What implements should I get for gardening

[grossgary]

size of your garden will make a big difference. not sure what the break point is, but a walk behind tiller is fantastic for smaller gardens. get a rear tine tiller. easier to maneuver and can go between rows through the year for easy weeding. the only tough part...and it's not that bad, depending on soil..is tilling it for the first time. but it sounds like yours is probably already worked anyway.

the drawback is having another motor to maintain...and size if your garden is large.

 

[hsvhobbit]

For the kinda budget you're dealing with I'd probably look into whether I could rent a 3pt tiller for the couple of times a year it'd be most useful. If you can, do that rather than spring for a big purchase like that. In between times, a middle buster and a disk/harrow should take care of things.

I've got a 6' tiller that makes short work of fixing up my wifes garden but it only gets used a couple of times a year, not a good $$ investment in hindsight. I've actually considered offering to till up neighbors gardens just so the darn thing gets used a little more. At 6' a pass, it wouldn't take long to do the average size garden around here.

 

[charlz]

Be very careful! You get a 3pt tiller and a push planter and your garden will grow exponentially! It's just not just how big your garden is now but how big it will be after every open piece of land is turned into gardens... I just added my 4th this year

A good used 3pt tiller is well worth it, time spent tilling is measured in minutes not hours. Mine ran me about $400 plus $160 in new tines. I also use it to till my sons dirtbike track on occasion and turn compost piles.

If you do flood irrigation a middle buster is nice for laying out ditches. You can also lay out rows but I use a 'corrugator' which is like a 'toolbar' and can be set up for different things, laying out rows, cultivating corn, rough breaking ground, etc. etc.

 

[nh DRAGON]

I got rid of my walk-behind tiller, Just another engine to keep running. I also found that if you want to really grow anything in the short season up here you must use great fertilizer. After talking to the old farmers, I now go to the slaughter house and get pig guts. Who wants to walk behind a tiller with that? And the rows-- that is what black plastic is for.

 

[charlz]

Here are a few pics.

We flood irrigate here, I get water for 12 hours every 8 days. I have a good sized pond that I pump from but irrigate the fields, including the gardens, when its my turn for water.

I use 'drive on' raised beds to keep the veggies out of the water when flooded, the rest of the time they get watered by drip.

Back in March, tilling the raised beds and a shot of the composted horse manure I get from a local stable.








What it looks like today, I planted grass between the beds to keep the weeds down and eventually provide mulch for plants.




Here are some shots of laying in a head ditch with the middle buster and then the 'corrugator' and using it the to lay out rows. I have decided that I don't like the narrow rows as the flood water breaks them down pretty fast so now I omit the middle plow and lay out rows the same width as my tires.





Little bit of rake work to provide a good planting surface between the last two pics.

And where I like to spend my time when I am not running the tractor or weeding or working or whatever

 

[miker2702]

i have a powerking with a plow and disc also a couple of
rear tine tillers and a mantis. i bought a kubota a few
months ago and just bought a tiller a few days ago.
one pass out in the yard and i can say the 3 point tiller
is the way to go.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Oh boy, you have come to the right place here.

I've had a B2400 for about 8 years and collected all sorts of attachments over that time. All that everyone has said about tillers is true, they are magic but truely, they are expensive and after you have the initial heavy work done, you use them less and less. I use mine at the end of the growing season and again in the spring but to be honest, if I wasn't so lazy, I could do it almost as easily with my walk behind because now the soil is so friable with all the compost and stuff that has been added over the years.

Thinking about what implement I use the most, apart from the mowers, it would have to be the 55 gallon sprayer. I use it for spraying insecticide on my 4 acre yard and on the veggie garden, herbicide on the pasture, yard etc, etc.

All our needs vary as to what we want to achieve. What you have to do is analyse what you spend most most of your time doing and find an implement that will reduce that time significantly. Sometimes it can be a combination of implements (that's always good) but the whole idea of having a tractor is to to increase you're productivity or the scope of the work that you can do. Happy shopping ... you're going to have fun!!!!

 

[nbennett]

Sounds like your potatoes would be the most work. I use a homemade middle buster plow to lay off the rows. I built a small frame that replaces the plow point and covers the potatoes. Finally, I use the middle buster to plow out the potatoes in the fall. I'm trying to figure out some easy mechanical way to drop the seed potatoes into the rows.

 

[botagreen]

Lots of good information here and the photos have been great to see the results of what all these toys actually do. I really appreciate it.

.....You can also lay out rows but I use a 'corrugator' which is like a 'toolbar' and can be set up for different things, laying out rows, cultivating corn, rough breaking ground, etc. etc.

In the meantime, I am keeping my eye out for a used 3ph tiller but one thing that CHARLZ mentioned has sparked my curiosity. I've attached a photo of a toolbar I have seen, is this something like you are speaking of ? Anyone have any experience with this ? If you have a photo of one you own that you really like, a photo would really help. I'd rather buy something that's already proven it's worth by someone else rather than trial & error by me. My Thanks.

 

[botagreen]

....forgot to mention this...I will probably not have any larger than about 1/4 acre garden but as you know, these things tend to get bigger over time, especially when it gets really fun after a fruitful year.