Poor man's garden hiller

[jinman]

I have an old Dearborn cultivator tool bar that I use with the traditional plow sweeps to lay out rows. As a kid, I've plowed acres and acres of vegetable crops, but I prefer to use this cultivator to lay out rows and then use my little Mantis-style tiller to do the cultivating after my veggies start growing.

What I've wished for is a simple way to throw up hills so that I'm planting on raised beds. My tiller does a great job of preparing the soil, but I really like raised beds. I recently saw hilling discs in the Agri-supply catalog and ordered a pair for my cultivator.

When I got the discs, the shafts are just a bit too small in diameter for my sweep mounting feet. I couldn't tighten down on the shaft. I decided to split a 3PH cat 1/2 bushing lengthwise and use half around each shaft as a filler so I cold tighten down on the shafts. I had to spread the bushing halves a bit after cutting them, but I was able to easily tap them down around the shaft and tighten the clamp down.

Below are some pictures of my cultivator set up to throw up planting hills. I left one sweep in the middle of the hill to knock down the ridge and give me a small valley to run my planter in. All-in-all, I think my $60 plus shipping was money well spent to make nice planting hills.

 

[Coolnorth]

Hi Jinman,

Thanks for posting this! I have been looking around the forum and this is what I needed to see! I want to mechanize in some way, the hilling process. I had drawn up a plan for a type of fixed hiller that would have required the purchase of a much larger tractor. One row at a time is all I need, even once I open up the next piece of land.

What are the cultivator tines on either end of your cultivator tool bar used for (if this is the case) when you are hilling?

Good work on the tooling!

Graham

 

[jinman]

What are the cultivator tines on either end of your cultivator tool bar used for (if this is the case) when you are hilling?

Graham, those sweeps are raised and not doing anything. I normally us a 5-sweep setup for plowing and then pull off the center sweep and move in two small sweeps on each side of the row for plowing/weeding young veggies. I was just too lazy to remove the outer sweeps for the hilling operation. I raised them so I'd have tire tracks between rows to make a good walking path. I normally use my tiller twice during the off season to turn under vegetation and aerate the soil. I then use this old cultivator once to lay out rows and then it sits the rest of year unused. This year, I'm using it for hilling and then I'll lay it up for the season and rely on my little Mantis-style tiller to to keep my garden weed free and aerated as needed.

 

[Baby Grand]

Nice work. Now I've got to make a 3ph tool bar.

 

[LRTX1]

Jinman,

Instead of the sweep in the middle consider using a board. I took an old shaft and welded a peice of plate steel, 6" tall by 18" wide, to the shaft. It makes for a wide flat bed. The down side of this for you would be making a second pass with the board after you made your hill .

I use a Farmall 140 that has front and rear hydraulics, I board off the front at the same time I plant off the rear.

 

[JC-jetro]

I have an old Dearborn cultivator tool bar that I use with the traditional plow sweeps to lay out rows. As a kid, I've plowed acres and acres of vegetable crops, but I prefer to use this cultivator to lay out rows and then use my little Mantis-style tiller to do the cultivating after my veggies start growing.

What I've wished for is a simple way to throw up hills so that I'm planting on raised beds. My tiller does a great job of preparing the soil, but I really like raised beds. I recently saw hilling discs in the Agri-supply catalog and ordered a pair for my cultivator.

When I got the discs, the shafts are just a bit too small in diameter for my sweep mounting feet. I couldn't tighten down on the shaft. I decided to split a 3PH cat 1/2 bushing lengthwise and use half around each shaft as a filler so I cold tighten down on the shafts. I had to spread the bushing halves a bit after cutting them, but I was able to easily tap them down around the shaft and tighten the clamp down.

Below are some pictures of my cultivator set up to throw up planting hills. I left one sweep in the middle of the hill to knock down the ridge and give me a small valley to run my planter in. All-in-all, I think my $60 plus shipping was money well spent to make nice planting hills.

Good looking hiller Jim,

I kind of the same idea to use my cultivator as a structural base. The only source for a disk same as you have was agri supply. The local Orschlyn Sp? and TSC don't have one in stock for me to eye ball before I buy them. Where did you yours? I also taught I might use a flat piece of metal welded to a rod acting line a hiller, sort of like having two potatoes side to side angled toward each other.

JC,



16 DISC HILLER WITH 16SHANK - Agri Supply

 

[Coolnorth]

Hi Jim,

I see on closer inspection of the photo that those are sweeps - the angle of photo shows them nearly edge-on. Again, simple, clean and smart. I like it!

Graham

 

[Coolnorth]

--" I also taught I might use a flat piece of metal welded to a rod acting line a hiller, sort of like having two potatoes side to side angled toward each other."--



JC, This is where I was in my drawings, but I had extravagant amounts of plate welded across the top, sides, etc. Almost like a chute that cut at the bottom and sides, pushing the soil to the middle as the chute would be narrow at the rear, creating the hill.

Graham

 

[Luremaker]

Jim, Thanks for posting the photos. Last summer I planted a few rows of potatoes and hilled them by hand. Lot's of work!! Last August I purchased a potato plow at TSC when I was in Buffalo, NY. Now planting will be much easier but I'll still have to hill them.

Graham, It's been a while.... hope all is well. Will you be planting corn this summer? I am looking forward to seeing your hiller.

Steve

 

[JC-jetro]

--"
JC, This is where I was in my drawings, but I had extravagant amounts of plate welded across the top, sides, etc. Almost like a chute that cut at the bottom and sides, pushing the soil to the middle as the chute would be narrow at the rear, creating the hill.

Graham

Hi Graham,

What drawings are you talking about? Did I miss it?

JC,