Growing your own veg

I am "bilingual" too. Some posters on here still use Imperial so I tend to go along with it, but I have to be metric here - except for water pipes, which are measured in inches. This is polegada in Portuguese and polegar means thumb. A thumb can be reckoned as an inch across for those of us who use body parts for measurements - and yes I know that some body parts are different lengths for different people, also weather dependent!!.

Do a sample check run in case the bodies need adjusted for width. I think from your photograph that the ridger bodies are adjustable. I have not seen many ridger ploughs, but those I did were all adjustable. The splay on the two sides can be changed to accommodate different row widths, or whether you want a high pointed ridge or a lower more rounded top. The latter were used to follow on with a horse drawn turnip/swede drill.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
When I was much younger, father contracted somebody with a ridger very similar to yours. Also pulled by the Fergie, actually the one I eventually bought, the contractor would make all the ridges. We would then muck the bottom of the drills, hand plant and the contractor would run along the tops of the ridges (equal spacing front and rear tyres) and split the ridges over the planted seed pots. We would then in due course use a draw hoe to knock out the weeds between the young potato plants and the same ridger would be used to remake the ridges. We (or rather father with my assistance) used to grow up to about an acre and a half this way. On my own place we grew a few acres each year.

Your ridger is adjustable for row width. Make the two outside ridger points exactly the same width as your tractor tyre mid points (remember - equal width centre to centre front and back) adjusting your wheel width as necessary. We also grew on narrower rows than most folks. Father liked 26" and I went to 28" because we mainly grew on haugh land that was very light and I liked that little bit more soil cover.

Any more questions - just ask.

When I was young we used to do the same but after the first 20 yards the concentration would lapse, the tractor would slip off the ridges that where being split and the air would turn blue with rows looking like a dogs hind leg. On a brighter note New Puritan I have a pair of planter tubes that would fit your ridger that you could borrow.
 

New Puritan

Member
Location
East Sussex
Thanks @Old McDonald and @renewablejohn ... Aha so I hadn't realised the bodies themselves could be adjusted for their individual working width, as well as moving the whole things from side to side - I will go and have a look and see how free moving they are. Thanks John, but I think me borrowing your ridger tubes may be more trouble than it's worth for 1/8th of an acre, given we must be about 300 miles apart!

Thanks again everyone,
NP.
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Thanks @Old McDonald and @renewablejohn ... Aha so I hadn't realised the bodies themselves could be adjusted for their individual working width, as well as moving the whole things from side to side - I will go and have a look and see how free moving they are. Thanks John, but I think me borrowing your ridger tubes may be more trouble than it's worth for 1/8th of an acre, given we must be about 300 miles apart!

Thanks again everyone,
NP.

Was just a thought there quite light and would fit in the boot of a car. For the amount of time they save I would have thought it worth asking on the Haulage and backloads thread if anyone is passing.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

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  • Up to 25%

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  • 50-75%

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  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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