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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] How best to use the tractor

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  • From: Steve Diver <steved AT ipa.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] How best to use the tractor
  • Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 22:53:48 -0400 (EDT)

Sheila - 

The roto-till will probably depend on what's available vs what you

can purchase... but since your inside wheel clearance is only 17

inches wide you won't be straddling the bed.  So I'd say wheel-to-wheel

rototilling is good.  Then I'd switch to hand tools for pushing

seeds in rows, followed by a wheel hoe to stir the soil, break the

crust, and control weeds.

You can grow on flat beds 75 feet in length.   Leave one foot between

the flat beds for walking up and down the length of the garden.  Then

use the wheel hoe to stir the soil on the flat bed next to the rows, whether

single or double, depending on your crop.   You can raise crops on several

acres using this combination of tractor power for working the soil and

managing cover crops, followed by efficient hand tools.  

xxpathxx....stir....row....stir....xxpathxx....stir....row....stir....xxpathxx

See slides 57-62 in my organic veggie workshop from SSAWG.

http://www.ssawg.org/documents/SSAWG-Org-Veg-Prod-SDiver-PDF.pdf

Those twin-row flat beds are 38" wide with 12" pathways.  The twin

rows are planted 14" apart in the middle, and have 12" clearance between

the row and the pathway.  

There's other ways, but that might help. 

Steve Diver

I have five level acres that have been grass for over 13 years.  Though it’s late for this year, I’d like to prepare the ground for mid-season and end of season vegetables in a small area, about 75 feet by 75 feet.  I’d like to use our John Deere to subsoil and rototill to reduce labor in initial soil prep.  The measurement from outside wheel to outside wheel is 45 inches; inside wheel to inside wheel is 17 inches.  My question is, would it be better to have a rototiller that is 41 inches wide, thereby leaving a small guideline for subsequent passes (and helping to create the walkway between rows that will be the traffic aisle for the rest of the season) or have a rototiller that is as wide or wider as the outside wheel measurement and then section off the beds later?  I'd like to have 2 to 3 foot wide beds . . .

 

I welcome any and all advice and suggestions!

 

Thanks,

 

Sheila





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