One home gardener recently found themselves debating what is quickly becoming one of the questions of our time when it comes to yard equipment: gas-powered or electric? Unable to decide, they turned to the r/gardening subreddit for advice.
"Been debating this for a hot minute, figured I would put this question out there and see other people's opinions," the poster wrote. "So I am expanding my garden this year and to make it easier on myself I have debated on buying or renting a tiller […] I can buy an electric tiller for just a little bit over how much it will cost to rent a gas one for a day […] My main concern is the soil in my area. It is very clay dense and I am worried an electric tiller won't do a good job breaking up the dirt."
They added: "I have never used an automatic one before so I am not sure which one is best for my needs."
The consensus among the commenters was clear: Electric tillers are capable of handling a job like this one, with this exact type of soil, as long as you use them correctly.
"I have a Sun Joe corded tiller and it does fine with our clay soil as long as it's not past July when the clay dries up and becomes as hard as cement. I don't know if a gas tiller would do any better," wrote one commenter.
"I have a Sun Joe electric cultivator/tiller. It's still working after 5 years, but the bouncing tries to shake it apart & it will not dig deep. Great for weeding though," wrote another.
Although the commenters didn't go into detail about what spurred them to purchase electric tillers in the first place, the benefits of using electric yard equipment instead of the gas-powered alternatives are immense.
Gas-powered lawn and yard equipment — such as leaf blowers, lawn mowers, tillers, and more — produce massive amounts of air pollution, which is bad for every living thing in your immediate vicinity as well as the planet as a whole.
But how much pollution could a single leaf blower or tiller create? The answer is: so, so much. Using a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour releases as much planet-overheating pollution as driving a Toyota Camry for 1,100 miles, according to one calculation. The problem is so bad that some towns are banning the use of certain types of equipment altogether.
In addition, gas-powered equipment requires (you guessed it) gas, which is expensive. Electric alternatives simply need to be plugged into an outlet.
For these reasons, and more, people are increasingly switching to electric alternatives. Although these versions typically have less maximum power, they have enough to get the job done and the technology around them continues to improve.
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