[AT] Re: Potato Digger comments

[Steve W.]

Greg,
 You want to make that garden soil nice and airy and a bit easier to
work with, Grab up all the leaves you can find through the fall and use
grass clippings as well. Toss them all over the garden and plow or till
them under. I couldn't believe how well that worked on the mushy clay
crap in the garden at my fathers. Working in that garden was no fun,
between picking out rocks on one end and the mud bog on the other it
made childhood interesting. He found out about the leaves after trying
hay, green manure, and even adding sand. The leaves worked better than
all of those. After three years it was a nice loam about 5 inches down.
With the manure, and the leaves it got to the point where you had to run
with the planter to avoid the plants growing behind you....;-)

Of course I then moved and what did I get for soil here. 4 feet of CLAY,
Been seriously considering becoming a potter.

Steve Williams
Near Cooperstown, New York

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Hass" <gkhass at avci.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 6:30 PM
Subject: [AT] Re: Potato Digger comments


> In our particular area, many people use old, horsedrawn potato diggers
as
> lawn ornaments.  I still see many of them sitting in fence rows.  I
have a
> horsedrawn potato digger which I bought from a neighbor for $50.  I
tried
> to use it to dig my potatoes for several years (coverted to
> tractor-pulled).  My garden, which is located in a old 1-acre
barnyard, has
> very mushy soil which would not go through the chain very well and
would
> keep plugging.  So... last year I was able to locate a 1-row
PTO-driven
> digger at an auction that had been used for a small truck farm.  It
sure
> works great!  Ironically, despite all of the old horsedrawn digegrs
around,
> I know of only one person in the whole county who now grows potatoes
on the
> commercial level.  However, 60 miles to the southwest of us around the
> bottom of Saginaw Bay, potatoes are grown by the hundreds of acres.
>
> Greg Hass
> Bad Axe
> (From Michigan's Thumb)
>
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