UPdate on Ford and tiller?

[George Marsh]

First thanks for all your input on my last post. It seems that I would have to get a much newer tractor and a tiller too. Hate the idea of SOS tranny. Seems that I would have to put out a lot of bucks for something I would only use a few times a year at best.

Been thinking of getting a used garden tractor with a rear tiller. Found a JD tractor on craigslist:

1998 GT275
17hp Kawasaki
Hydro Static Transmission
NEW Battery, NEW belts, ag. tires, NEW tines on 30 inch tiller
Comes with 48 inch mower deck with NEW blades
Nice tractor that runs great!

Only plan to use tiller to till existing garden plot. If I wanted to till a new spot, I have a 6 ft disk on Jubilee to loosen the ground first.

Opinions please, good or bad idea? May be a bad idea to ask about a JD on a Ford site:) Forgive me if it is.

Thanks,
George
 

[Dell (WA)]

George........Me? when I gotta use a tiller, I go rent one ........8N Dell with a Troy-bilt walk behind
 

[George Marsh]

Dell, I'm the opposite. Hate to rent anything. I like to have an excuse to buy a new toy. Already have a troy-bilt pony. Like it.

I'm in the middle of re-sedding over an acre of lawn. Have it disked up, looks good. Going to wait for a few weeks, either disk it again or perhaps see how good a rear tiller on a JD is.
George
 

[Ultradog MN]

See if you can find an old Ferguson or Dearborn 2 row cultivator.
That's all my cousin has been using for years on his garden.


 

[George Marsh]

Ultradog,
I have a dearborn cultivator, but it doesn't look like a spring tooth. It has V shaped shovels, some are full and some are half V's. There is a culter in the middle to keep it steady. Never used it. Got it from a friend by doing a small backhoe job.

My neighbor has a Massey with a 6 ft tiller. He always does my garden, however he is getting old and not in great health. He broke up one place I'm re-seeding. Still have to work over the ground a time or two to get rid of the roots.

I have another place 20 miles from his big tiller that I've disked up. I want to get rid of the roots from the weeds before I seed.
George
 

[souNdguy]

i'm with UD.. once it's plowed soil.. you can work it with a chissle plow or cultivator.

I made up a garden plot a couple years ago.. soil used to be a watermellon farm decades ago.. then about 12ys ago i disced it to powder and made pasture out of it.. 2ys ago I ripped it a few times with scarfire teeth on box plade then plowed it.. after that alot of cultivator work... turned out fine.
 

[Bill Rowles]

I mow the garden remains with the bush hog and plow it in the fall. The winter freeze/thaw cycles break up the soil and level it some, so in the spring I can till it with a Troy-built walk-behind tiller (a little at a time) as I need to plant parts of the new garden. This works great and keeps the heavy tractor off the ground in the spring when condition of the soil is often a little too moist for heavy equipment.
 

[Dean]

You are describing a cultivator for growing row crops. It is not designed for working up ground.

Dean