Spring Plowing

Chris Newman, the instigator of Starbird Farm organic gardens reports on plans for spring plowing:

I spoke with the local farmer who will be doing the ground prep and we're targeting late March for the work, with the exact timing depending on the weather. So, the folks who are having this done should avoid putting stuff on the land that will be tilled.

He's going to do a three-step process: Plowing down to 10", tilling down 6" and power raking to get out the field grass rhizomes. A lot of work for $45. I'll let you know when the date is set.

Having grown up on a farm in the midwest, I well remember Spring Plowing. Beginning in early March, my dad would walk the fields several times a week. He was looking at soil moisture and temperature. As soon as he thought he could get his tractor through the fields without causing soil compaction (from plowing before it was dry enough) or plain getting stuck in the mud, he would hook up his John Deere 3-bottom plow to the old Farmall M tractor and start making his furrows across the fields.