Reclaiming a long-lost field

[keegs]

looks like a dog leg Dave...on which end will you be locating the green?

 

[dave1949]

Some before and after dragging pics:


This area has nicer dirt, and deep enough that the dozer could leave it fluffed up. It levels pretty easily. To the left side is after one pass.


This not as nice dirt after one pass. The hump sticking up across the center of the pic is solid ledge with a little dirt sprinkled on it. :laughing:


This is reasonable dirt after one pass. You can see how the I-beam tends to bring stuff to the surface and build up clumps until the beam rolls over it. Pre-gathered.


The plan is to get over everywhere with at least one pass, then pick up the rocks, bigger chunks of wood, and rat's nests of small roots before making another pass with the I-beam. The dirt is dry and loose now, so it's a good opportunity to get it smoothed at much as possible.

 

[dave1949]

looks like a dog leg Dave...on which end will you be locating the green?

It has more nooks and crannies than an English muffin.

 

[Larro Darro]

That is a serious beam Dave. It is doing a good job. {the links 2 posts up wouldn't work for me}

Larro

 

[wmonroe]

Looks good. You're making some nice progress.

 

[dave1949]

That is a serious beam Dave. It is doing a good job. {the links 2 posts up wouldn't work for me}

Larro

I fixed it. I didn't close the attachment manager between posts.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Morning Dave,
That I beam is doing a nice job !

Im thinking good thing that you have the weight of that back hoe for traction !

Now it comes down to how much bouncing around your body can take on that tractor out in the field in the hot sun ! I happen to know a little about that !

 

[dave1949]

Good Morning Dave,
That I beam is doing a nice job !

Im thinking good thing that you have the weight of that back hoe for traction !

Now it comes down to how much bouncing around your body can take on that tractor out in the field in the hot sun ! I happen to know a little about that !

Yep, the backhoe weight makes it a totally different tractor when I have it on. The rears are loaded, but for bucket work or traction the hoe still makes a big difference. IIRC the hoe weighs around 1700 lbs.

I mowed the yard this morning, greased and fueled the tractor, and after having some lunch I am going to go bounce and eat dust. There is a nice breeze today at least. Yesterday if I was going with the wind direction, the dust cloud was moving along with me.

 

[rd_macgregor]

You took on a pretty big job, but the result is looking good. Even if you don't get it to the point of planting your final intended cover (pasture/hay?), you'd do well to seed some sort of cover (maybe annual rye?) to stabilize things over the winter and keep spring erosion to a minimum.
Bob

 

[dave1949]

You took on a pretty big job, but the result is looking good. Even if you don't get it to the point of planting your final intended cover (pasture/hay?), you'd do well to seed some sort of cover (maybe annual rye?) to stabilize things over the winter and keep spring erosion to a minimum.
Bob

Thanks. That's a good point and erosion does concern me. I had good luck here with winter (cereal) rye the one time I used it in a small patch. It can be planted as late as early frost they say. That gives me about three weeks. That would be an ambitious schedule.

I could clean-up and seed the steeper areas ahead of the rest of it. The soil here is not very prone to erosion but I would expect some. There will be quite a bit of small roots laying around which will help.

The drawback is if it grows enough to be useful, it hides the rocks if don't get them all picked this year. Surely some rocks will appear next spring from the dirt settling, getting rinsed off with rain, and frost heave.