My tiller, garden seeder, and garden tractor--and the 'real' tractor--are my friends! The garden tractor has the dump trailer behind it, which carries tools & supplies, unless I need it to haul mulch or manure, etc.; or for harvesting larger areas. The Joy of Gardening introduced me to the first two. :-)
As the soil gets used, it gets easier and faster to do the basics; each year I expand into a new area of dirt to turn into soil.
I collect coffee grounds from a restaurant and a coffee kiosk in town; we haul grass clippings from the State Veterans Home in town--they don't spray; friends give me large trash bags of their paper shreddings; each year my wife rakes up & piles the pine cones for me to run through the chipper: all of that gets composted or used as mulch, then is tilled in at the end of the season.
The rabbit cages are hung on one wall of the chicken house, so their waste goes into the straw covered floor dirt underneath, along with the chicken manure, then twice a year--spring & fall--gets hauled to the garden & tilled in or added to a compost heap. Peas & bush beans & generally just scatter onto a strip of tilled soil, then run the tiller back over them at a shallow setting to plant them in a wide row.
I try to plant most stuff in rows far enough apart to get the tiller between them to do most of the weeding & cultivating, tilling in any fertilizer side dressings at the same time.
I have a hiller-furrower attachment for the tiller that digs my potato trenches, while tilling in fertilizer at the same time; then as the taters grow, I run it down each side of the rows to hill them.
It's mainly a matter of rhythm, planning, and efficiency born of being too lazy to do it the hard way. ;-')
The large plot (about 50' X 100') of potatoes was virgin pasture soil last year, and took several hours using the 'real' tractor to rip up the sod; then change off the potato plow & use the rear blade to smooth it out; then more hours of tilling before I was able to use the 'real' tractor again to dig the planting trenches. 5-100' rows took the tractor about 15 minutes to dig.
This spring, it took about 3 hours to till it to get ready to plant the snap peas.
Today, it took an hour to run the tiller over it 3-4" deep to cultivate & weed, and then to till in 3 rows worth of fertilizer so I can plant 3-80' rows of black oilseed sunflowers. That's what I mean about 'gets easier and faster'.
Wow! Thanks for explaining that, ApplegateRanch! You are actually running a serious farming operation! Those are important skills you have shared.
I can easily see how once you have improved an area it becomes easier to maintain it. Last summer I did a lot of work clearing the patch where the bulbs we planted last year are growing and where the okra and sunflowers have landed this year. So in my very small way, I also enlarged what I had from last year by about a foot. Much easier!
It may look peculiar, but we are going to have some lilies, a cana, some marigolds, okra and sunflowers together! LOL! And right beside them are the rose bushes! (Two of our bushes are just covered with beautiful red blooms right now!)
Also, in working with mixing the soil for the pots this year, I’m seeing how the soil amendments work. I’m using our soil from our yard, which is actually a beautiful black soil. But it has a lot of clay in it. The garden soil from Walmart and some vermiculite mixed in have lightened it up considerably.
Darlin’ is laughing at how pot-hungry I’ve become. “But I want another LARGE pot!”
I have not sought yet to attempt composting, but I’ve done a lot of reading about it. Perhaps as I gain in confidence, I’ll start trying it. Perhaps I can start one in the next several months.
Speaking of confidence, I’m gaining a little of that with the soggy tomatoes I repotted a few days ago. They are starting to green up a bit now and perhaps they will begin thriving.
However, I have zero confidence when it comes to parsley. If we are ever forced to survive on my gardening skills, I know I can grow sunflowers, and oregano and thyme and dill, and believe I can grow tomatoes, okra, beans and squash, ...but I fear I will need to get someone else to grow the parsley!
I tried to start it in seed cups, in a sprout tray, and outside in the dirt. I’ve tried different envelopes of seeds. Nothing. So it seems at least for now, I am not fated to be a great parsley grower. But I hate leaving it at that. Maybe I’ll try just one more time....”DARLIN’I NEED ANOTHER POT!!”
Thanks again for posting about your gardening friends!