On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 16:33:21 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:



Went down there to start digging properly today and the soil is like rock
below a few inches, I can just get the fork into it, the rotovator won't
touch it due to the large stones we keep finding. Whoever had the plot
before obviously didn't dig a spit deep, ever; and why did they not remove
the large flint stones to make it easier the next time they dug, strange.


I had a similar problem, compounded by a several buried broken
concrete paving slabs and hefty tree roots, when I recently converted
grass into a vegetable plot. My rotovator (old 4HP Mountfield) was
struggling a bit so I ran it without the outer tine set, concentrating
the full power into a narrower area. Very strenuous as it kept trying
to fall over and leaping in the air, but it lifted out most of the big
stones and identified the location of those it didn't. Biggest
problem was when one paving slab, buried on end, got jammed between
the tines and the gearbox. That stalled it and I had to knock it out
with a club hammer. As far as the thick roots were concerned, it was
more a matter of holding the rotovator back and letting it smash
through them, then pulling them out by hand. It jumped around a bit
but did the job. Cruelty to a rotovator, yes, but as I say, it's an
old one and it survived it. Next run with it to dig in the compost I
spread was a piece of cake. I've got a huge pile of flints and stones
now, wondering what to do with them. Maybe make a path.