[jaws]

I have a 1/2 allotment which is fairly heavy with clay. Most of my neighbours have several allotments and use rotavators or even ploughs on tractors.  I'm  not the most dilligent of diggers and my allotment often gets weedy and very hard. At the moment it is just dry/moist enough to dig fairly easily but is clumpy . There are loads of worms in the soil I  am turning over. I am thinking of getting a tiller but I  am worried I  will chop up a lot of worms. I have also heard negative things about soil structure and rotavators.
What would other people advise . Thanks

[grendel]

I can rotovate my whole plot in just over a couple of hours, digging would take weeks, so since I dont have much time I rotovate. expect weeds back though, I generally rotovate several times  before planting, and as I plant I reduce the area left to rotovate

[jaydig]

I don't have a rotovator, only a Mantis tiller, because I couldn't leave a rotovator in the shed on the plot, and we couldn't get a rotovator in the car .  As a crop finishes at the end of the season, I dig the soil over roughly and then cover with plastic sheeting for the winter.  In the spring I uncover each section as I need it, and go over it with the Mantis.  It works for me.

[m1ckz]

i do both   end of season i dig it over an cover it     in spring i uncover an rotovate   

[Goneterseed]

I moved plots last year and went from lovely friable soil to heavy, claggey and slow to warm up soil.
I had a rotovator and a tiller but I've sold them as I actualy prefer to dig. There is more satisfaction when you stand back and look at what you have done.
 It's each to their own, but I will keep digging and allowing in sun and breeze get into my soil.
This bed was forked over just yesterday.   (Yes I'm late with it due to arthritis).

No rush, it isn't a race. 

[steved]

IMO it depends what you class a rotavator as....if you class it as a weeding tool, then a world of heartache awaits.
I dig and weed manually, then rotavate once im happy all the weeds are removed.
I had my shed at the plot broken into a few years ago, im convinced it was another plotholder, as my half bag of seed compost, box of screws and nails, soil test kit etc were taken and the mantis was taken. My pride and joy favourite tool, my swoe, was left behind. Im sure this was because the scrote didnt know what it was or that it was infinitely more useful than the mantis.
It seems now on our site, many have rotavators, but few have hoes!

[tinyallotment]

I don't do either as I think both are bad for the soil but out of the two -especially in clay- I would say digging is better as rotavating can cause 'plough pan' which can restrict root growth.

Paul

[Plotmaster]

If it's a new plot and full of couch grass I would defiantly not rotavate as all you are doing is exacerbating the weed problem. It took me 3 years to hand dig and weed my first plot and now that I have an infrastructure with paths and beds and never stand on my beds I can dig them over in no time at all.

Other plot holders thought I was mad digging and weeding the paths as well as the beds but to my way of thinking, if you don't then you are just waiting for the couch grass under the paths to re invade your beds.

I cover the beds up for the winter with weed membrane and I plant using weed membrane with holes melted in the planted positions, it makes for an easy life and mentally I can deal with a bed at a time rather than preparing a whole plot the battling weeds.

[Snoop]

This year I've been digging first and then running a Mantis tiller over to get a good tilth and to work in some muck and ash. Works well as I can get rid of the worst weeds (ones that will grow from bits of root) while digging. Plus, any worms I spot while digging get transferred to a bed I've already worked.

[Casey76]

I'm digging first (to remove roots - mainly nettle and thistle), and then going to rotavate with my Mantis

[Nobbie]

Both

I'm on heavy clay and I rotavated it last autumn, but it has been hammered by the rain and was really compacted. I have dug it over with a fork to spare the worms and expose the soil so that it drys out a bit. You could hear it suck as you levered the fork back. I then left it for a few days and then ran over the top with the rotavator to breakup the big lumps ( worms safe deeper down). Next step is to add well rotted manure to this top layer and rotavate again to mix it in.

[3759allen]

the main problem i've found with using a rotavator is that it seems to spread the weeds, so can do more harm than good. as for a tiller if you've got that much clay it won't really work or do the machine any favours.

i would dig, do little bits at a time. if you can, mulch as heavily as possible during the growing season. try and weed as much as possible before they seed and removing as many roots as possible. mulch with as much organic material as you can over winter and cover with cardboard. as you have lots of worms they should do a lot of the digging for you, working the organic into the clay.

no quick fix with clay really.

[Headgardener22]

I'm digging now (didn't get time over winter) and then I will use the Mantis to break down the lumps and churn in the compost.

Its slow because the beds are full of dandelion and couch grass.


(My garden compost seems to be brilliant this year, but I've got to shift it to the allotment 2.5 miles away).

[Robster]

I grow in raised beds.  After several years of no (or little) dig, the soil is not compacted and needs only a gentle fork over occasionally to incorporate manure etc.  I remove weeds by hand.  I have used a mantis tiller but became concerned about soil structure and wildlife.  I may be kidding myself but I think the worm population is far bigger now.  Especially the big fat juicy ones.

I hugely appreciate the time element for some folk though.  Now that I have given up competitive sport a little lite forking over is very welcome.

[gemando]

I'm planning on digging as im only on year 2 and there's still lots of weeds to get out. I've been hand weeding the past few weeks on and off but I know there's dandelion roots I've missed or have broken too far down. I'm hoping I'll spot them when I dig over. It's been too wet at the moment to dig, the soils just coming up in clumps. Might do as others have said and fork it over a bit to let some air in so it can dry out so I can dig!  I'm in the north so nothings going to get planted soon.