New garden prep

[AlbertaDan]

I just bought a tiller for a new veggie garden that the wife wants. As i was looking at the ground where it is going to be I notice a lot of rocks on top of the soil. The rocks vary from ping pong ball size to about grapefruit size. If these rocks are on top of the soil I'm sure there are more under the top that I can't see.

I will be using a 2360 with 50" tiller. Both are new and I really don't want to break anything the firts time I try this.

Because of the number of rocks is there a rake of sonme kind that will make it easier to get rid of these?

Or do i have to do it the old fashioned way, by hand and wagon?

The garden is going to be about 40'wide by about 100' long.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

 

[bp fick]

If you are worried about your new tiller, there are a few things you could give thought to first.

Run a little middle buster through that plot. You'll find the rocks. Surface the big ones. Then if you drag something across that surface, you'll be able to pick up the rocks. Save them for a dry well project or what have you.

THEN, go ahead and till. You will need to till because merely middle busting and a light drag isn't going to till the top 7" into the pulverized seed bed you want. Anyhow, FWIW, that is essentially what I did last August. Let is sit all winter, plowed again, dragged again, then tilled into powder. Nice!

In future years, you'll be more confident, the soil will have been worked in the past, and that tiller will be all you'll need, likely.

 

[radioman]

Removing surface rocks by hand before tilling is preferred method. Backbreaking? yes. just keep in mind that you are getting it ready for future use as well. The first year is alwyas the hardest. more "weeds" to contend with, rocks to pick up and move. Your new tiller should have a slip clutch on it. If it adjusted properly, it will "rachet" when hitting a rock, saving your tiller gears and tractor pto. using a middle buster is a good idea too, helps to break the soil too so the big rocks can be found.

 

[Egon]

Ah; some rocks on "The Rock"!

Build a grizzly and use the Fel to run all the topsoil through it. Then spread it back in raised beds minus the rocks.

 

[leonz]

I just bought a tiller for a new veggie garden that the wife wants. As i was looking at the ground where it is going to be I notice a lot of rocks on top of the soil. The rocks vary from ping pong ball size to about grapefruit size. If these rocks are on top of the soil I'm sure there are more under the top that I can't see.

I will be using a 2360 with 50" tiller. Both are new and I really don't want to break anything the firts time I try this.

Because of the number of rocks is there a rake of sonme kind that will make it easier to get rid of these?

Or do i have to do it the old fashioned way, by hand and wagon?

The garden is going to be about 40'wide by about 100' long.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

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As it is your first garden:

a. cover the area with a good quality tarpaulin to kill the weeds and heat
the soil prior to digging.

b. what I have done is this with my "original" Troy Built Rototiller which works
wonders and pulls the rocks or bounces over the bigger ones and dense
clays;

I only make one pass at the shallowest depth that contacts the ground
on the first pass in low gear at least foutr times with the tiller and when
the desired width is tilled I drop it one more notch in depth and repeat
the process -only using half the width of the troy built in breaking
ground and it works as it brings up evrything for you, it just takes time.
The middle buster works or the even easier way is to double dig with a
back hoe and empty the top 12-18 inches and then you can then add
sand which is a necessity with clay ground, adding gypsum is also a
must to dissolve the clay and then simply screen the soil if desired and till
till it back into the sand to make a raised garden to avois wet roots and
damp ground.