Back in the time before the invention of tractors, growing a crop was seriously hard work. Tremendous amounts of laborers and farm animals were needed to maintain a field or garden. Fast forward to today!
Farm implements combined with a tractors 3 point hitch will allow you to produce the same results while cutting the cost of manpower. In the age of the Internet, you can research, watch demos, and even order these attachments directly online and have them delivered without getting out of your chair.
What makes a tractor so useful are the Power Take Off and the Three Point Hitch. This nifty invention has created the need for an array of
compact tractor implements, each with its own purpose in your garden. Some implements need to be powered by the tractor in order to work properly so it is a good idea to have some horsepower in your PTO capability. Attachments can also be added to the front end of a tractor if you have a tractor front end loader installed. These
Tractor Loader Attachments will ensure that you get the most out of your tractor.
Front End Loaders on a Tractor with a quick attach hitch provides
the smart farmer a way to connect not only a bucket, but also a variety of other useful
farm tractor implements as well. If your tractor has auxiliary hydraulics available, you will also be able to use a
tractor grapple bucket, tractor pallet forks, and pole handlers just to name a few.
As a rule of thumb, there are certain tractor implements that should be considered as standard equipment when using your tractor for producing a garden.
Farm Plows are one on these must have attachments. A plow will make is easy to flip over the topsoil to create a good environment for your crops to grow in abundance. Plowing your garden is one step that cannot be skipped, and there are many different
garden plows to fit any size tractor.
After you have plowed your garden, you will need to break up the soil until it is suitable for planting. You can accomplish this by using either a disc harrow, or a
pto tractor tiller. The disc harrow is simply connected to the 3 point hitch and ran over the plowed area until the larger pieces of dirt are broken up and the soil is workable with your hands. Some gardeners who use a
disc harrow prefer to leave some small clods to help keep the ground from washing away in heavy rains.
Considering the tremendous amount of time that can be saved, many gardeners prefer to use a PTO driven tiller instead of a disc harrow. Yes, the
rotary tillers do cost more up front, but this is easily justified if you have a large garden that you can prepare for planting your crops in one pass instead of two or more depending on how fine you like your soil to be. One more thing to consider when buying a tiller is whether or not your tractor has the horsepower to pull a tiller the full width of your tractor. If not, look for a tiller that has a clevis hitch so that you can offset the tiller to clear out one side of your tire tracks to keep from ending up with a hard spot in your garden.
Your soil has now been plowed, tilled or broken up with a disc, and is now ready for a garden bedder. Also known as a garden hiller, this attachment will mound up the soil for planting and basically creates a raised bed for your seed to lay in. Some of the larger
field bedders will have a sweep option on the outside of the bedder wheels to pull up the hard spots that are left from your tractors tires in your garden. A garden bedder should be fully adjustable to create wide or narrow beds depending on what you are planting.
Now comes the not so fun part of a garden. .. taking care of the weeds that can strangle your crop. You basically have two choices in this area, hoe your garden (don't recommend it if you have a large garden and enjoy standing upright) or you can attach a
garden cultivator to your tractor. While your garden plants are young and still fighting against any unwanted competitors for sunlight, water, and minerals you will want to get rid of the competition. The premise is to stradle your plants with your tractor, and the cultivator will pull up the weeds growing in your garden. Be careful not to get your cultivator shanks too close to your crop so you do not disturb the roots, but get close enough to pull out your weeds. Once your crop is big enough to shade the area on either side of your row, you are pretty much in the clear.
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