Clearing Land For Garden

[Turtle989]

I would like to hear everyones advice or thoughts on creating an area for a garden. I have an area that has some oak, maple, aspen, and russian olive with some ferns other small undergrowth. Ive done some research on how to go about this but havent found what i really need. I just dont want to make mistakes and have to spend more time and energy on fixing it. My plan is to dig up as many roots as i can, pull stumps that will be in the way of actual garden area, then till area. Luckily I have a Kubota tractor that will do most of the hard work for me. If you all have any hints or tips to help me out. Thanks

 

[Weedygarden]

I suggest reaching out to your local Extension office. They can give you the best advice for gardening in your area. They might do a soil analysis as well.

When I started gardening in Colorado, I had no idea that soil was very different than the soil we had in South Dakota. I should have had the soil tested and asked the local Extension office for advice. We have heavy clay and now, every time I plant, I amend my garden with sphagnum moss and compost. I also add the leaves to my garden in the fall and work them in.

 

[Pearl]

Sounds like you have the right idea! When you are done with the hard work of tree and root removal, do you have a tiller for the Kabota, or a disc? I would turn the soil over once clear and do a soil analysis then (and maybe in the beginning too). A good discing/tilling would assure all unwanted roots are gone! Keep us posted as you do this, a lot for all of us to learn!!

 

[Neb]

I would like to hear everyones advice or thoughts on creating an area for a garden. I have an area that has some oak, maple, aspen, and russian olive with some ferns other small undergrowth. Ive done some research on how to go about this but havent found what i really need. I just dont want to make mistakes and have to spend more time and energy on fixing it. My plan is to dig up as many roots as i can, pull stumps that will be in the way of actual garden area, then till area. Luckily I have a Kubota tractor that will do most of the hard work for me. If you all have any hints or tips to help me out. Thanks

I will suggest you start small and expand over time. Lesson you learned from the small stater patch will serve you as you expand. If you clear more than you use will have to be mowed to keep it clear.

A book that taught me a lot it Steve Solomon's "Gardening When it Counts".

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series, 5) https://a.co/d/cRa5mDe

He has a chapter that focuses on analyzing the soil (mason jar, water, and a soil sample is all you need). He offers plans to fix the soil. It helped me.

Please share your adventures so we can help out as well as documenting your lessons for those that want to follow your lead.

Ben

 

[Biggkidd]

Having done quite a lot of this let me make some suggestions.

First never NEVER EVER cut the trees down planning to later remove the stumps. It's MUCH easier to dig around the stump and let the tree's weight help pop it up out of the ground. The larger the tree the higher up in the tree you want to push or pull. Often times I'll stand in the bucket of my tractor with it all the way up to hook the chain / cable as high as I can when dealing with large trees. The stump ball often weighs more than my tractor. Levers and fulcrums are your friend here! IE: when pulling over large trees it's often necessary to put a fulcrum a few feet from the stump for it to fall on and hopefully pop the stump up using the weight of the tree top to do the work so the fulcrum needs to be large enough and in place before you drop the tree.

Using animals to help clear can also work wonders. IE punch holes in around the roots and pour grain and and pigs will rip up the tree roots for you while getting the grain out. Goats are amazing at clearing briars and poisons.....

 

[Peanut]

How many hp is that Kubota? Reason I ask… stumps are a lot tougher than they seem. If less than 50hp… might pull up a few saplings. If you have hardwoods over a foot in diameter at the base I’d use a bulldozer or a tractor over 100hp, even then it won’t be easy. Last time I pulled a stump I used this jd 4630, rated about 150hp. Even then it took most of a day for one stubborn stump (below).

Then… the lingering issue is the miles of roots. Even if you kill the stump the extended root systems will put up sprouts for years sometimes, unless you have a plow to deal with them. Do you have a chisel plow of some type? You’ll need one to deal with root systems. Best to have a multi-year strategy. Fresh cleared land isn’t a ‘one and done’.

Then there are the living trees around your garden. Feeder root can easily reach 40-50ft into your cleared area. That's a battle that never ends, unless you create a dead zone around the tilled area. If you don't tree roots will be absorbing the nutrients and water from your garden.

Agree with above. It's much easier to remove the whole tree as one piece than just a stump.

 

[Turtle989]

Sounds like you have the right idea! When you are done with the hard work of tree and root removal, do you have a tiller for the Kabota, or a disc? I would turn the soil over once clear and do a soil analysis then (and maybe in the beginning too). A good discing/tilling would assure all unwanted roots are gone! Keep us posted as you do this, a lot for all of us to learn!!

