Rotavating your garden - expert advice

[@VitorMadeira]

Ok, so this is 2018 and I'm a Portuguese guy wanting to learn a bit more about the basics of gardening and agriculture. I found this video of yours and I'm tremendously thankful to this little piece of pedagogical masterclass you've got here. Thank you so very much for this precious information. Kind regards from Portugal.

[@lauramckendric5]

Thanks Gordon. You are pure, dead brilliant. (Not quite the Perthshire dialect, but near enough... ;) ) I just got an allotment today. The secretary said I was welcome to use the communal rotovator. I nodded sagely, thanked him, and came home and fired up my laptop to find out what exactly that actually was!

[@GordonsGardenTips]

thank you so much

[@jagtarsandhu1538]

thank you for the explanation. It was well explained. I have brought my first rotavator. looking forward to using it on my allotment thanks. Mr Singh

[@louiselyon449]

Gordon you are an absolute delight... thanks for the advice.

[@RAPLOCHREPORTER]

Hi Gordon thank's for this video, very informative. I hope you are still in good health and enjoying your garden. Greeting's from Stirling Scotland.

[@gardenshedmanchester]

I firmly believe that this crucial stuff has a huge help in the field of gardening. Aside to lessen it's maintenance it really makes your farming work into a very easy and manageable one. Nice details!

[@GordonsGardenTips]

thanks

[@iamthecombatmushroom]

Smashing video, and very informative. Many thanks Gordon now I know which one to buy for my allotment!

[@joonykids]

That thing sure does keep you fit Gordon!!

[@Pixelify]

Probably the funniest video on KZbin. This should go viral. Gordon ballroom dancing with his Rotavator. Brilliant Gordon well done!

[@jamescarter5717]

Gordon, very well done...a great video and I can sense your skill and passion!

[@leightongiles6385]

Brilliant. I am a professional horticultural architect and learn so much from these guys. I'll be getting one - if it has lasted the,past 30-50 years then I trust this machine more than the modern nonsense today.

[@stringbean9521]

It's the kind my folks always ran, I just bought one for 100$ beautiful machine man. Wouldn't sell it for 500$

[@darrencraigon4396]

What a lovely man thanks Gordon enjoyed watching your video

[@paulreeder796]

Thanks very much for that Gordon. Used a lesser electrical version for my dahlias and it takes so much muscle ache away. Really does! Thanks!

[@Antwann1986]

Naughty naughty photographer I assume being the cameraman behind the camera getting a good telling off at the end haha 😂 give more notice 😂😂

[@GordonsGardenTips]

Hello, there is no need to dig it over, just let the rotavator do the work for you. Start lightly letting it scrape off the surface and gradually go over it working the machine deeper and this should do the job fine for you. Thanks for the question.

[@nico118118]

thanks it looks quite easy to use one of them. my Nan has one and i may be using it later. as a 15 year old i have no idea how to use one but it looks quite easy.

[@everythingandanything-xr1ls]

thank you Gordon, very informative

[@suelawson7273]

Awww, what a sweetie! Such a beautiful accent. Off to tell my allotment neighbour that you lift the wheels up 😆

[@roystonevans2223]

Hey Gordon, hope your well.... You still doing the gardening game? I'll be renting a rotivater this summer to level out my weed/moss garden... Who needs the gym 💪. Wish you well my good sir

[@reneedolefinley6654]

Thanks for showing how it is actually running the machine thru the dirt..all other utube is fixing one...or doing it totally wrong.

[@GordonsGardenTips]

yes thank you

[@Zannnnah]

He's too cute bless him. Thanks Gordon

[@GordonsGardenTips]

I dont know how to take this comment???? lol

[@Zannnnah]

It's defiantly a positive thing Gordon! lol x

[@demonwithglasshand]

As you should. A compliment.

[@GordonsGardenTips]

thank you for the encouragement

[@zorin40]

Now THAT is what I call English! Wish England taught that accent/style all over than the churlish slangs and drags that need a dictionary.

[@martynedelsten1878]

Gordon, I just acquired an old rotavator for use in a community garden in Edinburgh. Lovely machine, unused for 7 years but started easily, but nothing to identify make/model. We are ploughing 2 hectares of what has been lawn for 200 years! We are learning as we go along how to set the adjustable bar at the rear, and the 3 positions of the wheels behind the 2 ploughs. We have lifted the turf before ploughing. Could you advise? Thanks. Martyn.

[@mixindave1]

we just got an allotment, it was all long grass but we have cut it down now, was thinking of getting a rotavator to do all the hard work. should i turn the soil by hand at least once to help the machine out a bit?

[@demonwithglasshand]

Love this guy.

[@bridmcshane6268]

Aw really enjoyed this video Gordon! Well done! Have a big patchy grassy/nettley patch out the back of a newly-moved-into house so wondering if hiring a rotavator would save me further anguish with it as I'm hoping to make a cutting garden!

[@GordonsGardenTips]

ok so, I'd suggest spraying the patch with roundup weed-killer first and wait till all green goes down, then you can rotavate. This is because if you didn't kill weeds first, you would be breaking the plants into more that can grow and make the area worse.

[@raydavies2545]

There have been recent studies that have shown Roundup weed killer to be carcinogenic, so suggest an alternate way of killing the lawn. I wonder if you covered the area with black plastic, the sun on it will heat up the grass below and kill it all!!!

