Personally, I'd do 5-6' beds and only drive the tractor tires between the rows. You can either plant a low-growing green manure grass in that 2' section, or mulch it heavily

Our fabric was 3-4' wide and we used it between the rows. The only spot we got weeds was within the row. We had barely 3-4" as the row. We did get weeds in that area, and should have either mulched or something, but ran out of time/energy.

We are not planning on removing our fabric for several years, just hoeing between before planting next year.

Good question Chris,

The tractor I used with the hiller on my 1/2 acre winter squash patch was wide enough that the hiller actually worked inside the back wheels.

I just ran the tractor down and then turned around and ran back with the tires running right beside the track of the previous trip.

On the other 1/2 acre of potatoes, I did the same thing except I ran on the previous wheel track and that was too close and was more nerve wrecking to work.

At my house I had to use a smaller tractor that I rented (Kubota 275). I ran the wheels about half on top of the previous track and gave myself 2.0-2.5 foot wide beds with 3 to 4 feet between beds. For somethings it was nice (peppers, sweet potatoes and Okra) for other stuff it was too close.

Closer spacing

I was able to run my reartine tiller between the rows to help weed them out.

Over the summer I found a four 4 row cultivator similar to this. It only has one bar though. My plans are to take the sweeps off, mount up my disc hillers, then put a cultivator shank behind each tire of the tractor. That way I can deal with the compaction issue. I also used this cultivator, with the middle shanks taken out, to cultivate between the raised beds.

There are lots of premade equipment, but I am finding this old stuff, add some new parts and you are getting it for way cheaper.

I hope this answers your questions.

Jay

All I have to say is, I wish I had a tractor. I could double my space/production and cut my time down. I do 1/2 acre with a mini tiller and grit!

A 10' bed seems a bit extreme. I'd say a 5' bed is overkill just the same, but I guess it depends what you're planting and what you're spacing is.
I clean till the whole field and then mark out beds using the tractor tires which are 36" on the inside, thus making 3' beds. Any larger and I can't reach from one side to the middle and weeding and harvesting become much more difficult.

If I have the space, I make my paths a double tire width which is about the same width as my BCS tiller. The BCS does a great job keeping the weeds down in the path. Or, if you tractor cultivate, sweeps can clean up the paths also.

Here are some photos of my 3'beds.

I do about 3.5 foot beds but leave them permanent and the paths have plastic mulch or long wear fabric mulch (woven) on the main paths. I cannot reach into the bed if they were any wider. smirk ;-)

For me, 3-3.5' would be max, also. Now, if I can figure how to raise everything up about 3-3.5' up, LOL!

Garden looks great, madroneb.

Thanks rustico.
That pic was last year, this time around that section of the field is cranking with melons!

Thanks for all your replies. I was originally thinking of the 10' beds would be subdivided into 3, 3' beds, but you've all made me think that's not wise. That would rule out using the tractor and tiller mid season.

Given that my tractor is 7' wide and tiller is 5' wide, I think I'm stuck with making the width of bed + walkway equal a total of 7' at least. Jay has given me some ideas for how the bed itself can be varied a bit, but ultimately the "pitch" of my beds (from one front edge to another) should stay at 7 or 7.5'.

I'm definitely going to look into getting a bed shaper. I see that a close by equipment dealer has one for sale for $950. Maybe I can find an old cultivator and just get the bed shaping discs made for it?

Chris

Check our Agri Supply and Steven's Tractor for disc hillers and brackets. You will not spend anywhere close to $950 for one that you piece together. My disc hiller cost about $150 to make. Best $150 I have ever spent.

Jay

I've got a shovel and a potato fork LOL. But don't see how I could use the tractor in a high tunnel anyway, so will just have to keep using hand tools in a raised bed.

Marla - look into building REALLY raised beds on top of pallet benches

Here is a link that might be useful: Raised beds no bending

Thanks for finding that. I can see some inside of my hoop house, cover them with plywood for the plant starting, then open them up for production.