Garden
Tractor Gardening, Part
1
(Wheel
Horse)
by New England Gardener
Part 1
The
development of garden tractors really started
about the same time as farm tractors, in the
1910's and 1920's. Many of the pre-WWII
tractors were large and heavy.
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In 1937,
Montgomery Wards contracted with
Simplicity to make a small two wheel
garden tractor, capable of cultivating
and powering many useful attachments.
Sears was also selling a variety of
larger walk behind tractors. [This photo
is the last model of light cultivating
tractors Simplicity made, the model LC.
It was made from 1958-1963.] |
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Ben
Gravely introduced very capable tractors,
with a multitude of powered attachments.
The 1939 Model L was made with minor
improvements through 1976, and the same
drive train with other brands of engines
continued to 2004. Many millions were
made. The model in this picture was made
in the 1980's. |
There were
over 200 different US companies making two
wheel tractors, but many companies sold only
to a few neighboring states.
After WWII,
and into the 1950's, the two wheel tractor
reached its peak in development, sales, and
popularity. Four wheel garden tractors were
taking over, and I believe the designs
reached their peak as practical Garden
tractors in the 1960's. Some of them stayed
in production well after that. The Garden
tractor was becoming a big, wide lawn
mower.
Two
different types of Tractors emerged, a light
duty lawn tractor, only good for mowing
lawns, and a big heavy duty tractor, too wide
and to low to the ground to use in an
established garden.
Part
2
What should
we look for in a Garden Tractor? The good
news for us is that many of the most
practical garden tractors were considered
obsolete, and have years of work left in
them. Often a real Garden tractor was
purchased, and only used to mow the lawn.
That is very light work for a frame and
transmission intended to pull a moldboard
plow through the ground. One of these
tractors with a worn out engine or mowing
deck, sells for very little.
The simple
2 wheel tractors that went out of style can
work with even less fuel. The engines on
either of these types are literally antiques,
and parts and service can be very hard to
find.
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New
engine designs use half the fuel, and
are much easier to start. I repower my
tractors unless the engine works
perfectly. Look for a model that uses a
simple belt from the engine to a cast
iron gearbox, with an idler wheel to
act as a clutch.
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I love my
big Gravely riders and walk behinds. Cub
Cadet, Power King, Simplicity, Bolens and
John Deere and others made powerful tractors
with complicated drive trains, and big
engines. They have too many critical parts
and use too much gas for survival
gardening.
Make sure
the MODEL is a real garden tractor, not a
lawn tractor designed only for mowing grass.
Most manufacturers made both types. Stay away
from automatic drive, the early ones weren't
very efficient, and all of them are
complicated. Look for a brand that is popular
in your area, so you can pick up a few spares
that will take the same attachments. Avoid
orphan brands of tractors, but don't expect
today's dealers to have many parts for
tractors this old on the shelf.
I will be
explaining how using implements pulled
through the soil, rather than engine powered
rotary tillers, you can grow plenty of food
for a large family with only a few gallons of
gas a year, or even less. Two or three
horsepower is enough for a two wheel tractor,
and twice that is fine for a small rider. Now
I realize such tractors won't power a big
mowing deck, rotary tiller, or snow blower,
but they are working fine in my heavy clay
soil, with many rocks in it. I live in the
last town in my state to be settled, because
the soil is so hard to farm.
The saying
goes, in tractors there are three things that
are important, CONDITION, CONDITION, and
CONDITION! If you find a well maintained
tractor with all the gardening attachments,
at a good price, buy it. Just keep these
things in mind. Simplicity and Midland made
most of the two wheel tractors Wards sold, as
well as selling them under their own name.
Although there are an incredible number of
tractor models, most of the attachments fit
all of them.
Sears sold
the David Bradley two wheel tractors for many
years. They have taller tires giving better
crop clearance and traction, but have a dry
clutch built into the pulley on the gearbox.
Now that they are old, they have a nasty
habit of sticking in the engaged position,
but it wouldn't be hard to convert them to an
idler pulley, or at least add a kill switch
on the handle bar. Sears also sold many rider
Garden Tractors with the simple idler pulley
clutch. They made their own attachments to go
with either 2 or 4 wheel tractors. You will
need to find them for your
tractor.
All the
early brands made and sold their own
attachments, but later on the Sleeve Hitch
became the standard. It's very much like the
hitch on the two wheel tractors Wards sold.
Wheel Horse first used a "Slot Hitch" on
their riders, but later made a "Clevis Hitch"
which is interchangeable onto their earlier
tractors, and takes standard Sleeve hitch
attachments still made today by Brinley and
Agri-fab. Larger garden tractors offered a
Category O three point hitch. Sears offered a
tiny 3 point hitch for their riders, but
that's not the same. Once you have a liftable
rear hitch on a rider, the frame for
cultivating tines can be made up by buying
the steel cut to length, and drilling and
bolting it together, or having it welded. Of
course it's much easier if you can find it
already made. You only need raise the handle
bars on a two wheel tractor. I am trying to
give you an overview, but I hope you find
your tractor WITH its garden
attachments.
Part 3
Which
attachments will I need? In the springtime, I
start off disk harrowing my garden every
10-15 days, to keep the weeds from getting
established.
