Can you Garden with a Gravely!!??

7934 Views 26 Replies 12 Participants Last post by NBS, Feb 17, 2012

CADplans

Discussion Starter · Feb 12, 2012

I have a 50 X 300 garden. My method of gardening for the past few years has been to;
Every couple years (not every year!!) Gravely rotary plow the garden with the 566,
plant 36 inch spaced rows,
till early with a 20" wide Troy Bilt,
mulch heavily (up to 9 inches deep) as time and energy permits,
enjoy a relatively weed free garden!! :drunkie:

Recently I have been wondering about using the 566 for more than semi-seasonal plowing. Maybe the Gravely would be less work than the Troy Bilt.

Have you used the 2 wheel tractor for cultivating?

What attachment do you use?

Is there a "push cultivator"? Something like this;

Could I convert the above cultivator to attach to the 566?

How wide of row spacing do I have to go to?

I have lots of rocks, so the rotary cultivator is probably not an option due to breakage.

I am ready to get started laying out the garden, Please help!

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wjohn

· #3 · Feb 12, 2012

Yep, go with the toolholder... I don't know about the larger tractors, but the Ls were 24" wide. The Kohler powered models are probably a couple inches wider due to the larger tires. You can drive between rows, or with short crops, straddle them. And with GRWs on an L you have 9" of ground clearance (and have 14" or so rows instead of 26" rows).

With a 566 you could go narrower than 36" rows depending on the plants. I don't think you could straddle too many crops - at least not for too long - due to the lack of ground clearance.

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wjohn

· #7 · Feb 13, 2012

CADplans said:
Hopefully I can find a toolbar, or build one.

My current concern is how wide I will have to space the rows.

With these tires, the machine is 30" wide.

Do I need 40" wide rows? :dunno:

Or wider!!??

It depends on how bushy your plants are. You could probably go with 34" rows with a crop like corn as long as they're nice and straight. Start out wide, see how the season goes, and adjust row spacing for the next year. Something bushier, like bush beans, will grow into the path more, so you want to account for that.

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wjohn

· #15 · Feb 13, 2012

CADplans said:
These are some of the rocks I have picked up on my place.

:dunno:

I think the toolholder cultivator is what you want to go with. In the off chance that you break a shovel/sweep, they're easy to replace. Make sure you have a few on hand - something similar should be available at your local farm supply store. Breaking something on the rotary cultivator would be more of a pain, and probably more expensive.

I hadn't thought about it, but like candian.gravelynut said, you will need some weight on the front with a Kohler powered tractor. Too tail heavy compared to an L.

I still need to rig up something to ride behind the wheels to break up the tire tracks. That's one of the disadvantages with Gravely's "out front" attachment point. Or I could find a rear toolholder, if I'm really lucky...

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wjohn

· #25 · Feb 16, 2012

I like that. I may try to make something similar for my Ls. Heavier duty greasable gauge wheels would be nice too.

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