What do I need to make a new garden?

[NathanatFork]

Just got my first tractor and Im wanting to have my first garden this spring. Place I want to put it right now is just pasture with thick bahia grass. So, Im starting the area from scratch. Only implement I have right now is a 4' rhino shredder. Definitly going to get a box blade. But, what do I use to get the ground ready to plant the seeds? Ive seen discs and busting plows and tiller and all kinds of stuff. Dont have the $$ to buy it all. So, what implement do I need to get my bare ground ready for gardening? Thanks.

 

[CFHartman]

Hi Nathian
Welcome to Tractor Net. I'm not an expert on the subject. I would suggest that you spray a weed killer on first and kill all the grass. Then rent or have someone come in and till your garden for you first. Where I live our soil is very rockey. Taking care of a garden can be very frustrating at times and very rewarding at other times. Both ways there is always a lot of work involved. Before you spend a lot of money on equipment make sure that is what you want to do. Don't go into gardening to save money. It don't work that way.I love gardening.
Charlie

 

[Farmwithjunk]

If you're going to buy ONE tractor mounted implement, get a tiller. It's BEST to plow first to turn under the sod, but not essential. A tiller will work hard in un-broken ground, but that's a one shot deal. Go slow, take a shallow bite on the first go-round, then till deeper with each successive pass.

OR.

Plow, then work it with a walk-behind tiller.

 

[drw]

Tillers work wonderful for turning pasture into beautiful smooth gardens and I used one for many years with great success. The problem with them, though, is that they create hardpan, a virtually impenetrable floor of hard dirt below the fluffy soil. Roots have a difficult time getting deep into the ground, and drainage starts to become an issue. For that reason, I stopped using a tiller several years ago.

My favorite tool by far for preparing new beds is a chisel plow. I bought a used one for $200 and it works wonders. It digs deep and roughs up the soil. 3 or 4 passes with it, and the gardens is completely ready for planting, and there's no hardpan issues to deal with. Here's a picture of my plow with two of the shanks removed. Here's also a picture of a new garden that I just broke ground on a few days ago. That was about 3 passes with the chisel plow there.

 

[RalphVa]

You need to rent or get a good plow, cheap. Plows and tillers are things you use once or one time every 20 years.

On my first veggie garden in NJ, it was small enough to use a fork to turn it over by hand. This is what I still do on the small one up here behind the house. One year out of 20 was when I rented a rototiller to get rid of some tree roots that had crept into the plot.

For the big garden down below, I bought a used Gravely rotary plow for $250. Had to free up the tracking wheels on it, as they were frozen on their axles. After that, it worked great to do the garden (e.g. turn over the heavy fescue grass) ONCE. Used it also to make raised rows. After than, I just pulled back some mulch and planted my seeds every year.

When I got my JD 4010, I was in a quandary as to what to get. Was about ready to RENT (not buy) a roto tiller when a friend offered me the soil ripper from his old JD M. He worked in a machine shop and worked with me to convert it to the 3 ph. It worked great to tear up my old Gravely-plow raised rows. Then I had to come up with a design to make raised rows. Saw the Keulavator in Agri Supply that carries both chisel plows like the soil ripper has or a couple disc hillers for making raised rows. So, again my friend worked with me to design some attachment gizmos to hold the shanks of big 20" disc hllers. I placed these at 45 degree angles right behind the rear wheels on the 4010. Made GREAT raised rows: 20 where I only had 13 from the Gravely, since they're much more uniform. A potato plow is another option for making raised rows and could be a way of turning the garden over. A potato plow followed by a device like the soil ripper with chisel plows to level it then followed by the potato plow to make raised rows would work. Think with the Keulavator you can use a couple potato plows, some chisel plows or a couple disc hillers. It isn't too expensive, not near as much as a tiller.

I just spread mulch every fall over the rows and later around the plants. Just part the mulch where I want some seeds. Had the best crop of veggies ever last year.

Ralph

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Keep in mind that what works well in one area might not work at all in another. With the soil we have here in Kentucky, don't till the garden every year and you have a seedbed that vaguely resembles concrete. Raised rows and/or raised beds don't work with MOST crops, especially ones that grow into the latter part of summer. Ground moisture stays with us longer if terrain is left level. Being on high ground to start with, we don't have issues with excess moisture all that often. After trying "mulch gardening a few years with tomato crops, I've abandone that practice. It tends to promote disease (fungus primarily) in the hot, humid weather we have around here. There is no "absolute" methods to gardening. The rules change from year to year. And then too, everyone has their "style". You can make any number of gardening techniques work to your advantage. Find what works best for you and exploit the advantages. Practice...practice....practice.

