quick row maker for the garden

[Frank S]

I forgot to post this one. Last winter and early this spring before it was warm enough to plant I had hauled 12 contractor wheel barrow loads of rotted straw chicken manure and dirt from the chicken coop to my small 1200 sq ft garden plot then tilled it is and cross tilled several times I had also dumped a few buckets full of stove ash and 3 5 gallon buckets of used coffee grounds the filters and at least 50 dozen egg shells additionally in this mix were banana peals some vegetables that had gone bad and various other food stuffs these buckets had been accumulated through the summer and winter and mixed several times with a mortar mixing paddle on a 3/4" drill motor. over time everything was spread and mixed in the soil in preparation to hopefully have some semblance of a garden this year.
After the last tilling everything was ready waiting for warm weather the rows laid out from the tiller and then along came a very much needed 4 inch rain a few days before I was thinking about planting I already had 200 onion sets 100 garlic cloves with short shoots coming out of them a dozen or more various hot pepper plants 100 potato wedges with buds on them half a dozen tomato plants growing in the window sills my packets of seeds I was ready. at least until the rain.
OK I'm not tilling it again the ground is soft enough I'll just tack together a couple pieces of pipe and weld on a pair of railroad spikes then drag that to make my rows.
the rain had beat the surface down and packed it a little so to remedy this I added a weight to help force the spikes in the ground.
this is what I came up with from some old sprinkler pipes in my stock pile

[Frank S]

Leaving for Ct in the morning so since the soil is sandy loam I have been dousing it with 1000 gallon of water per week a bout 150 gallon or so each day it had been raining for the past couple of days so I haven't been watering but we only got about a half inch so knowing we would be gone for about a week and a half I dropped a 1000 gallons on it throughout today that is about like 1.3 inches of rain they are predicting rain for sometime next week if we get any than the garden should be fine until we get back. Things are starting to come up nicely Once I get back I'll make a rolling cultivator then if we don't spend too much on the trip I plan on laying down a layer of potting soil peat moss mulch to help retain the moisture

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Garden Row Maker to our Farm and Garden category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Garden Row Maker by Frank S

tags: farm tools

[VinnieL]

How wide are the rows it lays out? I am thinking that one owuld want it slightly wider than the tiller you plan to use to run between the rows...

[Frank S]

How wide are the rows it lays out? I am thinking that one owuld want it slightly wider than the tiller you plan to use to run between the rows...

the rows are 24" the tiller is 18" but can narrow the tiller to 15 inches However I doub't it will use the tiller through the summer probably just a hoe or a rotary cultivator.
The sandy loam doesn't pack down very bad but does crust over from the sun and wind. If I can keep a high enough moisture content then the only problem will be constant encroachment of grass and weeds. since I didn't chemically kill everything last fall and winter. I'll just have to deal with them. I'm not big on artificial chemicals anyway