From Pasture To Garden

   / From Pasture To Garden #1  

DougKnudson

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
6
Location
Warrenton, NC
Tractor
Farmall 140
Hi All,

New to this site, and tractors in general, so hope this is the right spot to post my question.

We just bought a house and 13 acres of pasture in North Carolina up by the Virginia border. We would like to convert an acre, or so, of the pasture to a garden and would like to start working the soil now in preparation for next spring. We have it fenced and will be killing the grass and weeds (Glyphosate/Roundup) this weekend.

We just bought an old Farmall 140 to handle the cultivating next year, but it came with a single bottom 14" moldboard plow, 5' tandem disk and a harrow.

We think we need to plow and also subsoil to get things turned over as deeply as we can before we disc. My question is, with the limited power of the 140, does it make sense to plow first and then subsoil or vice versa... or are we on a totally wrong track?

Any ideas, suggestions, pointers to articles would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Doug
 
   / From Pasture To Garden #2  
I would plow first. Oh, and welcome to TBN!
 
   / From Pasture To Garden #3  
Plow first. You may not even need to subsoil if the plow turns the soil well enough.
Welcome :)
 
   / From Pasture To Garden #4  
I've been gardening for 30 years and never needed Glyphosate or Roundup and I've started lots of gardens. If you don't need to use chemicals why do it. If you have access to lots of manure you can just put it on the spot you plan to garden and wait. The grass will be killed in a month or two then plow. This year I started another .. Plowed the sod under greeen then waited then tilled. I am lucky enough to have an excavator so I used it to deep dig the hard pan. Added lots of old horse poop with wood shaving. Shavings aren't the best for nitrogen so I planted red clover three weeks ago to create nitrogen. By this fall I'll plow it and in the spring till it.
 
   / From Pasture To Garden #5  
Sounds to me like you are on the right track. A one acre garden is big enough I hope you like veggies and pulling weeds. Given that you have time to prep for next year it would be a great time to get a soil test. Most of the south needs the PH balanced with lime. Your lime will work faster if you turn it in with the soil. A cover crop for green manure to be plowed in at spring prep would also be good. Wish I had a good source for composted poo. It is great in a new garden plot if you can get it.

Welcome and have fun with the new property.

MarkV
 
   / From Pasture To Garden
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Hi All,

Just a quick thanks to all who responded to my post. All contained great advice and are greatly appreciated!

Thanks again,
Doug
 
 
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