Wow, Thank you all for your input. Reading through them all has been most enlightening.
I am realising that there is a big difference between the words Rotavate, Cultivate & Till. Plus a large difference between the types of machines.
Our main intent , hence one of the reason for the post, is to thorougly mix in the 3/4 rotted down topcoat of horse manure, that has lay untouched for the last 4month or so, to the 8inch depth these machines all appear to work to, and leaving us and nice, well- mixed, fine tilth to work upon this spring. compostqueen has our idea. . We do expect the soil below the manure to be still soft from the 16inch deep diggings it received last year, so we may not require a large heavy machine to achieve this. We may succeed with a tiller. Digging the plot by hand - well, we did that last year in a slow, painful manner as we both suffer back problems, but as we "trenched" it was the only way. Now we feel we have "earned our colours" and can turn to mechanical methods, on this occasion, to get that really good mix of manure/soil. ionewer - We are afraid of 2 broken backs before a season has begun (joking) Bring in the earthmovers!! Thank you Growster solid advice and thanks to mumofstig
CHRIS DONOHUE I really appreciate your comments and wonder if the chips will feed as a mulch? My pal and I did months of reading on soil improvement, Internet, books, some scientific reports, listening to neighbours then discussing our best approach to help break up the clay and came out of all this with - We needed to help drain the lower level of water to help with the flooding at the low level of the plot, so trench it (hard heavy work) down to 16inches or more, and add lots of manure plus rotted wood chippings(will take years to break down fully), and sand (Expensive)as a mixture when refilling back to 12 inches level. From 12 inches to the top we added as much rotted matter/manure as we could lay our hands on, then cover the lot in 12inches of manure mulch for worms and nature to break down and go down into the soil. When spring arrives we need to thoroughly mix in the remaining manure leaving a fine top tilth in which to grow. We fear this will not be the last 16inch dig and adding of sand and wood etc as the reports advise it lierally takes tons to break clay, but we have made a start. As it was so hard to do i would want a couple of years off before the next dep dig takes place, andin the meantime we will continue each winter covering with a muchlch of manure over compost to feed the soil after a years growing will have removed much of the nutrient that we put in the previous year. Ha ha sorry if this is soooooo long, but I suppose it is a big subject and it will now be interesting on the comments it raises.
After digging over (Deep) our small plot 3 times last year the "soil" is quite soft, as we have kept off it by using boards to walk on when working. It was drying out quite nicely until the recent snowfall, now it is wet again, so will be left alone as many of you advise, until it dries out properly and fully. The Middle of March as proposed by Christine & Goldfinger & confirmed by Gremlin's records gives us an excellant guide, thank you.
Cadalot's comments on weeding before hand plus his new tool were good. Howver the mattress of manure has kept all weeds down. I expect that will change once the manure is mixed in however. My pal and I both tried one of those "Claw" tools and could feel the stress on the spine through torsion immediatle, so please take care.
JayG For turning our compost heap we use a long 3/4 steel rod with a large tang on the end. My son brings a powerful drill machine and generator to plot and the job is over in 5 mins. We poke it thro. the sides of the frame to get a deep mix.(to awkward to lean over the top of the frame with a fork and work.)
Many thanks to those advocating aMantis and saving to buy. Perhaps we are fortunate in guys around us being so helpful and telling us not to purchase but for a "couple of bob" there is a "community" one we can "borrow". I am interested though in the German model allot2learn mentions, so would appreciate a little detail if possible?
Gavinconways advise sounds like wise words, so it looks like an occasional 16inch dig will have to be carried to prevent a hard pan forming
Totty I can follow youre reasoning no problems. I think that is what we would have to do with 10ton. Unfortunately I can yet put words to the abbreviation BFB, so if you please help me as it is keeping me awake at nights (Joke)
Thanks to so many for their input
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February 23, 2009, 10:04