Rotavator on hire! Any tips? Clay soil and I have cardboard!

[Tori]

So its action stations on Saturday morning - and I can't wait! Got my allotment in December so I have been dying to get going ever since then!

I have covered the plot in weed supressant fabric and cardboard over the winter. It is clay soil and I am going to rotavate the whole plot on saturday. (its only a half size plot)

Any tips?

I have also collected loads of cardboard food packaging - eg cereal boxes. Are these any good for the allotment? Or shall I burn them and spread the ashes about?

OOOhhhh so excited!

[jacob marley]

Make sure that the slashers are on the right way round the sharp side go's forward .
It may sound crazy but i have seenthem on backward's on hire machine's .
A young lady on ou site was using a hire machine one day and i went to be nosy and noticed that the slasher's were on backward's i changed them over for her and the machine worked a lot better....jacob

[Tori]

Ah thanks! I'll take my spanner!

[sewer rat]

Wear gloves, steel toecap footwear and be prepared to have aching arms and more than a few bruises. Don't rush at it - let the machine do all the work.

[Tori]

Thank you! I have got a workmate - the OH. So we can take it in turns. I've already rewritten the plot layout 3 times. I wonde how many more it will be by sat afternoon

[jacob marley]

Just get it all done and then sort the layout afterward's you will find it a lot easier....jacob

[Glutton4...]

I'd suggest adding loads of well-rotted manure, and ash, if you're on Clay!

Have fun

[lynda66]

make sure it runs away from you, cos otherwise you may lose some toes, and don't wear crocs oh and take a video when you get dragged round the plot

[HeyWayne]

As said before - let the machine do the work. My brother-in-law and I used a rotivator on my back garden preparing the ground for turf. Only 10x10m but both of us had aching arms shoulders afterwards and at some points we had a handle each to try and keep it straight.

I'm 6ft 7 and weigh about 18st, he's 6ft 5 and weighs about 23st. Be prepared to be pulled about.

[Norburger]

Cost

Could I be cheeky and ask how much a weekends hire in your area costing ?

[Tori]

Yep! Its from HSS - national place just put it in google - and if you book online you get a tenner off so its £35 for a day, but they don't open on Sundays so I guess I get it for the whole weekend!

Thanks for the advice Heywayne - I am now slightly less excited! Looking forward to being dragged around allotment - ha!

[zazen999]

Get it on a bank hol weekend and you get the monday as well.

My advice would be to hold it back as much as possible to get the depth of dig. And fill with plenty of fuel as it runs out just as you are making good progress.

I'm not as big as Hey Wayne and did most of our garden on my own...we had to pour water from the canal over the soil as it was rock hard in places before we could get it to bite...but prepare for a take away in the evening as you probably won't feel like cooking.

[faerieprincess]

If you've got clay soil, you should be adding some lime to the soil - it apparently "binds the sticky clay particles together into larger, more manageable crumbs by a process called 'flocculation'", or if you don't want to increase the soil's alkalinity, mix 1 part dolomite (magnesium limestone) with 4 parts gypsum (calsium sulphate). Apply at a rage fo 400g/sq.m in autumn and spring, after 2 years reduce to 65g/sq.m. But don't apply lime and manure at the same time as there will be a chemical reaction, you need to do it several weeks apart.

(Borrowed this from "The Allotment Book" by Andi Clevely - a great read!!)

[Paulottie]

My only tip is to make sure you've got the metal bar at the back nice and deep. If it is running away from you lean down on the handles so bar goes deeper and anchors...rather than trying to rein it in...that's where you get the sore back. Seen many folk being dragged along in the toilet position like débutante waterskiiers. just lift the handles a bit to go forward....as said let machine do the work.

[Tori]

Lots of lovely tips, thanks everyone - I will post pic's on sun night!