Cover Crop Gardening by LLC Storey Publishing

Author:LLC Storey Publishing
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Published: 1977-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

A Front-End Tiller?

Front-end tillers, designed to cultivate the soil between rows, aren’t good for this job since they won’t dig through a heavy plant cover into the ground. Also, the tines tangle.

The Best Tool for Green Manuring

A rear-mounted rotary tiller is ideally suited for turning under a green manure crop in either a large or small garden.

The forward motion of the tiller is controlled by the wheels so it takes little effort to operate.

Since the tines turn many times faster than the wheels, tangling is not a major problem. Crops that are two or more feet high can be tilled under in just a few passes.

A rotary tiller is better than a plow for turning under green manures. A plow slices off a long strip of earth and turns it upside down or on its side. This leaves the vegetation in a mass, not mixed with the soil.

A rear-mounted tiller chops up the plants and mixes the material with the topsoil, together with plenty of air. Since the organic matter is more uniformly distributed through the soil this way, it will decay and release its nutrients much more quickly.

The tiller can handle small sections of the garden that would be difficult to get at with larger equipment. Also it is light enough so that soil compaction is no problem.

From beginning to end, each step of a good green manuring program is made more easy by the tiller.

It is good for preparing the seedbed, since it leaves a smooth surface, ideal for sowing seed. By setting the tiller to a shallow depth, it will cover those seeds.

Finally, its big job comes when it is time to till under those green manures.

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