Market Farming

["Winter, Leif and Barbara" <lebzwin AT epix.net>]

     Our garden is 1.75 acres, with almost a half of that in permanent
raised beds. Initially, I plowed the garden (not the 8-10' tractor
paths) with a 16 horse diesel Kubota, using a one bottom plow. A 10
horse BCS tiller was used to level and smooth it out. The raised beds
are now  mostly prepared with a double-wide digging fork to get  them
ready for the season. Of course, over the past few years I have taken
out tons of rocks by hand.
      Since the rocks have been and are still being taken out of the
ground, I can zip through the larger beds with the tiller in a higher
gear. Plus I like the idea of a quick till in the upper two inches
rather than trying to till deeply every year.      Getting back to the
double digger, after just a year of preparation, the soil responds well
to the 1. aeration due to  the dd's tines and to 2. the just slightly
turning over, rather than completely turning over of the soil.
The tractor was used just to initially turn the sod over, and since then
is used only to bring amendments to the garden. The front end loader,
though, is the greatest invention in the world- it is used for turning
over compost.