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Playing in the dirt...


thedaddycat

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I had two trucks of compost delivered, split roughly 10 yards for my upper garden and 2 yards for the lower one. The driver did his best to split the second load evenly and I was happy with it. I used my "Armstrong Power Shovel" to fill the raised beds. The rest was pushed around by the 7112.

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Here is about 2 yards on my front yard on top of the 18 yards from before. There will be garden towards the street and clover for my bees closer to the house. Then corn later on but spaced apart so that the pumpkins and squash have room to run. I've changed gardening methods and wood chip now so I don't really do much of any tilling any more. 
 

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This is the initial rough grading on the upper garden. I'll have to figure out how to search the archives for pics of when I first started on this garden. Most of the compost went to filling up the far end and easing the break over angle of the ramp. I plan on more clover here and room for other runners like cukes or melons.

 

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This is my front yard field. For a bit of info  on this style of gardening check out Food Forest on YouTube. I used both tractors to flatten and smooth it out. You can see the wood chips on last year's garden closer to the street. The area outlined by the pink stakes is a 20X40 foot rectangle, clover and corn field and the rest towards the street will be wood chipped garden. The flowers by the lamp post are Snow Drops, Grape Hyacinths and a lone Tulip. Behind the 7112 and Putt Putt you can make out the T posts that hold the wire strands to keep the raspberries somewhat in place.

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Here's a better look at the raspberry patch. There are four different kinds here and another (two crop) kind across the yard.

 

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Edited by thedaddycat
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For years at silage cutting time, my brother would push the old silage & hay into a pile to make room for the new pile. He hasn't had cattle for 12 years now, so that is how long the pile has been composting. It also is growing an interesting "crop" on it that the cattle LOVE!

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We sold the home place. He had bought a sandy acreage near us and needed to improve the garden. So he loaded up that pile into his Ford 900 triple axle grain truck and hauled it home! Two 20 ton loads to his place, and a 12 ton load to mine.

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Just did a raised bed (32" tall) and was sure glad I had bought the loader tractor to carry the compost over to it!

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After pushing the dirt out with the dozer blade it was time to play. Unfortunately, the Putt Putt didn't want to start. The new carb will be here Friday...

Anyhow, my wife said "Why don't you just drag those things around with the other tractor. So forget the rear lift for now, I used the other sleeve hitch  and no lift.

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This is the first pass with the spike harrow. Only the first row of teeth engaged the ground, obviously not acceptable. I have already swapped in the spring tine harrow here.

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Now that's more like it! The tines dug in a couple inches and fluffed up all the fresh layer of soil. Now it's a little rough to just seed, so....

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I adjusted the spike harrow (see another post about that) so all three rows are engaged. It did a nice job of smoothing out the roughness left by the other harrow. Here I've swapped in the row cultivator just to see how it does.

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You can see where the sweeps would pass to either side of the row of seedlings early on in the season. The mid-position tines loosen the soil and you could still run another set of tines at about guide wheel width.

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Here is the finished project. This area has been seeded with Dutch white clover for my bees to enjoy. Later on I'll plant sweet corn there but spaced out so the squash and pumpkins can run.

Edited by thedaddycat
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Hi Chris:

You are a real entrepreneur what a farm you have . I didn't know you were a bee keeper which is great for honey and pollinating plants. I wish I had just a small portion of the energy you have. My head wants to do jobs but my body doesn't respond anymore. I get just as excited about the effort you put into gardening as I do about your tractors.

Keep up the good work and please stay safe!

Paul

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since I've been playing with the tractors, the sleeve hitch, and the other implements I decided to play a little bit more.

The first pic is after having gone through with the moldboard plow. You can see it sitting at the back of the tractor although it's no longer hooked up in this pic.

The second pic is dragging the springtine Harrow over the same area. That's what I was doing when the front wheel fell apart...

Now I just need to get one of the tractors running so that I can finish the job and then go to the spike Harrow for final smoothing.

Paul, thanks for the compliment but this is really just a garden not a farm. I only have about half an acre. However over the last couple of years I've gotten into a home canning, dehydrating oh, and trying to grow as much food for myself as I can. My wife has been a huge influence in that area.

If you want the satellite view it's 48 Juniper Lane Griswold Connecticut 06351

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Edited by thedaddycat
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