Front-or mid-tine tillers are the most common in rental inventories. This type of tiller has the tines at the front of the machine and a set of wheels and a drag bar in the rear at the operator's ...

The tines are located either in front of or immediately underneath the engine, and the wheels—most often plastic—are to help move the tiller around, such as from the garage to the garden.

Lakshmy Gopinath, a lawn biology scientist at Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, says they have short, close-together tines for shallow soil penetration. Cultivators are smaller than tillers and come in ...