Tiller Seeking advice best time to till

[bilrus61]

If the manure is 30 years old it won't have any living seeds in it. 30 year old manure that hasn't be rained on is like gold to a garden.

Mow the area and the surrounding area low. Make sure your tiller has a adjusted working slip clutch if its so equipped. Till shallow over the mown area, maybe two inches deep. Let sit a day or two. Pick up rocks. Till again. Soil test as FWJ said to do. Add anything that is needed. Pick up the rocks you can find. Wait till there is moisture in the soil ( you can water it) and till in as much of that 30 year old manure as you can haul to it. Pick up rocks. Plant a cover crop this fall such as annual rye. Add more manure next spring and till it all in deep. Pick up rocks. You now have a garden.

 

[geobar]

Hey, Farmwithjunk. You sound like my kind of guy. I graduated 1970 from Rutgers College of Agriculture and Environmental Science which has changed names twice since then. But I never used any of that education, choosing instead to service typewriters and copiers for IBM for eight years, then starting my own business in that field. Now I am regressing to playing in the dirt with mostly "junk" toys (since I still like fixing things) although I did treat myself to one new compact tractor to which I am accumulating implements (with some resistance from the old nag).
And, yes I have some wind that I forgot to mention so I am glad that you brought it up. I will be careful and maybe wait till rain is more prevalent and less sun to dry the ground as quickly as July/August.
I was only going to start with a 100 x 100 plot and wanted to try a mix of some corn, expand the rhubarb, tomatos, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, squash, cukes, and chard so perhaps I will not be able to achieve perfect conditions for everything. But then modify for the next year based on what is most successful and eliminate what was not worth the effort. I have a significant amount of leftover landscape fabric that I was going to cut to lay between rows and irrigate with broadcasting sprinklers up on 4' poles.
I guess that I am getting carries away. Thanks

 

[geobar]

Hey bilrus61. Sounds like a plan. But in five lines there was a certain redundancy that makes my fun seem like too much work. 4 times "pick up rocks." Talk about broken record (CD for you youngsters).
The barn has not been used in at least 30 years and I can't see the floor anywhere but the manure is 3 feet deep in spots. I can not imagine what conditions the livestock was living in. I do not think that I should be too concerned with seed in it. There is a good deal of hay on the second floor which is probably equally old. Any use for that?

 

[ShenandoahJoe]

There is a good deal of hay on the second floor which is probably equally old. Any use for that?

Sounds like you have your fertilizer and your mulch for next season all taken care of.

 

[Don87]

Sounds like you have your fertilizer and your mulch for next season all taken care of.

ditto:thumbsup:

 

[Don87]

Hey, Farmwithjunk. You sound like my kind of guy. I graduated 1970 from Rutgers College of Agriculture and Environmental Science which has changed names twice since then. But I never used any of that education, choosing instead to service typewriters and copiers for IBM for eight years, then starting my own business in that field. Now I am regressing to playing in the dirt with mostly "junk" toys (since I still like fixing things) although I did treat myself to one new compact tractor to which I am accumulating implements (with some resistance from the old nag).
And, yes I have some wind that I forgot to mention so I am glad that you brought it up. I will be careful and maybe wait till rain is more prevalent and less sun to dry the ground as quickly as July/August.
I was only going to start with a 100 x 100 plot and wanted to try a mix of some corn, expand the rhubarb, tomatos, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, squash, cukes, and chard so perhaps I will not be able to achieve perfect conditions for everything. But then modify for the next year based on what is most successful and eliminate what was not worth the effort. I have a significant amount of leftover landscape fabric that I was going to cut to lay between rows and irrigate with broadcasting sprinklers up on 4' poles.
I guess that I am getting carries away. Thanks

Rhubarb, should be planted away from the garden area.(rhubarb is a perennial)....

Your garden area should be planned so that you can rotate the crops on a yearly basis. Otherwise diseases will run rampant through sections of your garden.

I didn't say anything earlier(I should have), but I wouldn't work the ground til fall. Just keep it mowed, and keep the clippings on the garden area if possible(think fertilizer). And always mow "before" it goes to seed.

Look up 'companion planting', it works..............but if you find a site that recommends planting beans and onions near each other........click that site off immediately.

Remember the 3 sisters..........corn, beans, squash.

But I digress..............work your soil towards fall............several times to remove rocks(once or twice if you have very few), be sure to test the soil.

Some amendments work best in the fall, some best in the spring..........depends on the type, brand, and such.

But just to add............for the most part(without a soil sample), I generally use no fertilizer of any kind the first year.

