Best implement for 1/2 acre plot

[BobInSD]

I see you're in Canada, so you can't have a longer growing season that I do? In a normal year by the time the ground dries out from the snow it's already late to plant. Do you do the whole garden every year? I was thinking of skipping extra work (time) for stuff that goes in early? Beans and potatoes, but the potatoes probably need the compost the most. I'm trying to rotate so I can leave 1/5th of the garden fallow each year, so that might be doable.

Where does a guy get, and how does one grow "winter wheat"? I had assumed I was too far north to go with your plan.

Thanks,!

 

[Goz63]

Here is a link to Land Pride attachments and what may work for your model. It should give you a guidance to help decide on the correct size.

Performance Matched Land Pride Implements for Standard L Series (kubotausa.com)

I know that is the LP recommendation but I have a box blade and rotary cutter it says are too big or heavy. My L2501 has no issue with them. It is a good place to start but my dealer steered my right. Very happy with my BB2560 and RCR1860.

 

[BigG]

When do you do each? Do you till that stuff in in the fall, before the winter wheat, or toss it on top in the spring before you till in the winter wheat? Or both?

If you have room start a compost pile. And use the bucket or pallet forks to turn the pile. As it turn back to soil you can add it back to the garden. Your compost can be your "cover crop" to protect your garden over the winter.

Growing up in the clay country of Ohio we added as much organic material to the garden as we could. In the fall dump truck loads of leaves from the city were add 2 to 3 feet thick in the fall . If the weather held up we would plow it under in the fall. Truck loads of saw dust was used to mulch the melon patch which also got turned under in the fall.

We did not add hay to the garden until it had composted for a long time to kill off the weed seeds. Corn stalks, cow, horse or chicken manure was also added when we could find it.

I am so old we would lay down layers of newspaper as a mulch and plow that into the garden. Anything organic helps.

Go to the library and get some gardening books for your area and check them for ideas of what you can use. Look for the older copies that include ideas of what plants can grow next to each other and what to plant on opposite ends of the garden.

And pay attention to what Greensvillejay says. If he is only 1/2 as good at gardening as he says he is you will come out way ahead.

 

[UpNorthMI]

I'd consider starting out with a scarifier bar for the first couple of plantings, it will allow you to clear the ground and find all of those rocks. It will break up the ground well, if you go over it several times it will break things down well. They are not expensive when you compare to a tiller or disc unit and you cannot really damage it.

A scarifier is the first thing I use when I try to plant a fresh cleared woodland food plot. I would not use my tiller until I had worked the ground several times to make sure all roots, rocks and stumps were clear. Tillers are expensive and can be damaged!

You would need a large heavy disc unit to really break up the ground, your area does not justify the cost of a large heavy disc unit and your L2501 will not pull such a unit, I would suggest that is not a solution.

Scarifier bars vary in width and the number of shanks. Everything attachments has a 60" wide unit that I think will work well with your L2501. I suggest non deep passes to slowly work the ground.

Buy a cheap chain drag harrow from TSC or similar to finish up after you break the ground up, it will level and tidy things up for you to plant.

Good luck with the task.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

winter rye(sorry not wheat..) can be planted about 3-4 weeks before the frost sets in,I've planted as laste as 1st Nov and it grows.I buy a bushel bag of it, split into 5 buckets, hand sow over the garden,then run empty lawnroller over it .probably overseeding x4 to x8, but it's great soil conditioner, green manure and well, looks real pretty next Spring ! My season is from late april until mid october( southern Ontario). I figure on April to be the 'prep' month(plow,till,compost) May is for peas and lettuces', June 1stish , the tenders go in ..tomatos,beans, peppers, , really everything else.Farmers rule, wait 3 days after the bridals Weath spirea blooms THEN plant 'tenders'. That has never ,ever failed me. If you have a short growing season, buy veggies with short maturity days ! Plant 45 day varieties NOT 75 day versions. Kinda helps to read the labels for some things.... I don't plant spuds or corn. Too many spud bugs and coons.Every 3 years I get 'last row' pickings from neighbour,usually 200-250# worth.It helps to do favours for neighbours !
if you add lots of compost, crop rotation isn't really necessary. Also add new drywall scraps to the field, peppers LOVE it,paper decomposes..so not a problem. If you have access to free or cheap bales of straw, use 6 to make a compost 'bin', stack another 6 on top as you fill it.next year, add another 'bin', toss 2nd years compostables into it.After 3rd year, 1st bin can be tossed into garden. Works well if you don't have room to toss and turn the pile every month or so.If you like garlic, plant in fall, it survives winter fine, grows better than spring planted garlic. make a planting hoe(stick with 4 'dowel fingers' 6" apart to speed up the planting,plant LOTS, easy to grow,and...it's a great seller up here, $10/# !

 

[BobInSD]

Thanks guys. I do a lot of that already ( not the drywall or the winter rye-thought I was too far north for that). This is my first year for a 3-pt tiller, so I was going to import some cow manure and churn it all up this year. I normally just spread compost (kitchen & garden scraps, grass and leaves) in the fall and till what is needed with a walk-behind. Figure I can do more in less time with the 3-pt and maybe do it more than once a year.

Thanks again,

 

[random]

I found the harrow took a LOT of passes to get stuff broken up much and even then the clumps were rather large. It did better where I was able to plow first. But I'm much happier with the tiller I got this year, and I regret not getting it right off.

See "What did you do" thread for a pic of what 2 passes did.

Tillovator-Rotary Tiller | Agri Supply 77710

This rotary Tillovator is 60 in. wide and works best with 25 to 40 HP tractors. It has 42 carbon steel tines and a standard slip clutch.

www.agrisupply.com