I have owned both a Troy-Bilt Horse rear-tined tiller and a light Sears front-tined tiller. The rear-tine will definitely dig better and easier, unless you are on the side of a hill, where it becomes a battle of wills between you and the machine. The problem with the rear-tine tiller is that it is not good in tight spaces, like near fences and buildings. It takes a lot of room to maneuver and turn. And do not EVER use any tiller next to a chain link or wire fence. One wrong move and it will wrap 20 feet of wire around the tine shaft, faster than you can imagine. I eventually got rid of the Troy, and have owned a small Sears front-tine unit for about 18 years now. The front-ender is very good for getting into small areas to till up a few square feet in established landscapes, gardens, etc. It will also dig very deeply if you hold it in place. The rear-tine unit can't dig more than a few inches deep, because of the tine shaft. This is how I make a new garden in clay loam soil: 1. Rent a small tractor with a bucket and tiller. 2. Till the soil as deeply as possible. Make several passes. This is easy, fast and fun with a tractor. 3. Use the tractor bucket to top-dress with an inch or so of coarse sand and an inch or so of organic matter like bark, compost, wood chips, etc. Level with a rake. Do not skip the sand: it will make a permanent improvement in your soil, unlike the organic material. Add lime and superphosphate if needed. 4. Till the amendments in as deeply as possible. 5. Use a rake or shovel to shape the area into raised beds with sloped sides, with low areas in between the beds for walking and kneeling to plant, pull weeds, etc. I usually end up with about 12" depth of amended soil in my raised beds after this step. I don't use 4x4's, rock or anything to make walls for my beds, but you can if you want to. It's a lot of work though. At this point, your soil is somewhere between loam and sandy loam on the soil triangle, and is ready to produce a beautiful garden for you, right now. It will be even better when the organic materials break down. Your wallet will be lighter, but your back will not be broken. Any future soil preparation can easily be done with a small front-tine tiller. You have probably heard that sand plus clay = concrete. There may be soils where this is true, but I have yet to find them in 40 years of gardening. I have used this method in New Jersey, Oregon, California, and Washington state, with uniformly excellent results. If this issue worries you, buy a bag of sand and try my method in a small area of your yard, as a test. For more information, Google "soil triangle". I would be happy to show you "before" and "after" using this method. I presently have gardens near Portland, OR and Kalama, WA, where I have amended heavy soils. If anyone would like to see the results, please email me from the website link below. Here is a link that might be useful: contact info

When my neighbors rake leaves in the fall, I get them and dump them on my garden, run the lawn mower over them to shred them, and till them in. My dirt is gradually changing from red clay to a color that has a little more brown. It is also easier to till each year as this addition of organic material is making it more pliable. I have also tilled in some crushed granite dust. This adds minerals and micro-nutrients to the soil. You can get this from a granite quarry in bulk, or you can get it bagged from the big box stores. I get it from Lowes in 40 lb. bags labeled, "Paver base" (which is sold to be compacted under those patio paving stones). Lowes also has the crushed ground pine bark sold in bags labeled "soil conditioner". I also mix in some pine bark mini-nuggets to give a little "air" to the soil. I read that roots will penetrate these and find the air pockets in them. It is supposed to make healthier plants.

macv - this is all kinda making my head spin. I don't want brick panel fiber cement or anything else very artificial looking for our retaining walls. But, the first builder to give us a bid wanted to use "cultured stone" @ $13.50/sq ft. His back off position was to just stucco the surface of the retaining walls. That wasn't the look I was going for, because I grew up with a summer home with a real field stone wall. At the time this picture was taken, the wall was at least 50 years old: We have 2 fully wooded acres and want to keep it as natural looking as possible. That same builder had an irrigation system ($3K) and landscaping allowance of $15K. We only want enough grass in a side yard so that our little dogs have a place to "go". We don't want a lawn or typical foundation plantings. We want it to look more like a cottage garden in the front and just trees and brush to nurture the wildlife in the back. The comment we got was that we didn't want to go much lower on landscaping for a house at this "level". Sorry for the semi-rant, but I was beginning to doubt myself and was looking for an alternative to plain stucco for the retaining walls that would have something like a stone look. Anyway, we just got another bid and much of the stonework is for Tennessee stone and looking at the fellow's work it is much closer to what we would like to see. We're also waiting for another bid where the builder is looking at real thin stone veneer rather than cultured stone. The only problem is that I'm worried that if we do real stone for the "faux" foundation that the Nichiha Sierra Premium Shakes will look to "fake", especially if we do a color that has a sheen. Thanks for putting up with the "stupid" questions and my rather random thoughts - Jo Ann Here is a link that might be useful: Real Stone Terrace & Steps

Re. frost line: Since what my mason is doing is basically a dry stack wall; from here: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/lawns-landscaping-outdoor-decor/451549-frost-line-retaining-wall.html#b A dry stack wall does not matter. The joints have enough space to allow this heaving movement. The large spacious joints in a dry stack wall are like expansion joints in other strucures, they will take movement.