Troy-Bilt 8 HP - Manual (Page 31)

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Terrace gardening
If a slope is too steep or too short
for vertical tilling, it may be neces­
sary to till across the slope in a
lateral direction. The best way to
achieve good results tilling across a
slope is to create terraces for your
garden (first, make sure that the
slope is not too steep for safe tilling).
Terraces should be about two or
three feet wide. This means you will
be able to plant one or two rows of
plants and later till under the crop
residues, but there may not be room
enough for cultivating with your tiller.
(If you make the terraces too wide,
you would be digging as much as a
foot into the uphill side of the ter­
race and you would end up trying to
grow plants in poor subsoil).
Using the “LOW” belt range and
“SLOW” wheel speed gear, start to
terrace on the top of the slope and
work down, always keeping the up­
hill wheel in the soft, newly tilled
soil. Each succeeding terrace is
started by walking below the terrace
you are preparing. In four or five
passes, your tiller can carve out a flat
and wide enough terrace for plant­
ing. See Figure 4-8 and Photo 4-9.
Make sure that you don’t till the
last 12-inches or more of the down­
hill outside edge of each terrace.
Keeping this strip untilled will help
to prevent the terraces from break­
ing apart and washing downhill. It
also gives you a walking path be­
tween the terraces.
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4-9: Terraces 2 or 3-feet wide are ideal.
UPHILL
LEAVE 12 I nches untilleo
¡;^ {REPE/ff PROCEDURE
DOWNHILL
4-8; How to make terraces in 4 or 5 passes.
SOIL ENRICHMENT IDEA
TRENCH COMPOSTING-Trench
composting is easy with the op­
tional Hiller/Furrower attachment
(see Section 9). Just dig a trench,
put in all manner of organic matter
and biodegradable household gar­
bage and cover it up with soil. The
earthworms and microbial life in
the soil will consume it faster than
you might imagine.
Tilling across slopes without terraces
Tilling across a slope without
forming terraces is not recom­
mended, but it can be done. How­
ever, please think it over carefully
and see if it isn’t possible to till
vertically up and down the slope.
or to create terraces.
First, make sure that the slope is
not too steep to till safely at all.
Then, begin at the top of the slope
and overlap half of each tilled path,
always keeping the uphill wheel in
the soft, newly tilled soil. Doing so
will help you keep the tiller more
stable. For best results, use the
“LOW” belt range and “SLOW”
wheel speed gear.
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