We have spent the last two days over turning sod at the Brookside Farm with two Toro rear-tine propelled tillers. There has been 0.9 inches of rain during the entire month of January. This has provided us the unique opportunity to over turn the sod and allow it to decompose during the final months of winter. As mentioned in previous blogs we were looking to overturn the uneven sod that was sure to be unsuitable for seedbeds. The sod was tilled for the first time at the beginning of November; since then, it has re-rooted and in some places began to grow again. Jason Bradford and I had been experimenting with methods of overturning the sod by hand, (cutting the top layer off and overturning it with a spade). We had allocated two weeks to complete the project with two people, doing 100 sq foot sections at a time and working fairly long days. If we waited to overturn the sod after the rains we would be pushing very close to the spring planting season and we might not have the opportunity to allow the sod to decompose enough to set seeds. After lengthy discussion about the use of petrol powered machines the choice was clear that we could incorporate the sod and allow it to rot over the winter in hopes that we could need minor raking and weed disruption to set seeds in spring.

Local business, Willits Rental, allowed us free usage of two Toro rototillers. The choice to use walk behind tillers was made for a couple of reasons. First, the tillers relive the soil of the compaction that can occur when one uses a tractor to address the soil. Tilling at a depth of approximately four inches, we did not create any undue compaction by driving heavy equipment over the soil and potentially compacting it below the fluffed-up top layer. Additionally, while it was possible to use a tractor before the perimeter fence was completed, it is no longer feasible to do so. The area that a tractor would need to turn around in to make its next pass was not enough without probably running against the tight confines of the perimeter fence. Needless to say we wanted to till as close to our walkways and boundaries as we could and not damage the fence at the same time. Finally, erosion by wind was likely to be less of a factor when tilling with the smaller, slower, rear-tine Toro machines. In this instance, the Toro’s served as intermediate tools allowing us to complete as much work as possible in the least amount of time and, we believe, with minimal petrol inputs.

We averaged a total of 8.5 machine hours on each tiller and a total of 5 gallons of unleaded gasoline for the entire project. The machines were used on approximately 16,000 sq feet (both the annual, perennial, grape, and orchard areas). As is standard we cross-cut the sod, with one machine moving east to west and the other tilling north to south. This practice helps the tilled layer to be uniform in depth and remove any ridges left by an incomplete pass. We noticed that there were two types of grass growing on the site, and one species was particularly rooted and hard to incorporate. At times we needed to make a second pass in order to insure that we had cut it. I fear that some of this grass has surely survived this tilling and we will have to deal with it in the early spring as we prepare the seedbeds. At present we feel ahead of schedule in relation to preparation of the land for seeds and starts. A project that was scheduled for two weeks has been completed in 2 days by two people and perhaps it is the last major machine cultivation that will be needed on the site.

Two Tillers Cross-Cutting The Soil

Pushing Tiller Through a Tough Spot

Breaking New Ground in the Orchard Section

Using Larger Toro Tiller

Shot of Tilled Soil