ebinmaine 67,422 #1 Posted May 27 Our garden is now heading into its 3rd season. Creating a usable garden space here in the New England mountains is an extreme challenge involving a lot of extra work in comparison to most areas of the country. The entire region was once covered by ice over a mile thick. When the glaciers departed, the mountains were destroyed and tremendous rock waste fields left behind. We all joke about having rocks and stones in the soil. Here, it's a little (seriously little) soil.. in with the rocks. Over the last several years we cleared an area of forest. 3+ years ago we had an excavator come in to clear the ground surface and make it somewhat level. After that we added 14+ yards of loam, all by hand, tractors and small trailers, load by load, moved a couple hundred feet from the driveway to the garden. Since then we've been picking out rocks sticks etc using an 856 tractor with the ripper or by hand. @Handy Don and I have texted more than once about the possibilities involving the use of a single tooth ripper in our garden area to pop out the rocks sticks roots etc as they rise every year from the frost. In the future I would like to be able to use a rototiller but for now there's too many rocks and sticks. It seems the ripper is a feasible solution for the time being. This weekend we used my heavier 1974 C160-8 Cinnamon Horse for the ripper work. Wanting to be conservative at the beginning, I started poking into the soil about 2" and immediately realized that could be a little deeper. I tried a 4" cut. That was the ticket. I worked back n forth at many angles. Started at the fence all the way around. Pulled every which way but loose. We learned that the pulled materials really have a tendency to stack up towards the middle of the area, logically. We also learned that we could likely use 2 ripper teeth. Maybe 3 (??) 3 might be too much. (With only one tooth there were multiple occasions where the tractor was "high centered" on rocks.) Some of those rocks were pulled out. At least 2 or 3 are too big. 11 16 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wheel Horse 3D 3,792 #2 Posted May 27 (edited) Looks like the mission I'm getting ready for! 'Cept to level for a new stable for the Horses and other equipment. Have to bring the right front corner inside that fence up about a foot or more and level all to within 3 inches for a new 12 x 41 will extend from that front corner back toward the materials pile in back. Dug got muddy today, but never got me stuck! I shoulda took a pic before the rinse off! Edited May 27 by Wheel Horse 3D 6 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OutdoorEnvy 1,522 #3 Posted May 27 Good looking rigs Eric doing real work! Curious to hear more thoughts on the ripper from you. I’m curious about the size of it too if you don’t mind getting a pic of it sometime. The cultivator I have has removable tines so think it could serve as a ripper with one in the middle. Seems handy but but know I need to add weight to my rig. I know cinnamon is heavy so it could be making it look easy. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 55,188 #4 Posted May 27 1 hour ago, ebinmaine said: We all joke about having rocks and stones in the soil If I want a rock of a particular size I just buy a plant that is in a pot the size of the rock I want, ask my wife where I should plant it and you can rest assured there will ba a rock the size of the pot right there. For gardening (which I no longer do because the deer were eating everything) I used a middle row buster then fill the trench with compost. 2 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,422 #5 Posted May 28 1 hour ago, OutdoorEnvy said: Good looking rigs Eric doing real work! Curious to hear more thoughts on the ripper from you. I’m curious about the size of it too if you don’t mind getting a pic of it sometime. The cultivator I have has removable tines so think it could serve as a ripper with one in the middle. Seems handy but but know I need to add weight to my rig. I know cinnamon is heavy so it could be making it look easy. This ripper is a 16" version. Here's a few pics showing some measurements. 3 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,422 #6 Posted May 28 1 hour ago, 953 nut said: If I want a rock of a particular size I just buy a plant that is in a pot the size of the rock I want, ask my wife where I should plant it and you can rest assured there will ba a rock the size of the pot right there. I gotta try that!! 1 hour ago, 953 nut said: For gardening (which I no longer do because the deer were eating everything) I used a middle row buster then fill the trench with compost. I have a couple of those V shapes about half the size of that. Seems they'd work well for us. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TractorEd 633 #7 Posted May 28 Nice looking garden bed! Love that you’re working those Horses! Can’t wait to see more. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kpinnc 12,005 #8 Posted May 28 16 hours ago, 953 nut said: If I want a rock of a particular size I just buy a plant that is in a pot the size of the rock I want, ask my wife where I should plant it and you can rest assured there will ba a rock the size of the pot right there. Here in this county, there is only one rock: about 6 inches deep everywhere... It's not uncommon to see boulders here in someone's yard the size of a Volkswagen. Point being, I understand how much work a garden can be. I also know how protective a person can get over a good spot. My hat is off to Eric (ebinmaine) and all the work that goes into that garden! 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,422 #9 Posted May 28 26 minutes ago, kpinnc said: My hat is off to Eric (ebinmaine) and all the work that goes into that garden! It's mostly BBT. 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maz91 202 #10 Posted May 28 Wheel horses still getting it done 45~ years later!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kpinnc 12,005 #11 Posted May 28 45 minutes ago, ebinmaine said: It's mostly BBT. Ok my hat is off to you both! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darb1964 1,042 #12 Posted May 28 Looking very good, do you or have you taken ph tests? In our area in the Berkshires our altitude 2700 feet and many white pine and spruce trees so the soil is low ph. In the mid to low 6.5ish untreated. Blueberry heaven but vegetables not so much, so we add lots of lime almost can't over do it. We've been working the same soil for over thirty years so we've got a great base now. Was very rocky also and we've removed loads of rocks over the years and every year there is a new crop. Your doing a great job and it will pay off, my bride is all in also and bickering through a day gardening is one our favorite pass times. Good luck! 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,422 #13 Posted May 28 59 minutes ago, Darb1964 said: Looking very good, do you or have you taken ph tests? Thanks! I haven't remembered yet but Trina has in her "mental to-do" file. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Retired Wrencher 5,450 #14 Posted May 29 Eric those mid mount blades do great work. Nice and level grading. Worth every $$ you pay for them. Great video also I enjoyed it very much. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
