Book Suggestions: Working Large Garden with CUT?

[sl3uth]

I have LOTS of gardening books, and I now own a CUT and a handful of impliments. What I haven't found is a good reference on how to use my CUT to create, work, maintain my garden.

Maybe that's blatently obvious to most people, but I'd really like to get a better idea of how to do this efficiently. Dimensions of garden (relative to turning radius and width of CUT), row/bed schemes (relative to the tire width, track of the tractor, and implements available), logistic of how to use the implements for initial plot work, soil preparation, planting, cultivating, harvesting, end-of-year procedures, etc....even information about how to use fencing to protect the garden but allow the tractor to work effectively.

Not that I want to actually do "everything" with my CUT, but I would like to know how to do it and what areas make sense to be done by hand versus by CUT.

I'd certainly appreciate any pointers, web sites, books, etc. you might know about. Thank you!

Sam

 

[Glenn9643]

I doubt that you'll find much of value on this subject in a book.
I'm not familiar with the dimensions of your tractor so can't say much. Some offer more versatility by spacing wheels in or out, but mine doesn't. Generally, the CUT is not designed as a "row-crop" tractor and in order to cultivate after planting you'll have to lay out your rows at a width so that the "middles" between beds or rows will accomodate your tractor wheels. For example, my rear tires are 17.5" wide, with 36.6 clearance between the wheels. This leaves 54" measuring center to center across my back tires which is too wide for me to consider. Generally the most efficient spacing will be from 30-40 inches, depending on what you're planting. I couldn't go with a 27" row spacing and work more rows because my tires would be too wide to go down the middles without damaging the row. I would suggest that you use the cut to prepare the ground with a disk or tiller. In order to use the CUT to prepare raised beds you'll need a cultivator frame with plows set up at the chosen row width. The cultivator frame/rows should be as wide or wider than your wheels or you will screw up when you try to prepare adjoining rows in the next pass.
That's basically what I'm planning to do this spring if it ever dries up. I figure about 15 rows 100' long, with sweet corn on one end and peas/beans on the other. I have a push type planter and an old Ariens tiller that I'll use to plant and cultivate. I'll probably plant in a "water-furrow" and throw dirt to it as it grows because by the time it's dry enough to get in the field it'll soon be really dry.

 

[sl3uth]

Thanks, Glenn9643. You confirmed a lot of my thoughts, and you gave me a couple things to ponder. My tractor's a good bit smaller than yours, so the width of non-trampled soil between my tires is only 28".

I've tilled the whole thing with the tractor already, and now I have been debating about whether to:
<ul type="square"> [*]buy a frame that places disks/middlebusters directly behind each rear tire (effectively making raised beds about 2.5' in width) [*]get/make a frame that would allow me to place furrowing implements behind both tires and one in the middle (making mounded rows, each pass giving me 2 full mounded rows and 2 half mounded rows with 16" furrows between them) [*]use a single middlebuster to dig my furrows at around 5.5 to 6' apart, then come back with the 5' tiller and remove the tire tracks in each 5.5 to 6' raised bed [/list]

If I go with either the first two options, I would be able to do minor garden work with my tractor (i.e., seeding and cultivating...and it would allow me to plant in timed stages). It would seem that option 2 would be better for use with a tractor, but I'm concerned that the narrow width of the resulting mounded rows???

Option three would end my work with the tractor right after bed preparation, since I could no longer drive the tractor without having to re-till (Probably not the best for seeding and cultivating /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ). Though this is the most hand work...if it makes the most sense, I don't mind that. I just don't know how to evaluate the (dis)advantages of these methogs. The almost 6' width of this methog would make reaching the center quite a balancing act if we try not to tread on the soil...is that important?

Thanks again for any help! Maybe after a lifetime of trying to figure this stuff out I'll try to write the book I'm looking for...if people even know what a "CUT" is by then /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif...

Sam

 

[Glenn9643]

You stated "the width of non-trampled soil between my tires is only 28". I'm supposing that is the distance between the inside of the tires? You also need to consider the width of your tire footprint; measure across from center of the tires and make your row width fit that measurement.

"buy a frame that places disks/middlebusters directly behind each rear tire (effectively making raised beds about 2.5' in width) " Using plows (sweeps) or disk-hillers on your cultivator frame set to move soil from your wheel tracks toward the middle where your row will be formed. After forming one row, turn around and run the other direction, with one tractor tire following in the track left on the previous pass and your rows will be the proper length apart. Depending on the height you want, you can run back over the rows with a boxblade or something similar to flatten the row tops, and possibly even open a small furrow in the tops for planting if you're planting by hand. If you're going to use a planter on the CUT be sure it's centered properly so all the rows will be the same distance apart to ease your cultivating later. You can cultivate later using the same frame that you made the beds with, but may want to use smaller plowpoints, etc., depending on requirements.