Clear Land Garden Services

Serving Residential & Small Commercial Garden Plots

GARDEN PREPARATION & MAINTENANCE

Primary & Secondary Rotary Soil Tilling & Seed Bed Preparation


Clear Land can assist  gardeners or small commercial farmers in building their garden plots from scratch, or to help re-build this year's garden from last year's plot. Primary tilling is necessary when seed bed preparation tools are ineffective without prior tilling. Secondary seed bed  preparation usually involves building raised rows with bedding and harrowing tractor drawn tools. Garden Soil preparation is usually full-field but can be concentrated in row zones if preferred.

Be sure to check your soil for structure and nutrients. Soils that are too sandy, have too much clay, or don’t drain well will not produce as well as soils that have the right texture and makeup. Get a soil test kit from your county extension office or from a soil testing company. You will learn what materials and nutrients to add to improve garden production. Clear Land can assist you in working nutrients into your garden soil.

ROTARY SOIL TILLING

Pre-Season Tilling

Clear Land's PTO-powered rotary tiller can be used for primary tillage of your garden. An acceptable seed bed often can be prepared in only one pass. Multiple passes may be required for grass overgrown plots or plots with exceptionally hard soils.

  • Spring garden soil tilling aerates your garden soil. Suffocated soil can leave your garden dry which deters plant growth. Tilling adds air that has been squeezed out into the soil to encourage plant growth. Well-aerated soil also permits water, oxygen and other nutrients to reach plant roots easily and efficiently, since light and airy soil are vital to a bountiful garden.
  • Spring tilling helps in preventing weed growth. Weeds and insects can be very problematic and hinder or even stop the growth of plants in your garden. Turning your soil twice a year is a good defense against weeds and other insects from invading and damaging your plants. Tilling also helps break down weed roots, along with the homes of other insects, helping to prevent these pests from infesting your garden.
  • Spring tilling is the second time you have to best balance your garden nutrient mixture. Balancing nutrients helps your garden flourish. Adding fertilizer and other organic materials into the ground during the tilling process allows the soil to become enriched with ingredients it may lack to create a suitable growing environment for plants.

Post-Season Tilling

 

  • Fall garden soil tilling works in any leftover garden matter for in-garden composting. Prior to tilling, Clear Land can add additional mulch, compost, fertilizer, leaves, straw or peat moss. These materials will have all winter and early spring to decompose and add more nutrients into the soil. In the spring your garden soil is loose and rich in organic material. These added nutrients will help to build strong healthy plant roots for your spring crops. As your soil is turned it allows for better air circulation and helps with the decomposition of any added organic matters.
  • Fall tilling helps improve the structure and workability of the soil.\
  • Fall soil turning exposes subsoil to winter’s rains, freezing and thawing, which loosens heavy soil. 
  • Fall tilling helps improve the structure and workability of the soil.
  • Fall tilling help kill insect that have entered the soil for winter survival by exposing them to the elements. Turning the soil over before the ground freezes exposes insects and and disease organisms to colder temperatures, increasing the chance that they’ll be winter killed instead of surviving.
  • Fall tilling will also help to prevent the growth of new weeds in the spring. It will disturb the soil and prevent garden pests and insects from over wintering in the soil.
  • Fall tillling provides for an early spring crop growing season. The freshly tilled soil, which will not be packed down, can easily be worked with a spade or pitchfork and peas, onions and lettuce can be planted quickly. Spring weather can be unpredictable and sometimes too wet to till so a pre-tilled garden makes early spring planting easy.

SEED BED PREPARATION

Furrowed Row Building

Clear Land's garden bedder 3-point attachment can assist you in building  rows and hills for your garden. 

  • The garden bedder discs are angled and spaced out to leave the dirt in neat, straight hills. 
  • There is a set of sweeps that can be mounted on the back of the garden bedder that will dig out the tire tracks left by our tractor to minimize tire compaction.
  • A furrowing attachment digs a nice “V” shape into the top of the ridge for you to put your seeds in.
  • All of this can be done in one or two passs that takes minutes with a tractor instead of hours with a hoe.