Everything You Need To Know About Ryobi's Cultivator Attachment Before You Buy

Starting a garden can be a great way to kick off the beginning of spring, but there are a few tools that you're probably going to need to get you started. One of the first things you're going to have to do is cultivate any densely packed earth where you plan to put your plants. You can technically do this by hand with a hoe or even a shovel, but your arms and back will thank you if you invest in a good electric cultivator. This is a tool that uses an electric motor to rapidly spin curved blades that chew up the soil, creating loose dirt and ripping up grass and weeds by the roots. This allows you to mix in plenty of fertilizer and create a soft layer of topsoil for your plants to grow and thrive.

Ryobi makes several power tools that can help make landscaping easier, including a cultivator attachment that is designed to work as part of its Expand-It system. This is designed to be an affordable option to help you get your garden ready without having to break the bank. The Home Depot-affiliated brand is known for making budget-friendly tools that still pack enough horsepower to get the job done, and there are plenty of great ones you can use in your garden, but there are a few things that you might want to know about this particular tool before you head over to the big-box store to grab one for yourself.

Expand-It was designed to make several of Ryobi's yard maintenance products into a single, modular system. Ryobi makes two different power heads for this system: A 40V lithium-ion battery-powered head and a 26cc 2-cycle gas-powered head. These have different fuel sources, but they both essentially perform the same job. These power heads both serve as bases for the dozen or so attachments that can turn them into a wide variety of power tools. Ryobi makes attachments for string trimmers, edgers, sweepers, snow throwers, and more. In theory, this saves you money in the long run since you will only need to buy about half the tool each time so long as you have a power head. This should also make storage easier, since the attachments each take up less space than buying a full tool for each utility.

Expand-It has been around for a few years now and is widely considered to be a reliable alternative to many conventional outdoor power tools. There are several social media posts from users who have found that these attachments work just as well as the dedicated tools while saving them both money and space.

But what about the cultivator, specifically?

The Ryobi Expand-It Cultivator Attachment doesn't seem like much at a glance. It has a minimal design that simply consists of a pole to attach it to the power head, a motor, four blades on a spinning axle, and a kickback shield. It certainly doesn't compare to the heavy-duty cultivators that usually run hundreds or even thousands of dollars. That said, it's a more affordable option than, say, the Ryobi 18V One+ 8-inch Cordless Battery Cultivator while simultaneously offering more power and a wider, 10-inch tiller.

Reviews for the attachment have been excellent as well. It has a 4.6 out of 5 on the Ryobi website, a 4.4 on Home Depot, and a 4.4 on Amazon. Most of the more critical reviews point out that it is not a heavy-duty tiller and therefore struggles with harder jobs. Weeds and grass can cause it to tangle, and hard ground takes quite a bit of elbow grease to cultivate. It seems that those who tried to use it on more manageable projects were much happier with their results.

"To be clear, this is not a 300lb earth eating monster — it is a hand held cultivator," wrote YCMT2 in its review. "If you're looking for an inexpensive no-maintenance tool for maintaining garden beds, removing sod, establishing small beds, and generally breaking soil for small projects — you'll be happy with this tool."