RE: [CH] Mantis tiller advice....
Alex Silbajoris (asilbajo@hotmail.com)
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:49:06 +0000
For hard or heavy soil, I like to go first with a shovel and turn over big clods, then break those up with the tiller.
Plus if you are amending the soil, when it's in big clods that's a good time to toss in whatever else, and let it fall down between the clods, then blend it all.
One caution: It's easy to get over-enthusiastic and not stop until the soil looks like ground coffee. One problem with this comes later in the season, when your plants are laden with fruit, and the soil is so soft that a moderate summer storm will blow them over.
I have staked them in the past, with varying degrees of success, but this year I am going to cage them somehow, or maybe use some of those rings they use to hold peonies up. Or maybe set up a grid of strings?
Lo the snows have come and gone.
The season of the Hairy Windshield has passed,
and the Voice of the Tiller is heard in our land.
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