Farmall Cub

I have a 1 acre field which is totally overgrown with weeds, vines & junk. Once I get this all cut down, what would be the next step in getting some of the area ready to plant? I'd like to duplicate the garden we had here as kids with corn, vegetables & other stuff. Nothing big, just a small garden 200'x200'. There is a land plow on ebay (ending in 4 hours). It has the plow and a disc on it. Is this what I'd use to turn over the soil? Then I suppose I'd need a harrow? Is this all overkill? Handy Andy sure makes it look easy

If you have a neighbor with a big tractor and plow have him plow the area deep the first time then disc.

That should get you started for the first year. This will give you enough time to figure out what equipment you need for intended use.

Comment. 200' X 200' is a big garden for most households. Suggest starting much much smaller. Gardens are a lot of manual labor and may not be economically viable.

My aunt and uncle always had a big garden. They farmed close to 1000 acres of row crops. Most of their garden work, soil preperation and weeding, was done with a walk behind rear tine tiller.

Eugene

Dave

It kinda looks like the point and share are worn out on that plow. Also it is missing the depth control lever and those end up going for $80 to $125. Some of the older plows the points are not avabile. I think it would be better to find one that has all the parts from somone that knows what model plow they have.. The super plow cheif it one that the parts are still avibale for. That plow is for a standard cub. There is a differnt type plow for a fast hitch and I do not rember which you need. And yes after you plow you would want a set of disks to break up the soil.

Billy

Dave,
Clark has quite a bit of stuff right now, i.e. fast hitch plow and disc harrow.
http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18444

PaulB also has a real nice Fast Hitch Plow Chief plow with colter.

Get a couple of guys together and have a plow day
Peter

Dave,

A 200X200 garden is just shy of an acre. This is a BIG garden, especially for your first garden in a while. However, no matter the size of the garden, you need three cubs as follows:
1 for the plow
1 for the disk
1 for the cultivators
you can throw in a fourth cub for a drag harrow if you want.

The Cub(s) will do a fine job of preparing the soil. You will need to contact your local county extension agent for specific help with questions and reccomendations. Tell me which county you are in and I can get you the contact information.

Bill

Dave you have enough cubs that you can set one up with cultivators to help keep the garden weeds knocked down. Just rember when planting to keep plants the same size in a row that you can get the tractor down. ie don't put in tomatos with corn at the end of the row where you cannot drive throgh after it grows up.

So now you can justify one to cut the lawn. One to cultivate the garden. Then you need one just to play with

Billy

Dave,

OOOOOPS! Billy is right! I forgot about yard mowing and playing around so you will need at least an additional 2 Cubs. Yes, 6+ sounds like a good number.

Bill

When we were kids, my parents garden was about 50' X 100'. I think I'd better keep it that size for now! This is really going to be a hacker home owner garden. It's not for selling crops or anything. I'm not going to rely on this to keep food in our stomachs either. I just thought it would be fun for the kids to learn a little about growing. I wasn't really thinking about how big 200x200 is

plowing for the first year is a tough task for a Cub I did that and the trumphet vine would litteraly stop the Cub in it's tracks, I found that a disc plow worked much better or as Bill said a bigger tractor.
I use to plant about an acre + or - and used the tractor with planter to plant with as far as harvesting what we done is take what we wanted for our own use then invited friends realatives and some folks that were not as fortunate as we were to come in and pick for free and had no problem getting rid of what we grew. Potatoes, sweet corn, greenbeans, onions and yes of course tomatoes.

if you want a regular plow for a cub that dosn't look purty. I have two complete ones that need a new home. The points worn however I believe that it can be used for many years yet. Best one is 100% there depth lever, eye bolt, chains and coulter all rust on every thing. Other one is missing the eye bolt and drop link for it, has the depth adjuster coulter etc
Ron
Lancaster, Ohio

