[NewSteve]

So this spring sees the great vegetable patch expansion! (Well, it should have happened last October but you know how these things are). Having given due consideration to the recent weather and my back, the plan is to hire a turf cutter and borrow a rotovator* over a weekend to prepare wide beds which we'll then at least try to maintain on a no-dig or very-occasional-dig basis.

But the weather is still not playing fair and we have broad beans and peas to get started. I've read that turf cutters need the soil to be fairly dry - how dry is fairly dry? I don't mind the rain myself but the soil is pretty sodden right now even by Manchester standards (at least we're not actually underwater). A couple of dry days isn't going to make a big difference, is it?

I suspect I know the answer really - just having a moan 


*I KNOW

[jezza]

hi if you have sandy soil a couple of dry days should be ok for turf cutting the soil doesnt want to be excesivly wet the blade just skims over the top ,i found the turf cutter i used last year was a pain the depth adjuster  kept  jumping out of its quadrant ,the wheels spin faster than the blade moves i ended up disengaging the wheels and got on quicker slowly pushing the machine  ,the job eventually got finished with an old sharp spade if your backs bad it might be worse after using  a turf cutter  jezza

[NewSteve]

Thanks Jezza,

It's not that my back's bad, but after cutting that much turf in one weekend it probably would be!

The soil is fairly sandy, so as soon as we have a dry-ish week I'll get it booked.