New gardening tool

contadino · Post by **contadino** » 20 Mar 2008, 06:38

I use a rotavator in preference to a tractor. Tractors compact the soil too much. My rotavator deals with 5ha of land, which wouldn't be possible to do via manual digging, as it needs to be turned every two weeks at the moment.

If I had 10ha, it would probably be too much and I'd have to resort to a tractor, but I'd still use the rotavator on the veg plots, vinyard, and plots for cereals.

SunnyJim · Post by **SunnyJim** » 20 Mar 2008, 08:29

Every two weeks? Why's that contadino?

Norm · Post by **Norm** » 20 Mar 2008, 08:36

Hello Jeremy,

I use a rotavator in preference to a tractor. Tractors compact the soil too much. My rotavator deals with 5ha of land, which wouldn't be possible to do via manual digging, as it needs to be turned every two weeks at the moment.

Horse for courses! If you are gardening I would agree a cultivator/rotavator is the better option for keeping the soil tilled. I used the tractor to flatten a barren bit of hillside so that I could establish a veg garden. That would have taken me years of backbreaking toil to do what I did in a short space of time with my tractor. The tractor is also useful for cleaning the soil beneath the olive and almond trees. Although heavy, the footprint of the large tyres means the soil does not get too compacted.

Did you ever get your bees?

contadino · Post by **contadino** » 20 Mar 2008, 10:04

SJ, at this time of year, the weeds pop up every time it rains. which left to get too big pose a fire risk in the summer. It's worse for me because all my land was so badly neglected when I bought it that I'm now suffering those fabled '7 years of weeds.' By next year it should be down to every 3 weeks or so.

Norman, no, I got bounced from pillar to post by the bloke who promised me a nucleus. Now I have my top bar hive sitting empty.

I haven't given up, though. Someone gave me a number for a bee man only yesterday.

The majority of the land I work on is olives and almonds, and I do it all with a rotavator. My rotavator's a big'un, mind. I'm currently trying to decide whether it's feasible to substitute some of that work with goats and sheep. Have you come across spanish halters over there?

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 20 Mar 2008, 10:23

Why not just put down a barrier against weeds, contadino? Sorry if I missed some information which meant that that is unfeasible.

contadino · Post by **contadino** » 20 Mar 2008, 10:37

5ha of weed-suppressing membrane is cost prohibitive.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 20 Mar 2008, 10:45

Norm · Post by **Norm** » 20 Mar 2008, 11:32

contadino wrote:
Norman, no, I got bounced from pillar to post by the bloke who promised me a nucleus. Now I have my top bar hive sitting empty. I haven't given up, though. Someone gave me a number for a bee man only yesterday.

The majority of the land I work on is olives and almonds, and I do it all with a rotavator. My rotavator's a big'un, mind. I'm currently trying to decide whether it's feasible to substitute some of that work with goats and sheep. Have you come across spanish halters over there?

This is a great time to get started with bees and also probably peak swarm season for you too so I hope you have some bait hives out.
Why not join us on the biobees forum!

I have two goat farmers who graze their goats on my land keeping the flora down to a reasonable level. One pays me 120 euros a year, the other, with fresh eggs, sausages, olive oil etc.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 20 Mar 2008, 11:42

Dinor wrote:I have two goat farmers who graze their goats on my land keeping the flora down to a reasonable level. One pays me 120 euros a year, the other, with fresh eggs, sausages, olive oil etc.

Fair play to you. If I lived like that, I might not be vegan!

contadino · Post by **contadino** » 20 Mar 2008, 12:16

Dinor wrote:I have two goat farmers who graze their goats on my land keeping the flora down to a reasonable level.

Apologies everyone for going a little OT, but are they a mix of sheep and goats, or just goats? From what I've heard, goats pick and choose what they'll eat, but sheep graze so a mixed herd gives best results.

Dinor wrote:One pays me 120 euros a year, the other, with fresh eggs, sausages, olive oil etc.

Ha! Nice, but I'm awash with eggs, sausages & oil. A supply of rabbit food would be a good price for me.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » 20 Mar 2008, 12:39

contadino wrote:Apologies everyone for going a little OT, but are they a mix of sheep and goats, or just goats? From what I've heard, goats pick and choose what they'll eat, but sheep graze so a mixed herd gives best results.

You are probably right but they are both just goat herds, one of about 100 goats and the other 200. They will take the lower branches of the olives if the shepherd is asleep.

They tend to leave a lot of the wild flowers which is nice, lavender, rosemary etc. This suits me as I am not in "production" but just take what I want from the olives and almonds leaving the flowers to the bees.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 20 Mar 2008, 22:43

Getting back to the rotavator for a minute, would one of these be suitable for ripping up brambles and bracken ? It's back breaking work by hand but I worry that a rotavator might become jammed up with them.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 20 Mar 2008, 22:47

That sounds a bit hazardous to me, several-feet-long bramble bits whipping around, no ta!

contadino · Post by **contadino** » 21 Mar 2008, 05:51

Catweazle wrote:Getting back to the rotavator for a minute, would one of these be suitable for ripping up brambles and bracken ? It's back breaking work by hand but I worry that a rotavator might become jammed up with them.

No, they'd just tangle around the tines. You need either some goats (best option) or a box of matches (2nd best option), or a brushcutter.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 22 Mar 2008, 01:30

I've used a brushcutter with a steel blade but it's slow and the damned things just grow back from the root. Perhaps the best idea might be to hack them back to ground level then rotavate to rip the roots up.

I like the idea of goats though, will they really eat bramble ? Do goats strip bark from trees ? If not, they might be the answer. I've also read that curried goat is popular.

Can a goat be kept on a chain fixed to a peg ? So many questions, I'll have to do a bit of googling.

Thanks all.

EDIT// After a bit of research it seems tethering a goat is not a good idea at all, it leaves them at the mercy of fast weather changes and any stray dogs that may come along. I'll have to look at fencing requirements instead but the goat is apparently a renowned escapologist.