Garden work

[Getback]

Its work! Been exercising 3 - 5 times a week and then I started my garden. Oh lordy, right now I am drenched in sweat, my back hurts, and I cannot drink enough water. I hand dug the thing which is about 20 by 20. Then I hoed a small part of it. Got a nice blister and said hey Ma' can I borrow your tiller. Well its a little cutie, being electric and all. That thing was bouncing all over the place. Only problem is I have hold on to it with one hand and manage the extension cord with the other. Still better than the hoe though.

I best get to hitting it again.

[vonKrimm]

See?  even in real life the HO(e) and HO(eing) suck.  

And so far as the bouncing tiller goes....have you tried re-calibrating it?

[Getback]

See?  even in real life the HO(e) and HO(eing) suck.  

And so far as the bouncing tiller goes....have you tried re-calibrating it?

  Well I would if it was a solid CH Product.

[Getback]

The mighty mini. Lordy that was work!

[oakranger]

The ground is to dry.  Are you going to mixed your soil with compose or top soil? 

[Dragon]

The ground is to dry.  Are you going to mixed your soil with compose or top soil? 

+1


My garden is way smaller and use my mom's gas powered Mantis.  It's about the same size and my garden has been in place for 12 years now and I still get some bouncing.  That's a LOT of work you got going on there.  Sure your gonna sleep good tonight.



With the Mantis, I found pulling it towards you creates less bouncing and digs in deeper, but it doesn't have wheels on the back, just a movable kickstand. 

[cattb]

Going thru that sod with that little tiller, wow..a rear tine tiller been a better choice,but I suppose the cost would be expensive to rent.
If you  break more sod a suggestion would be to spray round up on the grass and kill it off before tilling.

[oakranger]

Going thru that sod with that little tiller, wow..a rear tine tiller been a better choice,but I suppose the cost would be expensive to rent.
If you  break more sod a suggestion would be to spray round up on the grass and kill it off before tilling.

I believe the dryness and compaction of the ground is where he will run into more work. What he needs to do is get a foot and a half or two feet into the ground and mixed it up with compose or top soil. 

[68ZooM]

Going thru that sod with that little tiller, wow..a rear tine tiller been a better choice,but I suppose the cost would be expensive to rent.
If you  break more sod a suggestion would be to spray round up on the grass and kill it off before tilling.

I was thinking the same thing, I'm doing my garden soon it's about 20x35 i have a front tine tiller about 2.5 hp works great on already established gardens, but breaking new ground it will thrash ya around, i called our local rental place and they quoted me for a 5hp rear tine tiller full day $52 or half day for $28, I reserved one for Sat pickup and he told me they wont be open Sun or Mon so return it Tuesday, darn good deal if you ask me lol,,, looks similar to this pic

[Getback]

The ground is to dry.  Are you going to mixed your soil with compose or top soil? 

Welp, I believe that is an excellent idea but no not going to.  I'll do the planting and then add liquid fertilizer. Always worked before. The gournd is quite wet under those clods. I may start a compost pile this summer for next year though.



Did get my corn in today, but holy cow this old man's muscles have quit working. Going to use square foot gardening for many of the other plants like bush beans, onions, carrots etc.

[oakranger]

Welp, I believe that is an excellent idea but no not going to.  I'll do the planting and then add liquid fertilizer. Always worked before. The gournd is quite wet under those clods. I may start a compost pile this summer for next year though.



Did get my corn in today, but holy cow this old man's muscles have quit working. Going to use square foot gardening for many of the other plants like bush beans, onions, carrots etc.

The soil that is below the clods, is it clay or is the soil compacted?  What is the depth of the area of soil? I asked because if you have clay like soil or that soil is compacted, you will need that foot and half to two death to have lose soil for a better root system of the plants.  If the roots can not go deep, you will not have the a good growth. 

[ROX]

All types of pepper plants can be grown in big drywall mud buckets.  I do this every year and them bring them inside during the winter and put them back out on the deck in the spring.  AMlost NO slugs, few caterpillars, and almost NO weeds.  The weeds that pop up are quickly plucked out with little effort.  I had a 10 year old habenero but the heavy rain last summer killed it before I could get it to safety.  I have 5 that made it frm last uear.  They are 4 feet tall and growing like weeds--already putting out peppers as we speak.

Also: onions, spices, herbs, work well in big buckets.



ROX

[Getback]

The soil that is below the clods, is it clay or is the soil compacted?  What is the depth of the area of soil? I asked because if you have clay like soil or that soil is compacted, you will need that foot and half to two death to have lose soil for a better root system of the plants.  If the roots can not go deep, you will not have the a good growth. 

The soil is fairly loose for about a foot, about the length of the shovel head. That is plenty in my humble opinion because this old man is not digging any deeper. There is clay at about, my guess, a foot and half. Most of the soil above that is top soil.

[oakranger]

The soil is fairly loose for about a foot, about the length of the shovel head. That is plenty in my humble opinion because this old man is not digging any deeper. There is clay at about, my guess, a foot and half. Most of the soil above that is top soil.

CC, not sure where you are.  Just keep in mind that comapced soil slows down root growth and drainage is slow.   

[dkff49]

I started my garden a few years ago the same way as the OP here. The best thing I ever did was mix in heavy amounts of mushroom mulch after tilling it the first time to loosen up the ground. That stuff gave me the best harvest I ever had.

I use the same tiller that you have posted in here and it works but it takes a long time and it is alot of work but worth it in the end.