others sound like they have everything cover i could think of.
something to think about possibly. i have never done it though. and have no idea in how it would work. but if your backhoe bucket has good set of long teeth on it. ((warning this might tear up your backhoe)) i might drop the backhoe bucket down with teeth into dirt but not the bucket. and take multi passes that way, ((that is if you do not have to much of an area to do)) to help bring rocks up. ((note out riggers are fully up, and FEL is off ground. and just using the teeth like the scraficers on a BB. (((WARNING, you could roll tractor doing this. more so if you hit a large rock))
but if you have a large enough area. a 3pt hitch rake. i would most likely well worth the cash and less worry about tearing up the backhoe.
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to state what other folks are stating in different words.
when you plant a garden, you plow and/or disc and/or use a tiller. and there are dirt clods you need to remove, so you break out the old "garden rake that has a stiff metal rake on the bottom" and pull the dirt clods all to one side.
when folks say the 3pt hitch rake. think of it as the old metal rake above. but instead of by hand, you can use the power of your tractor to do it.
when folks say using the scraficers on BB, they scraficers are better situated and in that stronger than the tines on a 3pt hitch rake. due to how they are position. so they can take more punishment before breaking / bending. and in that allow you to sink the scraficers into the ground. to help pop rocks up and out.
the BB doubles as a good way to get things Level or nice even slop clear across the area you want.
the 3pt Rake. can double is help loosening the top inch or so of dirt before you spread grass seed. then used again to work the grass seed back into the dirt a little bit.
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with above, the FEL and Backhoe i can do some pretty good damage pretty quickly on the 555c TLB of mine. once i get ready, i can pretty much get a line i want to follow, and work fast enough that the front bucket and out riggers for backhoe are on the ground for only a few moments before i need to move the tractor forward more. but, i also kill myself doing this. things can get rather bumpy and jerky. granted with 555c i can just pull lever and turn seat to operate backhoe, without getting off of tractor to switch to a backhoe seat. if i had to get off tractor or rather move to another seat to operate backhoe. that time and extra amount of movement could make or brake a deal. to a point were a box blade and rear rake would well be worth the cash and time and medication needed to kill the pain.
*i shouldn't be saying this out loud* but half the time i just pull lever and keep seat so it does not actually lock forward or in reverse. and just kinda streach out over the seat with one foot on throttle, while i reach for the backhoe controls. and when done with backhoe, lift out riggers a few inchs up off ground so they don't hit anything. tap the FEL joystick to raise it up. touch the shuttle shift lever. move forward. and drop the FEL to stop. twist a little bit to drop out riggers and away i go with backhoe and then just repeat. being in this position makes things quick but takes a toll on my body. and can be rather dangerous i should extremely dangerous. more so if you are not wide awake and not paying attention and even then can be very dangerous.
but beside above, i have done above a couple times, due to i didn't have a tiller on hand. and i could not get a plow or disc into the area. to basicly work the dirt to kinda till or rather plow / disc the dirt. to loosen it up. then used FEL to level things out.
if i would of been on TBN. i would of most likely bolted a 2x6 lumber to teeth of backhoe bucket. and used the 2x6 like a clean cutting edge to smooth things out before getting out the garden hand metal rakes. to put in grass seed. but awe well, the projects are done and it all looks nice.
