I will be buying a tractor (TC21D or B2410) soon and am looking for some opinions on the best implements to get some Spring landscaping jobs done. The tractor will have a FEL and turf tires (for mowing). The jobs I have lined up so far: convert an area of existing lawn to a bed for about 8-12 small trees, plant trees, put in a 4' wide brick walkway (about 50' long) in another area of existing lawn, and put in topsoil and seed for new lawn in a couple of small areas. My main question is: how much sod removal and digging should I expect to be able to do with the loader? Also, does dragging the bucket work OK for grading and leveling. I expect that the loader should be able to handle the weight of a 6-8' tree with root ball, but I'm not sure how much they will weigh.
I live in CT and I would not call our soil overly 'hard'. I can definitely put a spade into it, and I've hand-dug quite a few holes for fence posts. There are definitely a few rocks, but digging can be done.
I realize that I will need to have some ballast on the 3-pt. for the loader work, and I would like to have an implement do double-duty as ballast (rear tires won't be filled). Maybe I'm just repeating one of the box scraper v. rear blade threads here, but I'd like to hear what some of you more experienced landscapers think.
I live in CT and I would not call our soil overly 'hard'. I can definitely put a spade into it, and I've hand-dug quite a few holes for fence posts. There are definitely a few rocks, but digging can be done.
I realize that I will need to have some ballast on the 3-pt. for the loader work, and I would like to have an implement do double-duty as ballast (rear tires won't be filled). Maybe I'm just repeating one of the box scraper v. rear blade threads here, but I'd like to hear what some of you more experienced landscapers think.