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Madison Co. Virginia | For those of you who are using the Earthway or other push planters -- are you hoeing the row open before seeding, and then making a third pass with a hoe to close the row? Or are you doing everything in one pass, and depending on the planter to cut and close the row?
In my little experience with a push planter, it seemed to work best as a seed metering device, and couldn't be depended on to get a consistent depth and cover.
Edit: For the equipment suggestions -- I'm not suggesting you should have all of these. Just things to think about, and consider if they would be useful or not.
A tractor-mounted cultivator. The ultimate would be a mid-mount two-row cultivator on an old tricycle-type tractor, but that's another tractor to maintain. You could likely get by well enough with a rear cultivator on your main tractor. Besides the obvious cultivation of corn and green beans, it could also be used to cut in potato rows prior to planting. Having a decent selection of shovels and a battery impact for quick adjustments will make the cultivator more useful. I've got a Deere 420 tractor and a two-row mounted cultivator here, but haven't assembled them yet or run the tractor in twenty years.
Backpack sprayer. Possibly one powered with a tool battery, but I've heard very mixed reviews on the durability of the m18 sprayers.
Troybilt Horse or the equivalent. Don't go any lighter weight than that. Even if you do the bulk of your tillage with the tractor, having a smaller tiller able to go down a single row is convenient.
A Gravely with a rotary plow. I've got the parts here to assemble one, but haven't done so yet. I'm told they're the ultimate for creating hills for strawberries and other crops that like such.
Plastic mulch layer. Very expensive. Try a row or two of plastic mulch first by just hand hilling and setting the plastic by hand. Then rent a mulch layer in future years if possible. Plastic mulch is nice for pushing the season on tomatoes and peppers. Seriously consider biodegradable mulch; pulling plastic scraps out of the garden in the fall and winter is the worst part of using plastic mulch.
Greenhouse. Size the benches for efficient use of 1020 trays. Consider heated sand beds. Set it up for portable hanging grow lights. Start the plants during the winter in your basement, then when the temps moderate a bit and you think you can keep the greenhouse warm enough through the nights, move the plants and the grow lights out to the greenhouse. Once out there, set the grow lights on a timer to extend the daylength. For any kind of market gardening, pushing the season early is key to good prices. Starting plants in a greenhouse is crucial for this, avoids the high cost of buying seedlings, and is a lot of fun.
Edited by kipps 4/14/2025 11:51
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garden planting question
