There are large gas-powered rear-tine models that can dig into hard soil and till wide swaths of ground, and lightweight handheld battery-powered cultivators for weeding and mixing compost or ...

With the crack of dawn, somewhere, a gardener trudges into their garden. They squat down on the garden bed and start digging the soil with a shovel. For them, it’s as harmless as a cup of morning tea.

It can be hard to resist on a sunny spring day, but don’t start digging in the garden too soon. “You can prevent a lot of problems from compacted soil if you wait a while,” said Spencer Campbell, ...