A Different Approach to Tilling the Garden

[ContainerTed]

Originally Posted by O.P. Mater

Hey Ted, would love to see a picture of how you modified your mower to throw the clippings down.

All I did was take an old bread pan and cover the opening where the grass normally comes out. It doesn't really throw the clippings down, it just keeps them from being ejected to the right and spread all over the adjacent planted portions. If some weed thing is making seeds, I don't want those seeds deposited around the plants.

[O.P. Mater]

Thanks.......I appreciate the picture. Will try to do something similar to keep the weed seeds out of the tomatoes. Your garden looks beautiful! Am drilling holes in our old canning lids to hang up this afternoon. We're trying to keep feral hogs out and anything that makes a different noise can be a deterrent.

[O.P. Mater]

Will know in the morning if I have waited too late to use the lawn mower between the two tomato rows that were too close to use the tractor and have filled up with millet. May have to use the weed eater on the first pass.

Sending pic that shows how we planted and a couple that were taken a few days ago. Used woven ground cover to provide a mulch and keep the dirt from splattering. We burnt a hole with a small propane torch every 4 feet and planted the tomatoes in the hole. Cut the cages so that they had sharp points and poked them down over the tomatoes through the ground cover. Surrounded the plants with lightweight row cover with a piece that was about a foot tall to protect them from the wind. So far it is working for us. Nothing has blown over and it has kept some of the bazillion weeds from sprouting.

We have some long rows of butternuts and pumpkins that we have worked by hand and can clean between the rows with the tractor. As soon as they get a little bigger, we plan to use buckwheat between them to shade out the weeds and we believe that a good ground cover will maintain the moisture. Will see.

Having some problems uploading pics...will try again in a few minutes.

[O.P. Mater]

promised pics......:-)

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

One of the preparation items was to buy a used 20 inch mower to mow the paths. My 42 inch riding mower was just too wide. In a very enjoyable two minutes of "haggling" over the price, a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton, 20 inch mower that starts on the first pull came home from the local flea market for the outlandish price of $28.00. I used an old cookie sheet to mold and rivit a cover over the grass exhaust to make it a permanent mulching mower.

Clara, I also got a big water tank (330 gal) that catches rain water from our gutter system and all the plants get extra water. When that runs out, the city water costs about $10 per 1000 gallons. One thing I've noticed is that the tilled area is staying moist, even with the mini-drought we've been having. I made a slight depression in the soil around each plant. That lets me concentrate the water at the base of the plants.

Anyhow, here's that tank. I adapted the output to take a standard garden hose and simply let gravity do the work.

Is it just me or does this look like the largest coffee pot around?

[Red Dirt Farmer]

Ted,
I agree with Ruth 10. I use hay to mulch the maters and spread it on the path between rows as well. This accomplishes the same thing plus it doesn’t rob the plants of nutrients.
If you are concerned about weeds from the hay, it’s mostly rye grass (never use Bermuda hay) that doesn’t get out of hand if the mulch is kept at 6 to 8 inches. Anyway I till the hay, grass, etc. into the soil after the first frost kills the maters. It breaks-down nicely over the winter. If anything comes up in the spring, it’s green manure that gets tilled again. My weeding is the occasional stray that come through the hay where it’s thin. I pull the weed and add more hay. I’ve use this technique for years and it has always worked for me.
I will say the grass paths do look nice though.
Ken