So I need to clear a one acre field before plowing it this spring and planting it in buckwheat/clover in order to prep it for a market garden next year. I want to buy a flail mower anyway, will it get through fairly sizable weed residue? I've tried to insert a picture of the field, I hope it worked. Thanks for any advice!
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Welcome to the forum AmyL,
A flail mower will have no problems with that field but walking through to pick up any debris
is a good idea anyway as you do not want a flat tire.
Using a strong magnet from northern tool to pick up any stray metal will simplify matters for
you and reduce any potential damage to the flail mower as they absolutely hate garden hose
and barbed wire snakes and it takes a long time to remove them after you remove the drive belts.
Don't ask how I know this!!!
One question though, can you afford a small two wheel tractor and a couple of implements?
The reason I ask you is this is that you could buy a two wheel tractor, flail mower attachment and a rotary plow to make raised beds and in the process till deeply and also kick out any stones or know where the large ones are as the rotary plow will ride over them then you can dig them out with a shovel or prybar.
A very tall raised bed will drain quickly and you will have a huge jump on weeds as the leaf canopy will choke out any sunlight reaching the ground and it will kill off the weeds.
I grew sunflowers and sweet corn on raised beds(referred to as ridge tillage) and they just grew and grew and grew and choked out the weeds and after few weeks I could not pass through the beds with the tiller because the corn and sunflowers were so tall and thick with six in planting distance between seeds.using 24 inch row spacing.
I am not trying to spend your money, I just do not know what you have for implements and
ground engaging tools(plow, hiller, cultivator etc.
The great thing about raised beds is you can till in sand to help drain the soil and build the raised beds,
Gypsum to dissolve the clay, compost to add green manure etc.
By planting a buckwheat crop now with triple ten fertiliser will allow you to choke off the weeds and in the fall you can plant winter wheat to add more green manure and then build the raised beds the fist week of june and plant the same week.
The rotary plow will break dirt very deeply with the wheels set at the maximum width to make the furrow and you can then decide if you want to stake out more rows to make higher raised beds to aid in drainage.
The deeper you plow the more ground you can break up and expose to the air and let the ground dry out and break down the sod.
Are the rear tires on your Kubota loaded with ballast liquid? if not you will need to add it to gain traction, the more traction you have the deeper you can plow.
The other thing is deciding how much flail mower you can afford to buy, to go along with that narrow rows on raised beds allow you to plant more seed per foot and have a high germination rate. the more the soil is worked the easier it is to make raised beds.
If you have a lot of mowing to do anyway a flail mower is a good tool to own and use for many reasons especially when it comes to having two and four legged rug rats running around when you might be out mowing.
