More garden prep? Here we go!
Meet the Ryobi 11 in. 8.5 Corded Cultivator. This bad boy is available at Home Depot. Why buy it? It is easily put together, easy to clean out any debris that the blades may acquire during cultivating and it brings lots of power to the bed. When I say bed, I mean your garden bed*wink wink*.
I invested in a tiller this year, one may call it a cultivator. I bought one of the cheaper lower level tillers due to the fact I had already removed the grass from my garden plots. This one I would not recommend for tilling up established plots of grass, for one it will jam your tiller and secondly it is not strong enough to completely tear up your grass. The plus side is that it will definitely grind up your soil. I did it twice, once to mix and second to add 10-10-10 fertilizer as a general fertilizer to get nutrients back into your soil.
The video above shows the ease of using the machine. There is a button, you push and a throttle you pull and you are ready to go! I made sure to wear steel toe boots and safety glasses, due to me knowing I had some rocks within my soil that could go flying.
You can find farmers grade 10-10-10 at a local feed mill or you can find it at Lowe's / Home Depot as an organic bag. Follow directions per the brand you get, I used a spreader for grass seed to spread. You want to do this a few weeks before you plan on planting so it can start soaking into the soil. The 10-10-10 should slow release for your whole season, then you will want to refresh in the fall or early spring again!
****NOTE - I could not find an exact answer on when you can add miracle grow, or a plant food after fertilizing, in my case I added it after my seedlings matured and waiting about a month after laying the fertilizer. I tilled in February, laid my fertilizer in March, and added miracle grow beginning of June****
Good luck my friends!