No discer yet. We do plan to get one.

 

[Turtle989]

How many hp is that Kubota? Reason I ask… stumps are a lot tougher than they seem. If less than 50hp… might pull up a few saplings. If you have hardwoods over a foot in diameter at the base I’d use a bulldozer or a tractor over 100hp, even then it won’t be easy. Last time I pulled a stump I used this jd 4630, rated about 150hp. Even then it took most of a day for one stubborn stump (below).

Then… the lingering issue is the miles of roots. Even if you kill the stump the extended root systems will put up sprouts for years sometimes, unless you have a plow to deal with them. Do you have a chisel plow of some type? You’ll need one to deal with root systems. Best to have a multi-year strategy. Fresh cleared land isn’t a ‘one and done’.

Then there are the living trees around your garden. Feeder root can easily reach 40-50ft into your cleared area. That's a battle that never ends, unless you create a dead zone around the tilled area. If you don't tree roots will be absorbing the nutrients and water from your garden.

Agree with above. It's much easier to remove the whole tree as one piece than just a stump.

View attachment 118687View attachment 118688

Tractor only has 19 HP. I’ll have to rent a mini excavator or have someone get some of the stumps out. Trying to talk hubby into buying one. Thanks

 

[Turtle989]

Worked on some olive trees today.

 

[joel]

I use my Kubota Model L4701, Front loader & backhoe to clear five acres after cutting timber off 9.89 acres. the large pines stumps where from 10" to 24". Some small one rotted most did not.
I am planting ground covers now, to condition the soil, it is sandy loam. I use the rotary cutter to keep the weeds down & the tiller to turn the manure & surface weeds. I use black plastic from Billboard vinyl to cover weeds, sun & no water kills 100% of weeds in 6-8 weeks.

https://www.billboardvinyls.com/collections/all-reused-tarps?sort_by=in-stock

 

[Pearl]

Worked on some olive trees today.

I did a little reading on those, they can really spread!! You have your work cut out for you!!

 

[Mountain trapper]

I've cleared a lot of land for gardens and pastures. I've dug countless stumps out by hand. First I'd cut the tree down, cut it up for firewood, then burn the rest. Then dig, and dig until I got the stump out. If the trees weren't too big, I'd use a long cable and attach it to a team of horses and pull the tree over, stump and all. It's a lot of work, cutting, burning and digging. Now days I use my tractor, still a lot of work. No getting around that.

 

[Biggkidd]

These days I use a D4 Cat and it's often to small!

The bigger your toys er uh I meant tools, the bigger your tools get the bigger your projects get! 100%

 

[Peanut]

Worked on some olive trees today.

I did a little reading on those, they can really spread!! You have your work cut out for you!!

I did a little reading too... Sounds like something i don't want around here, knock on wood. The usda hasn't reported it growing in the deep south so far. It doesn't seem to like the heat and humidity. Seems to like colder climates.

It has been introduced in tn and random areas in tx, nc, ark,, just a few counties in each state. Same in the ohio valley, its rare there, uncommon in mi too. It seems to be a nuisance across the northern plains and the west though.

They wreck native species, here in the south we have chinese priviot hedge. It's taken out 90% of the native plums, huckle berries, dozens of species. A shame too, when i was a kid every one waited for wild plums to get ripe. They lined the sides of dirt roads in rural areas, grew around the edges of fields. Certain trees we'd pick from. There were a few species that had extremelly bitter fruit. Boys would dare each other to try one...

So keep up the good work with those russian olives!!! If you need help call the 'Genco Olive Oil' company. They'll know how to to deal them. Might owe mr. corleone a favor one day though.


Here is wild huckleberry in bloom... a wonderful medicine but so rare i don't harvest it.

 

[Tim Horton]

I am the Webster definition of ....black thumb... You need to know this going in..
So... I always did the machinery work and someone else did the gardening..
If I had an area to reclaim like you describe...
1.. I would brush hog mow the whole thing..
2.. I would heavily Round Up treat about 1/4 the area.. And cover in tarps.. Garden in raised beds and containers this first year.. Leave the covered area over winter..
3.. The next summer I would plow, disc, till and plant the covered area... Adding what is needed as indicated from an soil report.. Still gardening in raised beds and containers as well as the newly reclaimed area..
4.. Repeat this process until the entire area is reclaimed..