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A 4-5 foot
wide heavy disk harrow works better and
faster for this, pulled behind a rider
like a cart. I use the front half of one
made for an IHC Cub If you can't find
one, similar disks are now being made for
ATV's to pull, and although they may
recommend 16 hp, I am sure they are not
as heavy as the IHC I pull with my 5 hp
tractor. You don't need any complicated
lift mechanism; just park it near the
garden. |
Two of the
ATV types made now can be flipped over, on to
transport wheels. All types will have places
to add weight, usually cement blocks. You
want to add enough to keep the disks cutting
into soft ground a couple inches, or more
weight if you are cutting in a cover crop or
plant debris from last year. With a two wheel
tractor, you can do this work with a smaller
disk harrow, but it will take a lot more
passes. With a rider you can also buy several
garden tractor size disk harrows, and pull
them one behind the other. This style of disk
harrow will stay in contact with the ground.
You won't be able to back up, so start
turning soon enough to change direction
inside the garden itself. Vary your path
through the garden, going say east to west on
one pass, and north to south next
time.
When the
right time comes, you are ready to broadcast
seed for wheat, oats, buckwheat, rye, or any
small grain, then cover it lightly with the
same disk harrow, and wait for harvest. For
row crops you need a furrow to plant in, with
loosened soil well below the seeds, as well
as on top.
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For large
seeds like corn or beans, and even
potatoes, onions, or flower bulbs, this
can be done with a V shaped furrowing
plow set deep, with a pair of tines on
either side to partly back fill the
furrow. The furrower needs to be a small
one, less than 6 inches wide. If you
can't find one that narrow, you may have
to use something similar. Farm supply
stores will have huge selections of
tools, but many will be sized for farm
tractors. |
For large
seeds like corn or beans, and even potatoes,
onions, or flower bulbs, this can be done
with a V shaped furrowing plow set deep, with
a pair of tines on either side to partly back
fill the furrow.[#B-9] The furrower needs to
be a small one, less than 6 inches wide. If
you can't find one that narrow, you may have
to use something similar. Farm supply stores
will have huge selections of tools, but many
will be sized for farm tractors.
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The next
step is to drop in the seeds or lay out
the bulbs. Now remove the furrower, and
leave the two tines and simply drive over
the row to cover the seed. Once the crops
are up, you drive over the rows with the
same set up, to deeply cultivate to soil
on either side of the roots. This makes
it easy for the roots to grow out to the
sides, and corn, peas, and beans will
shoot up an inch or two every time you do
this. |
For small
seeds like carrots, spinach and beets, I
simply use a single tine in the center, set
deep, to loosen the soil well below the seed.
After dropping in tiny seed, it's easier to
just cover it with a hoe. As long as your
tractor can clear the crops, you can drive
your two or four wheel tractor over the rows,
to cultivate them.
For the
paths between the rows, you want many tines
set shallow, and there are many styles to do
this. I am glad I have several types, but I
can't say one is always best. The fixed tines
like I described before work well, but if you
hit a rock, they all come up of the ground to
ride over it. You can attach the furrower and
also hillers for hilling corn or potatoes
though.
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Spring
tooth harrows don't need weight in order
to dig into the soil, so they are easy to
lift at the ends of the rows. Disk
harrows can be set to throw dirt to the
side to hill crops a little while you
cultivate. There are two types, the kind
you can lift out of the ground at the end
of the row and the kind that you tow like
the larger disks. |
Here in
Southern New England, and up in the hills
where it's cooler, I only mulch Cole crops
which like cool soil. If you have dry hot
summers, you will mulch earlier, and end your
tractor cultivating. I broadcast rye into the
corn with the last cultivation.
I seldom
use my moldboard plows or rototillers any
more. A 2 wheel Sears David Bradley with a
1&3/4 hp engine or my 5 hp Wheel Horse
rider will pull a 6&1/2 wide plow in
garden soil. With bigger engines, you could
pull bigger plows, but you don't need
to.
To open new
ground, I cover it with a thick black plastic
Silage cover in the fall or early spring, and
weigh down all the edges. I guess the poly
tarps would work, but I'd try the ones that
block the sunlight. Pull it up a week or so
before planting time and disk it heavy. A
small light 2 wheel tractor like this 1958
Simplicity Model LC will cultivate your
garden paths, which you should do every 5-10
days. Your soil would have to be looser than
mine to dig deeply under the furrows though.
A larger model Simplicity, Midland, or David
Bradley could do that work, or any small
rider. These little Garden Tractors will do
in an hour what hand tools would take weeks
to accomplish, allowing you to grow far more
food. - Framerik
Part
4
Garden
Tractor Versatility
[Click here for a Simplicity Model "C"
Original Brochure in .pfd format]
GARDENING
ARTICLES by New England Gardener -
Those interested in learning more about
walk behind tractors can join an e-mail Yahoo
Group devoted to this endeavor, moderated by
New England Gardener, the author of this article.
See
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simplicity_walking_tractors/
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Sears sold
this very capable two wheel tractor after
World War II under its David Bradley
name. Here it is set up to use the saw
attachment for cutting
firewood. |
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Nicely
restored David Bradley with 1 & 2/3
horse power Continental engine. This
machine can cultivate a garden with sips
of fuel! These walk-behind tractors
can do almost anything a riding tractor
can do, just a little slower and with
almost no fuel consumption. Click
on the photos to enlarge. |
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David
Bradley making deep furrows to loosen the
soil. It's being used like a moldboard
plow. Click on the image to
enlarge. |
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Using the
disk harrow to chop debris and cultivate
the soil. |
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The spike
harrow can level the garden after using
the disk or plow, break up clods of dirt,
and even cultivate between wide rows
after planting. |
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A spike
tooth harrow can also shallowly cultivate
wide paths. For the paths between the
rows, you want many tines set shallow,
and there are many styles to do
this. |