8 shearpins later....

63DH8 · Apr 2, 2006

My neighbor came over and told me where I was tilling was a bad place to put a garden because that's where she and her husband put rocks over the drainfield!

I would have gotten a clutch type PTO, but my ag dealer told me it wasn't available for the tiller (Landpride RTR05) I was buying.

The question is, how do I get the buried rocks and chunks of cement out so I can put a garden in? Plow and landscape rake? scarifier? Say heck with it and put the garden elsewhere? I like where I started because I can keep the crows cleared from inside my garage.

DUMBDOG · Apr 2, 2006

( My neighbor came over and told me where I was tilling was a bad place to put a garden because that's where she and her husband put rocks over the drainfield! )

Is the drainfield still there? If it is do you want the garden over the drainfield, old or present? If it was there drainfield, whose land is it on?

Lot of questions, but I would not want a garden there. Or where there is a lot of rock, when there would be a better place nearby.

63DH8 · Apr 2, 2006

If the drainfield is still there, it's not operational. The house is on a sewer system now. I know it hasn't been used for at the very least, 16 years because that's when we bought the property. The drainfield was connected to my house, but I'm pretty sure it's been out of commision for at least 20 years.

The neighbor used to live in my house many years ago. They were the owners two owners before I bought this place, so it had to be at least 20 years since they lived here.

DUMBDOG · Apr 3, 2006

That does answer a lot of questions.

If life is to short to drink bad coffee, then it is to short to eat vegetables grown over a old drainfield. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Spiffy · Apr 3, 2006

Wouldn't that be called fertilizer? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

63DH8 · Apr 3, 2006

( If life is to short to drink bad coffee, then it is to short to eat vegetables grown over a old drainfield. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif )

But it's not coffee beans I'm growing over the old drainfield. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I think there won't be a contamination issue because of the length of time that's passed since the drainfield was last used. I lived in a couple of third world countries (thanks to the Army) where they pumped raw sewage over their crops and learned my stomach didn't like uncooked veggies from those regions. After 15-20 years, I think the hepititus bug should be dead in the soil.

The rest of my property is either my yard or fruit trees. I try to keep as much of the property as flat as possible because my oldest daughter uses an eletric wheelchair.

63DH8 · Apr 3, 2006

( Wouldn't that be called fertilizer? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

That's what I thought. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Spiffy · Apr 3, 2006

How big of a garden are you planning? If it's not too large of an area, you could maybe dig up the entire area about a foot deep with a backhoe or perhaps even FEL.

You might get some of the rocks to surface with a chisel plow; if they're all about the same depth and not to large you might get them to turn over with a moldboard plow.

If you're talking about a really big area, then I'm thinking you might be better off hiring somebody with some heavy equipment.

LarryD · Apr 3, 2006

I lived in a couple of third world countries 

When I was in Japan, we were advise to use a very diluted bleach water for all vegatables before eating them. They use a lot of waste from sewage plants for fertilizer, that definately isn't a third world country.

I won't even try to describe some of the farming practices I saw in Africa...like water from the Nile. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I think you should have no reservations about your garden location other than the rocks. For my area, I tip the box blade as far forward as possible with the rippers down and drag all the big rocks to the surface before tilling. Still pick up a few softball size rocks.

63DH8 · Apr 3, 2006

The garden I'm planning is only 20x30 feet. My daughters have bugged me for years for a garden, so I'm bound and determined to put one in for them.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried one of these to bring rock up prior to tilling a garden.
http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/256015_lg.jpg

Most of the rocks that's sheared the pins are around a foot long or larger. I'm not too worried about the baseball sized rocks. My girls can pick those out. It's the bigger ones that shear the shearpins that I'm concerned with.

63DH8 · Apr 3, 2006

Hey Larry, I was told the same thing when I was in Germany. That too was hardly a third world country. In Saudi Arabia, they simply pumped raw sewage in a field and watered the surrounding veggies with the water from a well that's drilled in the center of that field. The solids are filtered by the earth, but the microbes tend to make it all the way into the veggies. The VA said I have hepititus, but they didn't say if it was from the gammagobin shots or from the food. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if they can tell the difference.

Your idea for a the boxblade gives me an excuse to buy one.

pennwalk · Apr 3, 2006

It might be easier to buy a couple of truckloads of topsoil and do raised bed gardening there. Since your garden isn't too big you might find you like it better and it would be way easier than digging rocks.

Chris

Jstpssng · Apr 3, 2006

( It might be easier to buy a couple of truckloads of topsoil and do raised bed gardening there. )

That was my thought, also. On the other subject though, years ago I worked for a landscaper who put in a lot of lawns and raised bed veggie gardens. Her main source of "soil" was composted waste treatment sludge. Granted it wasn't as bad as what some of you have described; yet there are still toxics in that source which don't belong in the food chain.
JMHO.

SPIKER · Apr 4, 2006

that is where most sicy treatment plants get rid of their watse sludge make it into field fertalizer. the crops are greener in those dumping areas, but dont drink the water /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I would look for a 2 or 3 bottom chisel plow spaced close to gether if you can pull it, or just 2 borttom one with heavy angled lifts to puick up the rcoks when hit making lots of passes...

markM

JimR · Apr 4, 2006

Do any of your neighbrs or farmers have a rock rake? It digs down into the ground when you pull it and sifts out the rocks. They get pushed up into a dump bucket and you can tow them away and dump them into a big pile. You will need a good size tractor to pull it. Google rock rake to see what I'm talking about.

bigtater · Apr 4, 2006

A subsolier should help bring them up. works wonders in my fields /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

63DH8 · Apr 4, 2006

( A subsolier should help bring them up. works wonders in my fields /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif )

Last time I used my subsoiler, I pulled up my telephone cable.

63DH8 · Apr 4, 2006

( Do any of your neighbrs or farmers have a rock rake? It digs down into the ground when you pull it and sifts out the rocks. They get pushed up into a dump bucket and you can tow them away and dump them into a big pile. You will need a good size tractor to pull it. Google rock rake to see what I'm talking about. )

We're getting encrouched by citified folks around here. There's only myself and one other guy who has tractors around here, and he's just getting into tractors. His tractor is about as small as mine.