selling tiller, increasing garden area

13 years ago

What would you do if you cant keep up with your garden? If you are me you double the area. We have had neg experiences with tillering. Last season used a subsoiler to loosen soil initially. If I till, weeds germinate, fiercely. I keep a cover crop of mainly clover. Some crops, such as squash, grow good in clover, not tomatoes. Of course we have tractors now to move dirt, compost. Have 8-10ksqF of growing room now. Will plant 2/3 & rest in cover crops. Have a source of clean horse manure for composting & growing all our veg. Oct. we sowed 3 types of clover, alfalfa & few wheat on the new plot & 450 or so elephant garlic. Clover seems to suppress most weeds well. Perfect weather for fall crops. Worms are my tillers now. You have to live in a garden to live off a garden!

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Comments (6)

gardenlen
13 years ago
g'day kabuti,

you where saying: "You have to live in a garden to live off a garden!"

we don't, we don't/can't have a bigger garden as we would like due to size of property(16 square meters in all), but once our well mulched raised beds are working we plant seasonal crops and depending on season each morning spend some time bug hunting or once plans mature collect produce first up in the morning when it is at its peak.

we don't need to weed, there aren't any to speak of, we don't need to water more than around once a week, rainfall and mulch looks after the moisture department.

never tilled in our lives, too much like hard work, don't have a worm farm or compost heap all that happens in the garden, don't use fertaliser as all rottable kitchen scraps and spent vege' plants go to the garden. too easy

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
denninmi
13 years ago
I want to say just one word to you, just one word. Are you listening?

Plastics.

Just how do I mean that?

Ok, enough. All bad pop culture references to 'The Graduate' aside, I had the same problem you did -- inability to keep up to the weeds and do all of the other required work.

So, I just covered everything in black plastic, probably about 8-10 years ago, maybe more, can't recall for sure.

NEVER went back. It has so many advantages, keeps down 99% of the weeds (a few grow in the planting holes), holds in water, warms the soil which is important here in Michigan.

I can buy a 100 x 20 foot piece of 6 mil black plastic for about $75. So, it would take about 5 of these to cover a 10,000 square foot garden. In my climate, I can count on getting 3 good years out of this, possibly 4 before it breaks down so much I have to get new. That makes it relatively inexpensive per year, IMO. Well worth it to me.
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happyday
13 years ago
I used plastic mulch the last two years, hope I never have to go back either.
kabuti
Original Author
13 years ago
Len, If I were gdning on a Micro scale I would do what you do with raised beds but we're gdning on a Macro scale here. It gets so hot in summer all my veg either planted in the 'troughs' or on level. Raised bed dry out in hours. Shall utilize the 'heavy-heavy mulch' option tho. denninme, the soil temp here in the summer easily reaches over 150deg without plastic. Folks here use it to 'solarize' the pests etc. I will experiment with tho. We hava killer fall/winter garden. Eatin good!
beeman_gardener
13 years ago
Just like "denninmi" we use Black Plastic.
We clean the debris from this season, remove any vegetation to the compost pile, then cover the whole area with the black and weight it down with rocks and soil.
In the spring all it takes is a rake over, lightly dig any compacted area which was walked on, then replant.
Using ACT also helps avoid any natural compaction.
franktank232
13 years ago
Mulch...you have to cover that soil with something.

selling tiller, increasing garden area

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