 

[darkviper]

I would suggest the following approach as it has given me excellent yields in my garden. This has been derived from about 18 years worth of garden started since I was 12 years old and talking to lots of the local farmers. So here is what I would do in this order.

1)Go to the local ag supply and get them to spread some lime on the place. About 600-1000 pounds to the acre since it is a starter. If it is small then get a whirly bird to go behind the tractor and spread it yourself
2) Get a farmer with a good size tractor a subsoil it 15-24 deep. This will break up the hard pan. Also try and get it on spacing so that when you bed with the tractor you will set center of the bed over the rip. This will allow the roots easier access to deeper soil and moister when it is dry
3) Turn plow the ground. THIS IS CRITICAL. A tiller is good but it does not turn all the vegetation and seed under the ground like a plow. This will help with weed control
4) I would recommend disking the place for the first time. This will allow it to be good a level. A tiller in not so good for leveling and it is hard to do with a tiller after plowing. TRUST ME I HAVE TRIED. I would also run a drag behind the disk to make it nice and level
5) Bed the garden on 48 spacing. This will allow any small tractor and farmall to cultivate the garden

This next step is over looked 90% of the time. At the end of the season be sure to put a cover crop on the ground. Rye will be fine or wheat. I use a mixture of rye and red clover. The rye comes up fast and controls the soil erosion. It also grows faster than most of the weeds so they have to compete and most of the time dies off. The clover nitrogen fixates the soil to help with next year痴 crop and help cut back on your fertilizer. Cover crops also will allow you on the ground quicker to plow it in the spring as it stabilizes the soil and give you a better turn over with the plow.
This method has worked well for me. I can take 4 70 rows of corn and get 2-3 pickup truck loads of corn out of it. Out of 24 Better Boy Tomato plants I can get about 1-2 pickup loads depending on the season. Also bear in mind I have been made fun of and told that I mini farm and not grow a garden

 

[Mickey_Fx]

IMO the best info posted is FWJ #6 with his statement about what works in one area may not work somewhere else. When it comes to gardening and farming, no truer words have been spoken. Agree with Charlie about killing off the grass first or if you use a plow that can turn the soil deep that should take care of the current grass cover.

I've had a garden at the same place for >35yrs. There have been a couple yrs where I used a smaller plow but for the most part, I've used a varieties of tillers, I have 4 of very different sizes. The tiller I use on the Yanmar is capabile of getting down 8-10 inches and that is more than adequate for me.

If using a tiller creates hardpan, I'm not aware of it. No dranage problems other than during the winter, water table could be 1' down. I've not seen any indication there is a hardpan layer that is impacting any veggie crops I grow.

Somewhere else, it could be a totally different situation. Good luck with the garden.

 

[Eastinlet]

FWJ said it right, every soil and climate is different.

I strongly believe in soil analysis as a scientific basis for soil fertlity additives, i.e. lime and fertlizer. My soil is sandy loam, very acid and has high aluminum. Low levels of nutrlents (4 pounds of P/acre!) Any recommendation I use is probably inappropriate to your condition. For all I know you may have alkaline soil and adding lime would take you in exactly the wrong direction.

It costs me $12 every other year to get soil tested and gives me recomendations to achieve maximum yield. Fertility probably matters a lot more than what sort of tillage you use, as long as the soil is mellow enough to plant in. A shallow hardpan can necessitate going to means to fracture it, i.e chisel or subsoiler.

For the record, I have seen a soil pan develop in a friend's garden from 30 years of tilling with a Troybilt walk-behind. I found it trying to help him plant potatoes, it was very firm and took a round point shovel to dig into. A sandy loam with some silt in it. I think that the bottom of the tines just keep pounding it down at depth creating a layer that the roots can't get through well. Same plow pan that develops under a moldboard plow.

 

[sunspot]

Let me see if I have this right.

Use soil additives if needed
Plow
Disc Harrow
Drag Harrow
Cover crop
Crop rotation

Did I get that right?


Edit; I see that I've moved up from new member to member.