

Cultivators are handy machines that allow you to accomplish all sorts of garden chores with ease:

• Aerating soil
• Mixing in soil amendments
• Weeding between rows

There's just one question: Which kind of cultivator is better for you, electric or gas? 

Electric Cultivators

Because they're lightweight and simple to use, electric cultivators are perfect for quick jobs and small, confined spaces.

They run a compact electric motor instead of a gas engine, which gives them several advantages over gas-powered cultivators that small-space gardeners can appreciate:

• No need to refuel or mix fuel and oil
• Quieter operation
• Less space is taken up in storage

Electric cultivators have tines that are adjustable in width and depth of treatment. They afford gardeners plenty of versatility, even for tiny garden plots.

If you plan on gardening on a small to medium-sized plot, an electric cultivator is an excellent choice.

 

Gas-Powered Cultivators

Gas cultivators are heavier than their electric counterparts. However, at about 25 pounds on average, they're still much lighter than garden tillers.

The heavier weight and increased power of gas cultivators make them better suited to certain tasks:

• Blending dense soil and amendments
• Cultivating medium-sized garden plots
• Working far away from an electrical outlet

Because the tines propel the cultivator forward as they rip up the soil, you should expect a forearm workout from steering and guiding the machine.

However, with that workout, you'll also get the efficiency and the thorough mixing of soil that gas-powered cultivators provide.