Moved to new property. Previous owner's garden spot is now goat pasture. New garden spot is not ready. Literally. STill have previous owners chainlink fence (rolled up) laying all over. No idea what type of soil. Have plenty of manure (horse, rabbitt and llama) that can be used if necessary. not flat land, situated on a slight hill. Very, very windy I live in northern Ky (i think that is zone 5) don't even have a tiller. Have a tractor with a post hole digger on it.(my brother used this for his garden last year and said it worked better than the rental tiller). Have my seeds but not a lot of $$$$ to improve soil or whatever.....???? Give me a full report. What do I do, how do I do it, when, etc, etc. Thanks for any info. Susie
Hard to follow Randel's advice as it's all so true. Had the same situation when I moved to where I live. Roughly 30x30 sod and it was turned one shovel full at a time. Of course, I was 40 years younger then. However, 3 times as much now and Mantis broke down and everything worked with a shovel last year and it didn't kill me! Best bet is still to rent a tiller. Go through it once to get its attention and then spread your oldest manure and work that in. Don't try to do them both at once. As for location, let the goats have the hill and take back the original garden! Martin
I would rent a tiller , it would not take near as long. You could also bag a soil sample and take to the county extension agent and see what he recommends for the soil.
Not too familiar with the effects of llama manure but horse and rabbit are gifts from the gardening gods. If you rent a tiller try to get a rear tine one. The front tine can be a real man killer, especially on new ground ( heres where the front tine people jump all over me). Make sure the manure is well rotted unless you enjoy weeding.
Not too familiar with the effects of llama manure but horse and rabbit are gifts from the gardening gods. If you rent a tiller try to get a rear tine one. The front tine can be a real man killer, especially on new ground ( heres where the front tine people jump all over me). Make sure the manure is well rotted unless you enjoy weeding.
Shoveling by hand is better on the worm population, which I feel is fairly important. Worm poo makes things grow, worms aerate the soil and will eventually till your garden for you if you mulch with organic material.
Why don't you try planting a cover crop,like say buckwheat. The seed is relitively cheap and in about 6 weeks you will have TONS of organic matter to till into your soil. It will greatly improve the structure of your soil and as a side benifit you will take care of most of your weeds. Just an idea, Don
One more 'idea'..... Why not give yourself a break? Maybe this year just have a square foot bed or two and spend time preparing the big garden for next year or fall garden? http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
Here in NE OH we are still under 8" of snow and more is falling now! Getting the peas in the ground by St. Patties day was not a reality this year. I say pile up whatever spot you can with the manure you have, hopefully the horse manure has sat a year so it isn't 'hot'. The llama manure is excellent because you can take it from dung pile to garden without worry of burning anything. I was in the same situation last year and hauled in horse manure spread it out & layered on the alpaca manure. The veggies I got were great, especially for how late I had to plant due to the wet spring & summer we had here. Late fall I threw on a layer of rye and overwintered it, adding alpaca manure thru about mid-December. Hoping for a much better crop this year (if the snow every goes away!) As hard & timeconsuming as it may be (in clay soil especially) a shovel is your friend. Good Luck, Alpacalady
