Oh yeah....I forgot to tell ya....

[pitt_md]

My old neighbor asked me to brush hog a small field close to his house. I took a walk through before I started. I found 7 old sets of box springs laying in the weeds, numorus tire/wheels, one small pile of rusted cans and broken glass...
I quit looking and told him about the problem. He was hurt that I would not help him with his field. Glad he was moving away.

 

[bigtiller]

Hi Farmwithjunk, I know what your going through. For the past 17 years I have been tilling in other peoples yards. I dont know how many TV cable lines I have wraped around the tiller that wasn't supposed to be there. One of worst things I found was a 3 foot long piece of 5/8 re-rod. That rod was wraped so tight around the tine shaft I had to load up and go home to cut it out with the tourch and then go back.

 

[two_bit_score]

I vowed NEVER to till another garden except mine so long as "we" shall live.<<<<<<<<<<



Good advice. Not for "free" anyway. At leasta berry pie would have made me feel better about it.

 

[flusher]

Anyone who's spent much time bush hogging has no doubt hit SOMETHING in the weeds. Goes with the territory....

I've been finding out lately the same applies to tillers.

Till for other people and the odds multiply.

Add in for the "being a nice guy" factor and it get downright ugly.

Explanation; I promised to till a garden for a neighbor, and another for his dad. Both are with-in a 10 minute tractor ride from the house. No big deal. Supposedly there was a garden in both spots in previous years. Sounds like fun!

First stop, the neighbor. He wants a spot roughly 40' X 80' tilled. It WAS about 25' by 50' in the past. A little uncharted ground, but nothing appears out of place. I looked it over, and started tilling. 1/2-way through the second pass......POW.....bounce/bounce/bounce/bounce.....hit the clutch! Hmmmmmm. Nothing broken except my nerves.....I step down to see what "we" hit. Before I made it to see, I hear, "Oh yeah! I forgot! There used to be clothesline posts out here somewhere.....".

"We" hit a chunk of concrete w/2" iron pipe sticking out.

The REST of the garden was a non event, On to dads place.

This was a smaller garden, maybe 25' X 30'. All former garden ground. I asked specifically, "Anything in the ground I could hit?" I was assured there was NOTHING there. Onward and upward. About 1/2-way through the garden, something went crazy. No noise, but something wadding up around the tines.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you about the landscape fabric that is buried in the garden..."

20 minutes with a pocket knife LATER.....I vowed NEVER to till another garden except mine so long as "we" shall live.

Same thing happened to me last year when I brush hogged my neighbors 10 acres (he was recovering from surgery). Two-3 foot weeds. Hit hunks of concrete, pieces of aluminum irrigation pipe, an irrigation ditch right in the middle of the field. This was the second time I had the hog on my new 2008 Mahindra 5525. Fortunately no damage done to the tractor or the hog.

 

[deere755]

Had a friend ask me to till up a spot for a garden a couple weeks ago. I get the tractor unloaded and we are looking the spot over when he asks me will bricks hurt your tiller. I reply I would think so I really don't want to find out. Why do you ask? He says because there are bricks buried just below the surface in this area. I said well we need to find a new area. He replies but this is where my wife wants it. I told him to clean up the bricks and I will be back. I think some people just don't understand what you have invested in your equipment or don't care. This was another one of those free jobs.

 

[newbury]

Friend wanted a garden and flower bed put in.
Got there to help.
"Oh, by the way the entire lawn is laid about 6" thick over a parking lot"
Raised Beds

 

[Baby Grand]

Friend wanted a garden and flower bed put in.
Got there to help.
"Oh, by the way the entire lawn is laid about 6" thick over a parking lot"
Raised Beds

... or 5" tilth with a black hardpan. You have to wonder what some people are thinking.

 

[charlz]

I started using cheap paring knives. You can usually buy them in a 2 pack at a discount or dollar store. They come with bright plastic handles so you won't lose them, and only get the kind with serrated blades.

Mine has a bright handle on it too.... but mine is a cordless sawzall.... works like a champ

 

[PILOON]

Sounds just as bad as chainsawing trees in a back yard!
No clothes line hooks? no spikes or nails?

Heck we had a maple that used to have a water pipe and tap attached to the side (to wash cars).

With time the tree grew around the pipe and dad used to tell folks the tap was to make maple syrup.
Pity the guy that cuts down that tree!

 

[nunyabinis]

I've been planting the same area for a garden at home for perhaps 15 years. I always used a harrow to prepare the ground for planting before I got my KKII tiller this spring.


I could not believe the "stuff" the tiller unearthed that had evidently always been there. Lightered knots, Roots, old rusted metal pieces that looked like they came off old farm equipment, bailing wire, etc...


A tiller is better than a metal detector!!!