 

[rmully]

I till in the spring and in the fall. At both times I burn whatever is in top to kill seeds. I use a propane tank with a large brush burner. After burning in the fall I spread lots of leaves and apply lime and till. I plant a heavy cover crop, red clover and rye. In early spring I till in the cover crop and wait 4-5 weeks for weeds to appear and torch those when they are young.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Hey, Farmwithjunk. You sound like my kind of guy. I graduated 1970 from Rutgers College of Agriculture and Environmental Science which has changed names twice since then. But I never used any of that education, choosing instead to service typewriters and copiers for IBM for eight years, then starting my own business in that field. Now I am regressing to playing in the dirt with mostly "junk" toys (since I still like fixing things) although I did treat myself to one new compact tractor to which I am accumulating implements (with some resistance from the old nag).
And, yes I have some wind that I forgot to mention so I am glad that you brought it up. I will be careful and maybe wait till rain is more prevalent and less sun to dry the ground as quickly as July/August.
I was only going to start with a 100 x 100 plot and wanted to try a mix of some corn, expand the rhubarb, tomatos, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, squash, cukes, and chard so perhaps I will not be able to achieve perfect conditions for everything. But then modify for the next year based on what is most successful and eliminate what was not worth the effort. I have a significant amount of leftover landscape fabric that I was going to cut to lay between rows and irrigate with broadcasting sprinklers up on 4' poles.
I guess that I am getting carries away. Thanks

Univ of Ky School of Agriculture for me. My employer of 40+ years (until I recently retired) gave us their blessings (and credit card!) to go after any and all education we so desired. After engineering school, I started working on the soil science degree. Still at it, about a year from earning a masters. Just in time to hang my shingle on the nursing home wall.....

My old employer is a general contractor. By coincidence, one that had partial roll after partial roll of Geo-Tex fabric that needed a new home. I'm a strong advocate of it's use. Works just as well in the garden as it does under roadways.

Our place is on a hill top too. It's like being on a lake. The wind is ALWAYS blowing. That dries things quick. We do a big garden. It's a situation that pretty much demands irrigation of one form or another. I've got an old RAIN BIRD irrigation system left over from the days when this was tobacco country around these parts. It'll make the water meter spin!

 

[clemsonfor]

Thanks for all of the advice. I am trying to stay away from adding any chemicals, including Roundup, to the soil, Otherwise, I can buy a lot of food for what I paid for the tiller, fuel, seat time, etc. I know that the manure is good because when I dug it in around some rhubarb, the plants took off like crazy. I will go with my initial plan and if I start raising too much dust or hit too much rock/hard soil will wait for some rain or try some of these tips. Thanks.

I always laugh when folks say this. First off they say roundup is so harmless you could drink it no ill effects (heard of reps doing it in the day?? i would not). My dog on several occasions has licked the stuff dried before i stopped her, no problem. Once in the soil it breaks down into a harmless state. Heres my point, you eat corn right and stuff made from soy i imagine as well as other commercial stuff right? How do you think they kill the weeds to do "no till" farming. What about roundup ready corn and soybeans, they actually spray roundup or gylphosate over the crop. The corn and soybean is genetically imune to the herbicide so it doesent die. This suff is safe when used as labeled. I think every major ag operation uses roundup in its farming somewhere. Thats why it has a label that says wait x days after application till eating or planting etc, not just to not kill your new growth in what rubs off but to ensure your safty. Many more chemicals are much more harmful like Atrizine which is a herbicide widely used in the ag industry especially over corn to kill grass. It is still used and is labeled for use but has been proven to cemically castrate lab rats!! No such thing for roundup.

I am a licensed applicator. There is no harm in spraying grass in the fall and then planting that next spring in it, theres no harm spraying 10 days before you plant even, after all all that corn you have in anything with corn filler has probably been sprayed over with roundup. Of course it was proably a few months prior to the ear actually appearing on the stalk, but you will be spplying before your plants are actually in the ground. Again remember it is not able to be uptaken by the plant it binds into harmless crystals in the soil. It is foliar systemic and not soil active!!

Nate

 

[clemsonfor]

Just read Farm with junk.

I did not bring up the weed resistance thing as i did not think it pertained in this situation but he is correct. Consistant use of it will produce resistant weeds as everything is killed but it which then prolifferates without competition then its the only thing left and you cant kill it as it has the gene that makes it imune for some reason, this is where the genetics for the roundup ready seed varietys came from.

Yes use it wisely, this would mean a timely application before it goes to seed. And not spraying it every month for a year.