Troy-Bilt 8 HP - Manual (Page 33)

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SPECIAL TROY-BILT GARDENING TECHNIQUE
Try wide-row planting
Wide-row planting is a highly
productive gardening technique
that is worth trying. As the name
implies, it involves broadcasting
seed in bands anywhere from 10
inches to 2 or more feet wide,
rather than in traditional single-
file rows.
The greatest advantage to this
gardening method is that you have
more plants per area in your gar­
den, which results in much higher
yields from the same amount of
space (see Photo 4-10). Typically,
you can grow anywhere from 3 to
4 (or more) times produce in the
same space normally set aside for
a single row.
In addition, when you plant crops
in wide rows, you automatically
shade the ground. Shading pre­
vents most weeds from growing
and also holds moisture in the
ground. Wide rows also protect
the soil from temperature fluctua­
tions and makes harvesting easy,
since you can sit and pick so much
produce from one spot.
It’s simple to plant and grow
wide-row crops. First prepare a
loose, smooth, fertile seedbed and
mark off your row with strings-
Photo 4-11. Hand broadcast the
seeds over the raked area as if
you were seeding a lawn (remem­
ber to plant vegetable seeds a little
thinner than grass seed). Cover
them with soil from outside the row,
tamping it down firmly with a hoe.
If you’re planting larger seeds such
as peas or lima beans in wide
rows, you can run your tiller over
them, planting about 2 or 3 inches
deep. If you use your tiller for plant­
ing, sow your seeds a little thicker
as some of them won’t get deep
enough to germinate. After tilling,
firm the soil.
Plant the larger-seeded crops,
such as beans or peas, with a little
care so you won’t have to thin later
on. For small-seeded crops, such
as lettuce and carrots, you can
easily thin as soon as they come
up by lightly dragging a steel
garden rake across the row about
V4-inch deep. You will also disturb
and kill many tiny weed seeds
that have begun to sprout near the
soil surface.
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4-10: Wide-row planting on the right compared to sin
gle row on the left.
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4-11: After preparing seedbed, mark off row area as
wide as you want, even up to 4-feet across.
4-12: Wide-row planting really works, as evidenced by this lush growth of peas.
HERE’S ANOTHER SPACE SAVING METHOD:
Planting in double (or even triple) rows is ?
another space saving idea that many Troy-Bilt Tiller owners use. Beans, for example, can be planted in
two rows spaced 6 to 8 inches apart. On either side of the double row, leave enough room for J
sidegrowth and later cultivating with your tiller. It is still necessary to thin seedlings according to the
seed company’s directions on the packet.
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