Market Farming

[Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>]

Allan,

Sounds like you're talking about a hiller, not a bed former.

And the primary reason for tillage is to incorporate air space in the soil.
This air space takes up some room and is why the volume of soil in a given
increases, giving you a "mound."  This is then shaped into whatever
configuration for a bed.

The friend in GA with the shaper incorporated into his spader is farming GA 
red
clay and he gets some increase in soil volume, though not as much as I do in a
sand and silt loam.

Sorry you're not coming to the SSAWG conference.  It sounds like you and Ed 
may
have similar soil types.  You could see how he manages his clay soil for
permanent beds that now require very little tillage.

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm

Allan Balliett wrote:

> I'm definitely interested in knowing more, Alex. One thing that
> concerns me is that our heavy soils here do not hill up in the least
> after being spaded, so it's not a simple issue of 'shaping.' The
> bedshapers I've looked at have hilling disks at the front and rear of
> them and some sort of 'leveler' bar atop a pair of 'ibeams.' I may be
> having false memories, but I seem to recollect that the shapers were
> also rather long.
>
> I'd like to know more about your. (No, I don't make it to SAWG...it's
> one of those NORTHERN VIRGINIA things, you know.)