The future plantability of our land is now looking more plausible with the arrival from the UK of our vintage ‘Wolseley Merry Tiller Major‘.
Gorgeous, isn’t he?!
After a day of tinkering (by an expert, not me!) it is now running beautifully and starts on the first pull. Despite our soil being just four inches of concrete on top of clay it does a fine job. In half an hour I managed to turn over the same sized patch as had recently taken two wwoofers the entire day! Because the ground has never been dug before and is FULL of weeds it is really hard work to keep the tiller under control. I plan to turn it over then wait a month and turn it again, etc, etc until I manage to get a fine tilth – with the addition of some chicken manure and compost, etc – I’ll also plant some clover and then dig that in as a green manure. Hopefully by next spring we’ll have some new veg plots to plant in.
Rosie said
I want one!!! Simon originally dug my veg patch with the digger and hand digging seems a daunting task. You must be really excited about having more veg patches. I love having my veg patch so close, not a 3 mile drive away as was the case in England.
Steve said
We had a similar tiller that drove us insane and eventually gave up on our clay and rock. You seem to have some good growing weather over there? some nice photos, Cornwall is not seeing any sun at the moment a terrible year really. Nice Blog.