Doug Kanter wrote:
Many years ago, when I was digging my first vegetable garden, I rented
a
rototiller to remove the lawn and ended up regretting it. The machine
inverted clumps of grass which still had to be overturned by hand in
order
shake off the useful soil. If (in a fantasy world), it had NEATLY
overturned
them exactly 180 degrees so the grass simply died, that would've been
great,
but it was a fairly random mess. I ended up finishing the thing by
hand,
which wasn't TOO awful, since I'd just bought a really nice spade &
fork.

At my new house, I'm about to create another vegetable garden. Again,
I have
excellent tools, but I'm wondering about renting a tiller, since I'm
dealing
with a 20x40 foot area. However, I'd like to avoid the same mess. Was
the
previous fiasco due to the type of tiller, the way I used it, the
position
of the moon, or what? Combination of all factors?


It's hard to say, but it may have been too wet, and/or you went too fast
for how deep you were going.

The first time you till someplace, you may not be able to have ideal
conditions for tilling. If there's a lot of clay, it may be too hard
unless it's too wet. If it's so dry that the blades are bouncing, you're
not doing the machine much good. On the other hand, if it's so wet that
it clumps on the blades, you're not doing the machine any better. If you
had a generally loamy soil to begin with, tilling when it's too wet
would also destroy the soil structure. Of course if you're dealing with
clay that hasn't been touched for two decades, destroying what little
structure is left is the least of your problems.

Going slower will give you a finer till unless you're in mud. If you're
using a front tine tiller, make sure you have that rudder down. Slow
down by pressing down to dig the rudder in further. Lift up slowly to
move ahead. Don't let the tines work like wheels. They need to dig in.

If you're converting a grassy area to a garden, I'd recommend first
scalping the grass. Then till it once about 4-6" down to loosen most of
the roots. Rake them out before going further. Then till a second time
to go down as deep as you can with the machine you're using. (You did
get the area hot-lined to make sure there are no underground utilities,
I'm assuming.)

If you're doing it this fall, after you've finished tilling, just rake
it out rough. Then use that area as your shredded leaves depository for
the winter. Put a couple of 99-cent bags of composted manure on top to
hold them down. I actually cover my vegetable garden with a tarp after
soaking it down. Turns it into a huge compost bin, and keeps down the
weeds.

When spring comes, rake off the top of the leaves if they haven't
started to decompose, and till in the remaining leaves. I usually do
this during that "unseasonably warm" week that usually comes in late
winter or early spring. After tilling, I'll take a soil sample to see if
there are any problems that are best fixed before I move the starts into
the garden (in May out here).

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
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