Rototilling tips.
Posted by garth on 29 Jun 2009 at 12:33 pm | Tagged as: planting, tools
It appears that, if you’re rototilling a garden that’s gone to grass and blackberries for the past six years, watering prior to tilling makes it easier to remove the vegetation. It looks like a softer, wetter soil allows the tines to pull plants bodily out of the soil instead of chopping them up but leaving the rhizomes. Of course, when you’re tilling mud the tractor gets stuck more easily. If, like me, you’re running a walking tractor it’s not a problem but just takes some muscle to get moving again.
Of course, I still hate rototilling and want to find an affordable, labor-efficient, and less intrusive method of soil preparation.
I know our small hand pushed rototiller took forever to dig up our garden area. I wish I’d wet it down before hand, hehe. Many hands make light work I guess. Sorry you have so much to do.
[...] There are probably 80+ plants waiting to go in at Johnson Farm and at our New New Farm (which Garth has referenced but we haven’t yet introduced properly — that’s on my list). Tomatillos and [...]
It’s good to have a lot to do. That’s how you know you’re farming/gardening. :)
I’ve been unfortunately ignoring my garden for a month. No clue how that could happen in your shoes. It couldn’t. I admire you guys more and more each day! Good luck and keep moving.