Greetings from Tennessee. Best wishes and prayers to those in Oklahoma. Lived there many years ago -in Ok city-your heart just goes out to them.
Finally got the garden tilled. Good grief what a mess. Planted rye grass as a ground cover last fall. We normally plant a “green manure mix” from the Territorial Seed co but ran out of time. Then with such a wet spring, the grass was hip high by the time I could get it tilled. Lots of initial weed eating and digging by hand before I could get the tiller in there.
Am curious-those who till their own gardens-what type tiller do you have/use? Years ago I had a huge Troy bilt that my father had given us. It worked wonderful. I foolishly got rid of it because it was so large. I opted for a smaller sized Troy-bilt -it works ok but it isn’t as well made and sturdy as the older one we had.
Hoping to get everything planted this weekend-boy I think this is the latest we’ve planted in many many years. It will be interesting to see how this late planting affects production.
Sure enjoy hearing about everyone’s gardening adventures..
We don’t have tiller. We do everything by hand. I use a 4 prong gizmo just like I would a shovel. Press it about a foot into the ground then lean it back and raise the soil, and let it down, then move to the next space.
Then, I put on compost and any additives and chop it in with a rake or a hand held 4 prong shaped like a hoe only it has strong prongs.
I pull out green manure like rye expose the roots, and cover with cardboard till it dies, then work it in a few weeks before planting.
Use a weed wacker on the tall cover crop and put that on the compost pile then till the stalks and roots.