Roto Tiller

Roto Tiller
How should i reseed this lawn? rototiller?

I'm re-seeding my dads commercial property (just a long narrow stip along a sidewalk with a few trees). I can rent equiptment to do this. The lawn is far gone... It's in the ghetto, dumped on etc. About 1/3 of it is dead and about 40% of it is weeds. Some of it has tire ruts that i cant mow over because of the irregularities.

Heres what im thinking:
Rototill the bad spots. Just blast right over the alive and dead grass, hopefully even out a few of the irreqularities. Moisten the soil, throw down seed, and be done with it (and water properly of course). It doesnt have to be terribly pretty, its commercial and in a bad area. It just has to be better than what it is!
I've never used a roto-tiller before, nor seeded, so ide like to hear some advice.

Hey Glenn,

You could just fill in the ruts with some top soil. Be sure to scratch the surface of the dirt where you do plant, and you must water every day during germination. It would help if you continue to water after the seeds to start also.

You might consider dressing the top uniformly with some compost and top soil, that way you will get a uniform germination. Depending on where you live too, the type of grass you want is for high traffic, something that will resist wear and tear.

Anyway, here is a website from Clemson Master Gardeners of South Carolina. It gives severl options depending on where you live. It is worth reading about.

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Gardening business - how much to charge for tilling a plot?

I'm starting a small weekend gardening business. Basically, I come to your place and prepare a bed for flowers or veggies or whatever. I use a troy built roto tiller and can bring fertilizer/lime/organic to mix in if needed.

I was thinking of charging $50/hr - does this seem fair? Or should I come up with a flat rate?

I am in Ohio and I till. I do not get involved in chemicals, 'cuz I don't have soil tests. That's up to the customer. I charge $25.00 per hour, with a one hour minimum.

After last year's totally bombed harvest in my backyard garden, I am determined to improve the sandy, nutrient deficient dirt in my garden for the upcoming growing season. I've been gardening forever it seems, but apparently I've got a few things to brush up on and wanted to be sure it was done the all natural organic way.

So I thought if I want to turn my sandy soil into rich loam I had better do it right this time and I started with doing some research. To make a long story short, this is what I have found out; both of what I need to do and how to go about doing it.

• Organic matter improves the texture of sandy soil by filling in the spaces between the tiny stones which in turn increases the water holding nutrient holding capacity of the soil allowing the dirt to hold both water and fertilizer for the plants so they can get to it instead of it running off or seeping too far down.
• What is organic matter? Organic matter consists of plant materials like shredded leaves, grass clippings, horse, cow, sheep, goat and poultry manure, peat moss, pulled weeds, kitchen scraps like egg shells, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds (no meat or fish scraps though), sawdust, wood chips, and seaweed/kelp. FYI - most weed seeds will be killed off by the heat of the decomposition, but I'd still want to stay away from any invasive or noxious weeds (i.e.: bitter sweet, poison ivy, etc), just in case!  
• It is best to build your organic matter up in a compost pile of some sort. This pile could be any where that you find to be out of the way but accessible to add to it and to be able to turn the materials over periodically to speed up the decomposition. Your pile could even be a fancy specially made bin that turns - that would really speed things up, turning your yard and kitchen wastes into magical dirt in a few weeks.
• Compost doesn't smell if done properly. All organic matter should be composted first (already well rotted) before adding to the existing soil. Compost is called humus once it has turned into the rich colored dirt. It will improve the moisture retention, soil structure and fertility of your sandy soil.
• How do I add the finished compost or humus to my garden? You can just place the humus on top of the existing soil like you would mulch at about 2"- 4"deep (this works well in already established perennial beds or around trees and shrubs) or perhaps scratching into the top layer of soil lightly or you can work it completely into the existing soil with a spade, fork or roto-tiller. You can even do both working it into the existing soil and then placing some on top as mulch. This will need to be done every year from now on.
• Test the soil to find out the pH level of acidity and alkalinity. Most plants do well when the pH is between 6 and 7, which means that the soil is slightly acidic. A pH that is less than 7 means the soil is acidic - the lower the number the more acid it is. You will need to add some agricultural lime to make the soil sweeter or to make it less acid. A pH that is higher than 7 means that the soil is alkaline. If the number is very high you will need to add agricultural sulfur to reduce the pH level.
• Here's a bit of info if adding fertilizer is desired. Complete fertilizer contains 3 major elements - nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Nitrogen encourages leaf growth, and phosphorus and potassium assist in flowering and fruit production.

That's a lot of information, but I hope that it helps you out too and is easy enough to follow. After all, we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into our gardens and have such high hopes for them that we deserve to have our visions come true to life. Good luck and happy organic gardening!

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