Rotavating.

[simoncpg]

Dear All.
I have hired a rotavator for a couple of weeks time.
What i would like to know is, should i go over the ground again and again or just the once?.
Thanks.
Simon.

[rustylady]

I would have thought that it depends on what the ground is like to start with.

[simoncpg]

The groung is turf and some weeds.
Simon.

[VirginVegGrower]

I take it you are just going to chop them in then when rotavating? If so you should get lots of lovely dandelions later.

[lottie dolly]

Bad idea,IF you managed to get the machine to cut into the turf,you will only end up with variouse sized chunks of turf,some will be buried to resprout when its summer,you best to get the turf up,and stack it to rot down for future good loam,also depends what weeds you have,the thugs of the ground like the big roots,will again make a lot more smaller plants,we used to roivate our plots,until last autumn,I now have big regrets,and are now digging by hand,hard work,to start with,better in the long term,ask the rotivator place if they got a machine to cut the turfes of before hand,also dig out any big weeds,then hoe and rake them up,before you think about the rotovator,also ask advice from the place,as,if you damage the machine ??????

[bearded bloke]

Lawn grass,meadow grass,couch grass ?

Your best bet would be to cut the grass off as turves & stack them grass side down,over a period of time they will rot down into lovely free compost

[bearded bloke]

Snap re: turfing LD

[Aberdeenplotter]

Depends on the type of rotovator you are hiring and as others have said, the condition of the ground and the nature of the weeds already in the ground. If it is only grass/annual weeds and not perennials like docks, thistle dandelions and couch or ground elder then a wheel driven rotovator should do the trick fine. Make the judgement as to whether you need to do more than one pass after you see how good a job you make with one pass. If you need a second pass, do the second at right angles to the first.

Back to the subject of weeds. dig out dandelions/plantains/docks /thisltes etc before you start. If you have couch/ground elder. Forget it. Rotovating will be the worst thing you can do.

[alldigging]

If you remove turf though you will be lowering the soil level until it's composted and added back. This means if the land gets very well it'll be soggy.

There's other ways of turning grass into beds.

And have someone else with you to have a go with the machine else you'll need logn rest breaks and get less done.

[Mikey]

You could dig a spades depth down and turn the turf upside down in the hole, cover with cardboard to kill off any persistant weeds and then build a lasagne bed overtop of it.

Unless you have a heavy duty rotovator, its not going to appreciate chopping through un-dug ground.
I use a rotovator on some of my soil now, but hand dug it for the first couple of years, to avoid spreading the more persistant weeds like couch grass, bindweed etc around the plot. I wish I'd come across the lasagne method when I first got my plot, I'm sure I'd be much further on than I am now.

[binley100]

Lazy beds.........

How to make a lazy bed for Growing Vegetables - YouTube

[zazen999]

You took the words right out of my mouth Jo!

[binley100]

Ah that's cos someone sowed the seeds in my head..........

[RedThorn]

As Bins and others have said ...

My first thoughts were noooooo not another victim... if you've couch or the likes you'll really really regret it later but others have already said as much, if you still want to, mind your feet.....

[binley100]

and try not to kill too many worms .........