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Using a rotavator on grass

pjwizonpjwizon Posts: 52
in Tools and techniques
i know this is a bizarre question, but I'm in the process of preparing 65 square meters of very poor, sandy, stony, compacted ground for sowing wildflower perennials on grass. The grass is thin and sparse over most of the area. It's back breaking work and in trying to scarify grass to expose 50% bare soil, I've realised how badly compacted the soil is. Harrowing will be necessary to break up the soil surface.

Would it be a good idea to run a rotavator over the ground to a shallow depth in order to provide a better surface for sowing seeds? I'm not concerned about the existing grass as the seed mix will contain grass seed.


Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Sounds good to me. We rotovated a section of what was grass/dog run and planted in plugs of wild flowers and scattered some seed. It worked except for the fact the soil was too enriched and they grew far too much and went floppy.  If you had poor soil it should be perfect.
  • pjwizonpjwizon Posts: 52
    fidgetbones said:
    Sounds good to me. We rotovated a section of what was grass/dog run and planted in plugs of wild flowers and scattered some seed. It worked except for the fact the soil was too enriched and they grew far too much and went floppy.  If you had poor soil it should be perfect.
    Interesting. So you didn't remove the soil, but simply rotavated it into the ground. Did the grass grow back or was it killed?
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I would think it would be better to remove the grasss as t will be hard to rotivate and also provide nutrients as it rots down.  Wildflowers do best in poor soil. 

    You can hire turf lifting machines from good DIY shops and then just cut and stack the turves in a corner where they can rot down to provide great topsoil for a bed elsewhere.
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  • pjwizonpjwizon Posts: 52
    edited September 2019
    Obelixx said:
    I would think it would be better to remove the grasss as t will be hard to rotivate and also provide nutrients as it rots down.  Wildflowers do best in poor soil. 

    You can hire turf lifting machines from good DIY shops and then just cut and stack the turves in a corner where they can rot down to provide great topsoil for a bed elsewhere.
    I agree, but the turf cutter would have to be able to cut through a mass of stones. Much of the ground is packed with stones and    gravel with a  very thin layer of poor sandy 'top' soil no more than an inch or two thick in places. Cutting off the turfs would leave a bed of stones in quite a few parts of the garden. I suspect the site was used for infill for a building project. The wildflower meadow mix for sandy soils I've bought really needs to grow in very poor soil. 

    Essentially, I'm just trying to find an easy way of reducing the grass and tilling the ground over those areas that have thicker grass. Perhaps thorough scarifying is the way to go, followed by harrowing. Can you get motorised 'tillers' or harrows? I see HSS have this - would it be of any use?

    https://www.hss.com/hire/p/light-duty-tiller


  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    I have similar stony soil and have used my Mantis tiller to break up rough grass and soil. Strim off as much top growth as you can and rake it off for composting elsewhere.  Tillers are very hard work in stony soil, it will get bounced around by rocks and you might break some of the tines. There will probably also be lots of long stringy roots which will wind themselves around the tiller which will need regular removal.
  • pjwizonpjwizon Posts: 52
    steephill said:
    I have similar stony soil and have used my Mantis tiller to break up rough grass and soil. Strim off as much top growth as you can and rake it off for composting elsewhere.  Tillers are very hard work in stony soil, it will get bounced around by rocks and you might break some of the tines. There will probably also be lots of long stringy roots which will wind themselves around the tiller which will need regular removal.
    Intersting. I've looked at a website for the Mantis tiller and it states that the tines can be reversed to shallow till to a depth of 2 to 3 inches, which is ideal. Did you have any damaged tines when working your stony soil? 
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