My garden is 60 x 100 and it is a big garden. I use permant raised rows that are 4' wide from outside of the trench to the outside of the other. There is a 4' wide swath of grass in between. So basicly there are 11 rows that are 60' long. The swath in between are in case I run out of room and want to expand to 22 rows. Well, the 11 rows are more than enough. I plant 5- 10' every week and a half and have veggies coming out of my ears by July.
I started to prep the land years before by plowing under loads of leaves and composted manure. The cub was used for all that work with just a plow and disk.
Then I used my walkbehind Gravely with the rotory plow to make the raised beds ( the Gravelys are just a adicting as a cub). Now I just use the cub with loader to bring in woodchip mulch on the beds.
When I was younger I used to cultivate my Granfathers huge market garden with a Massey Harris 30. The problem is you could only cultivate for so long and then the good plants got too large. The weeds would still grow large enough to set seed and the next year you would have even more weed.
I pull my weeds and I can cover the whole garden in one night a week. If you set it up right in the beginning it won't overwelm you and get away from you. This can be a chore if you leave it alone for a couple weeks.
I love to garden and have found this method best for me. your kids may lose some intrest until thing start popping, I try not to make it a chore for mine.Remember that kids love pumpkins. If you need some pics of my setup just send me a message. Good luck, Bob

You have a lot of ambition to start with a garden that size. Mine used to be 100 x 100 and I couldn't keep up with it. Now it is about 50 x 50 and still takes a lot of time if I want it to be nearly weedless. It would be better to start smaller and grow each year rather than be discouraged and quit after the first year. A Cub does really well on that size garden and you should have fun with it. I agree that it might be best to find a larger tractor to plow the first time and get it deep.

There are really two kinds of garden crops:
1. Veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, onions, zuchinni, etc. which require lots of attention in a small space.
2. Then there are "row crops" like corn, bush beans, potatoes, and sunflowers, which all lend themselves well to maintenance with a cultivator on a cub. You could argue about which area to plant potatoes but I like to treat them like the row crops and plant a bunch of them.

I'd suggest as the others have that you use a larger tractor to deeply plow the entire acre, then disc it a couple times. Then pick a small area on one end to add lots of compost and make that the true "veggie garden", then the rest can be planted in rows wide enough to plant and cultivate with the cub. After you plant beans, corn, and potatoes in the larger area if there is any room left plant sunflowers--the birds love sunfowers and lots of birds in the garden area help keep bugs under control. The small area can be worked by hand or with a rototiller of some sort while the larger area gives you an excuse to buy however many cubs you can justify owning. I personally think its good to shoot high on the first garden because its good to realize how inadequate your equipment is so you therefore have to get something bigger or faster to handle this huge project. What might frustrate you in the beginning just might be the challenge you need to overcome and ultimately enjoy. Actually, I don't disagree with any of the previous posts, I just know how much fun it is to plant and cultivate with a cub and if the crop includes sunflowers you will literally chomp at the bit to get off work so you can go home and see how much they grew today! Enjoy.
--Cruiser

Hey guys I really appreciate all of your comments. I know it takes time to try & explain things to a beginner. With everything you have said, I think I'll start with a MUCH smaller area. Corn & a few veggies plus pumpkins for the kids. I will have a guy I know come over with his BIG brush hog to get a grip on getting the field cleared then rent a tiller for a 20x30 garden area. I can keep the field in order once the big stuff is gone & then I could expand if I like.
I was thinking about my parents garden. We used to use hoe's (no, not that kind ) to make the trenches & then put down rolls of black poly. We would keep it down with small rocks & then cut holes & plant each seed. The poly would eliminate the weeds. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the farm guys are laughing at me right now but that's ok. I appreciate all of your help!!

Dave,

No one, farmers or serious gardeners, are laughing at black poly. It works so well that the process for laying the poly down has been mechanized by mechanically inclined farmers/gardeners to the point that megabuck commercially manufactured outfits are available. Go ahead, use the poly, you'll love it.

Bill