[@brnoamik]

RIP Gordon, you gave gardeners PLENTY whilst you were among us mate! :-/

[@jandye4363]

Thank you gordan, I have just started gardening & now get great benefit from the rat race iat my allotment shead, with a brew on the go , didn't think I would keep it up at first , but all the hard work , worth every minute, both in health benefits, & getting the rewards, my type of therapy, & no g.m.o."s just quality food & a good place to be , enjoy your dancing , we mature with age , & must get looking for a tiller like yours , old school, I call it but they last for years, a bit like us

[@GordonsGardenTips]

Remember if you have any questions about gardening for Gordon, just email them to [e-mail] Thank you for all your support and encouragement, it is appreciated.

[@b1gn3ll]

brilliant video thanks

[@GordonsGardenTips]

thank you

[@jasperedwards3341]

i had a big grasscutter i bought more than 30 years made by allen but there no details on youtube it was a allen champion 26 made in 1967 i had 2 hayter 26 but never got repaired a howard gem that got sold which i did not want to sell it i had teagle jetcuts but now im a german resident i now have russian machine i happy with at the moment its being repaired

[@johnhalloren7804]

Jasper Edwards

[@amourmtungo623]

Thank you. Lovely jubbly

[@bigpicturesstudio]

The man in the video is actually 84 years old

[@techdavey3486]

Thanks for the video, The Merry Tiller seems to kick like a bucking-bronco which will be why a friend who is as old as the hills doesn't like them anymore. His favourite machine is the Howard 300 but getting spares is now very difficult. The Kohler engines on these have the strange property of having two standard bore sizes which resulted in his son getting the wrong size piston and rings from America! The Briggs & Stratton option also has a problem with a peculiar magneto which has a three legged armature shaped like the letter E. From the serial numbers it would appear that his Howard was built before 1965 so as the machine is over fifty years old its hardly surprising that spares are a problem. Numerous rotavators have been tried over the years but the Howards are still the best if they are in good order. A Honda was tried some years ago and although it had rubber tyres to steady it, the machine was disliked. IMHO the Howard that uses the Hatz diesel which needs cigarettes to start it is a bad model. It desperately needs an electric starter to avoid killing oneself with a heart attack when trying to start it! Of course such machines are really museum pieces nowadays. As to those cigarettes it is not necessary to light them before putting them into the engine as they light themselves. Not many people know that!

[@GordonsGardenTips]

hahahaha!! sorry about delay replying ... I really prefer an attractive lady who is fit enough to dance with, a number of which I am quite connected. Thank you for your interest.

[@josephamego1528]

Some one got upset by my previous comment on this man needing a pair of lungs to go with the Rotavator, Some people want to lighten up, I'm probably a bit older than him at 72 and with years of smoking (now given up) have still not got my full breath back, when I recently used my rotavator I had the same problems only worser than this gentleman so my comments were based on how I felt after doing what he'd been doing, the comment wasn't some glib, or joke remark at the expense of this man, and if he felt hurt by my comment I apologise, as for the person who felt that I had made a joke whatever at the expense of this man, unless you know all the facts and can do a constructive comment, such as how well for his age the man was doing I'd suggest that you mind your own business, it was not a joke and wasn't never meant to be taken as such but merely an observation by the way that I felt when doing the same thing.

[@bigpicturesstudio]

+josephamego1528 the man in the video is actually 84 years old

[@josephamego1528]

+bigpicturesstudio I hope that if I reach that age that I'll look as good as he does, For 84 he looks remarkable and he'd probably put a 60 year old to shame, keep up the good work Gordon I bet he knows a few tricks on Gardening.

[@bigpicturesstudio]

yes he is amazing for in his 80's infact much better than his younger sister ... very fit indeed and dances with women in their 50's . So also yes, he knows a few tricks alright hahaha, if anyone is interested

[@josephamego1528]

+bigpicturesstudio right on, power to his elbow.

[@cowboy1833]

Gordon you need a Frazer tiller

[@mickeymuddyboots]

rotavator briggs stratton old world tiller with rear pough

[@lifeinvaderdamncrap1715]

I want to work with him =D

[@GordonsGardenTips]

where do you live

[@jasperedwards3341]

the russians and ukraine have a lot of good machines they are very good and the chinese make very good machines too if not better with many attachments i have a belarus 09h mt3 ,motor sich is similar neva is good too

[@davehodges6258]

you have the air box missing sir, that will for sure make the engine run bad and suck in dust and dirt" which is a sad shame because you have a spartan model there with the newest and there last I/C Engine which are top motors,.

[@hilarylazard7554]

Wondered why he was wearing leather shoes and not boots!

[@ureasmith3049]

someone get this nice man a real tiller. (rear tine).

[@GordonsGardenTips]

yes tell honda he is a super demonstrator for them

[@ureasmith3049]

Gordons Garden I've used those front tine tillers.. They're too exhausting, fight you all the way. Better than a shovel I guess.

[@SuperLittleTyke]

+UreaSmith Why? That tiller he's got works fine. My dad had a Versatiller in the late 1950s.

[@rikkibegley]

I daren't show my girlfriend this...

[@josephamego1528]

sounds like he needs some extra lungs to go with the tiller.

[@SuperLittleTyke]

+josephamego1528 How unfair of you to say that, even in jest (if that's what it was). The man's getting on in years, and the video included an explanation of how he keeps fit through dancing.

[@CraigMansfield]

josephamego1528 Mate, it's KZbin. Nobody's got a sense of humour, and everybody's over sensitive.

[@scottjp31]

what a lovely old chap