greggyy
Gold Member
Hi All.
I have been looking at the implements required to do a vege garden in the old way, i.e turn all the soil over and work it up and down etc, much the way farmers do crops, just on a small scale.
On my place near everywhere has a slope of some kind or grade, from minimal to steep, so I was already thinking if I kill off pasture and turn soild over, if it rains, a lot will just be washed away as we do get heavy downpours at times, then when you look at the cost and ask prices even on old implements, or how poorly made many new ones are, then when you also consider my soil is rocky and in places may be solid rock not too far down, it had me thinking, maybe I should do things another way, also, the pasture is established and I do have livestock on it.
Because I am down under, we are coming up for winter, and we do get frosts and nights are often zero or below in a few months, so I was also then thinking, maybe I can grow and keep the pasture & maybe I can do it with what I already have.
I have compact tractor and have a single tyne ripper, I also have a really heavy old hay rake where the tynes and weight will easily scratch up the surface to allow water in etc.
Am only thinking of a small patch to start, maybe 30ft by 15 or something, so was thinking of using ripper to rip about 30cm down for the 30ft in say 5 rows, this will leave soil un turned, then could scratch top of pasture enough so it will allow more water into surface, but again without turning or killing off all pasture, could then plant seeds either along the ripped area, or next to it, or dig out small bowls along the rip or next to it, I am thinking of cauliflower, brocolli, carrot, maybe potato...
My thoughts are soil is sloped slightly, it will never get water logged, it has rock and sandy clay type soil, I could probably use compost or other and could manually keep pasture at a lower height if needed, in another paddock I only get about 4 or 5 inch height if left for 2 months, so it is not going to get taken over from the pasture varieties. I am not growing commercially, so the result does not need to be perfect, I cant see there being too much competition, and when harvested, it is still pasture that can be cleaned up by animals and or re used.
For thing s that mainly grow above surface this should work, for those under, maybe it will be too hard to harvest.
So, what do you say ?
I have been looking at the implements required to do a vege garden in the old way, i.e turn all the soil over and work it up and down etc, much the way farmers do crops, just on a small scale.
On my place near everywhere has a slope of some kind or grade, from minimal to steep, so I was already thinking if I kill off pasture and turn soild over, if it rains, a lot will just be washed away as we do get heavy downpours at times, then when you look at the cost and ask prices even on old implements, or how poorly made many new ones are, then when you also consider my soil is rocky and in places may be solid rock not too far down, it had me thinking, maybe I should do things another way, also, the pasture is established and I do have livestock on it.
Because I am down under, we are coming up for winter, and we do get frosts and nights are often zero or below in a few months, so I was also then thinking, maybe I can grow and keep the pasture & maybe I can do it with what I already have.
I have compact tractor and have a single tyne ripper, I also have a really heavy old hay rake where the tynes and weight will easily scratch up the surface to allow water in etc.
Am only thinking of a small patch to start, maybe 30ft by 15 or something, so was thinking of using ripper to rip about 30cm down for the 30ft in say 5 rows, this will leave soil un turned, then could scratch top of pasture enough so it will allow more water into surface, but again without turning or killing off all pasture, could then plant seeds either along the ripped area, or next to it, or dig out small bowls along the rip or next to it, I am thinking of cauliflower, brocolli, carrot, maybe potato...
My thoughts are soil is sloped slightly, it will never get water logged, it has rock and sandy clay type soil, I could probably use compost or other and could manually keep pasture at a lower height if needed, in another paddock I only get about 4 or 5 inch height if left for 2 months, so it is not going to get taken over from the pasture varieties. I am not growing commercially, so the result does not need to be perfect, I cant see there being too much competition, and when harvested, it is still pasture that can be cleaned up by animals and or re used.
For thing s that mainly grow above surface this should work, for those under, maybe it will be too hard to harvest.
So, what do you say ?
