I like it Smooth (bumpy yard)

[The Fred]

Try dragging a railroad tie behind the tiller as you till, filling in and somewhat packing the soil. The more you till the smoother things get.
Seed then roll the seed in with a roller, Good results.

Fred

 

[JimRB]

Soil Pulverizers for Tractors is a place to look at all kinds of tractor gadgets.

If it was me I think I would be trying to fill those holes with something first, like rocks and dirt before smoothing. No matter what you put in the holes, the fill is probably going to compact and compacting holes might be challenging if they are going into burrows. Translated you may have plenty of holes after you smooth everything out with a few good rains settling the filled in places. In any event the pulverizer is kind of cool tool. I made mine own. I forgot how many days it took to make but it was a few days minimum.

At our 9 acres I picked up buckets of rocks and used them as rip rap (rocky fill) in the few wash areas. 17 years later those wash areas are forgotten and the rocks disappeared. I guess the dirt washed in and covered up the rocks.

By the way the bail/bale might not get me but I do have to think hard sometimes with other words. I was driving my car and I tried to brake. I broke a brake drum which I worked on when I got home. I took a break to brake (I do not know which brake/break that is) open a bottle of root beer when a bear walked through the back yard. Lots of words that might sound the same and I get plenty confused. ;-)

 

[Cherokee140]

I was halfway working on this with my old box blade....I really need to get a new one. The one I have came with my 8n and it has been welded together so much there is more weld then anything else...it busted again and I said the heck with it....on to plan B.

What I think I am looking for is really two things. The first area (the back) is so bumpy you really can't walk back there. Water drains from the field, sits in the holes (mosquito heaven) and it is just bumpy. If you take a brush hog back there you better take a fist full of shear pins....that tractor will fall in a hole and WHOP new pin time.
I want to at least to be able to brush hog (just really grass) back there. It would be nice to actually mow back there...but I just don't know without really tilling the entire place up. I am talking some holes as big as your foot, and more then ankle deep.

Then there is the "yard" once a field, Mowing kills me. Every weekend we will mow the front or the back....they rotate. I can usually mow about half, then have to take a break (actually a pain pill) then I can finish it up. It is not super bumpy but on a tractor it really just pounds me to death. I am really not sure if it is just me or not, My back has gone down hill after I moved out there, and IIRC it really did not bother me before my last surgery. I could be chasing a rainbow. I drove a neighbors zero turn a little bit and it was dog gone fast, but still real bumpy...I think it is a Gravley 260Z...I know it is a 260Z because I made Datsun comments....funny I almost raced Datsuns before I fell on my head and started racing Opels.

Anyway I think getting the ground smooth enough for ME might be something just not possible (think golf green) That is why I am thinking about the Ferris or Simplicity with the suspension settings.

This all comes up again from mowing this past weekend. I did half the yard on the JD650, then the other half on my new Kubota BX....just to see what was better. Both have good and bad points, I will outline in my day in the life thread. But I am really thinking after running my friends zero turn I really am going to have to have suspension.

Or another thought....what about some cheap Chinese side by side and some kind of powered pull behind mower....any thoughts on that.

This is all key to how long I get to live at my house. I can see only a year or two more of the status quo. then the grass will have to be let go, and I will have to rely on un-reliable people to come bail it, or I will have to move back to the city.....I don't want to move to town.

 

[kevin37b]

I don't understand your last sentence . Well , maybe I do , back pain . You need a disc and a good chain link harrow . The first pass will be rough , the next 2 or 3 will be better . That grass will recover if you are patient between passes . That suspension thingy you are talking about is worthless in your situation . It takes a little time . Everytime you smell rain , get out and disc it . That grass will recover . Hope this helps .

 

[Cherokee140]

I don't understand your last sentence . Well , maybe I do , back pain . You need a disc and a good chain link harrow . The first pass will be rough , the next 2 or 3 will be better . That grass will recover if you are patient between passes . That suspension thingy you are talking about is worthless in your situation . It takes a little time .

Ok....yea, I know there will come a day when I just can't get out and do it any more....and I am only 48.

You really think the mower will not help. I had pretty high hopes for springs on the mower, but I was going to make them bring a demo to my house.

I have a disc, but not the chain harrow. I have thought about renting one of those Harley rakes, or just pound the **** out of it with a tiller, then drag (rr tie perhaps) the surface to try to get it smooth.

It is really kind of depressing....I only have my O.L.S.D. (Organic Labor Saving Device)...otherwise known as my 17yr old son for a few more years. He really hates it when I call him my OLSD...But it is funny.