Garden Tillers for the Landscape - For centuries, farmers have used the mould board plow to till the soil each spring before planting crops. The idea was to flip the soil over to add air space to it. This would improve the drainage in the soil and provide oxygen for the healthy growth of plant roots. In the landscape, we generally do not till the soil very often except for annual beds. So, it is important to do a good job of it when we do and there are plenty of tiller type machines ranging from shovels to high-powered rototillers for this purpose.