Raised Bed Preparation

Here are pictures of the equipment used: John Deere 3020 tractor,
Roll-A-Cone hiller-bedder, Howard Rotavator, tillage tool (spring shank
cultivator), 3 bottom plow. I have three Yeomans plow shanks which are
mounted on the 6' toolbar pictured below (YeomansPlowToolbar.jpg) and applied
to the entire acreage when soil moisture in low enough to avoid compaction.
I farm on a number of converging slopes so erosion is a problem, access
by tractor is also. I plan to build small temporary earth dams across
all the beds on all slopes at 100' intervals to limit erosion. I have
dug small ponds in three locations to catch nearly all runoff from the gardens.
The tall, long raised beds were prepared across the grade on the flats, along the slopes on
the contour around curves and on long runs with the grade with cross-beds at 90 degrees as
low dams every 100' for erosion control and water retention; they contain nearly all rainfall
and dispense it gradually during dry times, by soaking up into the growing beds.
During heavy rains the beds look like chinampas and the catchment ponds fill up.

I have added improved hilling disk hub/axle/mounting assemblies to the Roll-A-Cone hiller-bedder
and a row of 4 20" tillage tines with chisel points along the rear toolbar,
between the disks, for extra seedbed tilthing, widening and levelling,
cutting narrow planting furrows and plowdown of crop stubble and weeds.

Equipment, Ponds, Bed Preparation, Projects

Roll-A-Cone-Hiller-Bedder
HowardRotavator-50inch
Howard Rotavator
YeomansPlowToolbar
bottomplow-tillagetool-YeomansPlowToolbar
Yeomans Plow 1
Yeomans Plow 2
Yeomans Plow 3
Yeomans plow 4
Yeomans plow 5
Yeomans plow in use
hiller-bedder-1
hiller-bedder-2
hiller-bedder-3
hiller-bedder-4
hiller-bedder-5
hilling-bedding1
hilling-bedding2
hilling-bedding3
hilling-bedding4
catchment-erosioncontrol
Small Pond 1-1
Small Pond 1-2
Small Pond 1-3
arugula
turnip greens
quarry rock dust in field
quarry rock dust in pile

Raised Beds, during and after preparation
(dry & in preparation, planted & irrigated, showing water retention dams & ditches, with emerged seedlings)

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,

26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50,

51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75,

76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100,

101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119

120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128,

These pix show extra plant growth on higher portions of beds further away from standing water in adjoining ditches:

129, 130, 131, 132, 133