# A Broadfork Instead of a Tiller?



## dheat (Jul 27, 2005)

Hey All,

I usually dig in compost and fertilizer into my established beds every winter, but I'm not getting any younger and my son continues to get older. What I mean is digging kills my back and while I occasionally press my son into action he's only going to be home another year or two.

So, I've been thinking about a broadfork. Can it do everything a tiller does? Specifically, may amendments may be incorporated into the soil with a broadfork? If so, how?

I'm not opposed to a tiller, but 1) it would be yet another machine to maintain, 2) I'd prefer something quiet and 3) that didn't require gas. Broadforks are very low maintenance, very quiet and require no gas. And, from what I've seen, they'd be easy enough on my back.

Your opinions and experiences appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I don't think it will do as well as a tiller, but that probably isn't necessary anyway. I've been thinking of a broadfork for myself, but I have sandy soil. I wouldn't have wanted to have tried it on hard clay. I'm sure some do and it greatly improves their soil but it would be too much effort for me. 

I used to use a potato fork before I had a tiller. I'd spread the compose on top of the bed and stick the fork in as far as I could get it to go; rock back and forth, pull it out and move it over about six inches. It was easier than digging or tilling either one.


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## dheat (Jul 27, 2005)

Hey Callieslamb,

Read the article and this jumped out at me (emphasis added):


> COF will, over three or four years of use, induce soil imbalances, especially amongst the minor nutrients. If everything that was taken from your garden were returned to it, then, assuming your soil was sufficiently well endowed from the beginning, it might never run short of minor nutrients. However, most of the minerals that plants remove end up in the septic tank or sewerage system. After a few years of this removal, even though you are using COF and adding major nutrients in approximately the correct amounts relative to each other, the soil might start moving seriously out of balance. In consequence you may begin to experience new problems â diseases usually. Or some species may not grow as well as it did a few years ago. *I suggest that after using COF for three years, you have a full and proper soil test done and from its results work out your own custom COF. You might discover you have built too high a level of calcium and/or magnesium. In that case you can delete all limes â ag lime, dolomite lime and gypsum â from the mix. If you find you have a surplus of P (and I have seen several local gardens test that way), you can leave out the phosphorus booster from your own COF.*


That pretty much sums up where I'm at. (I don't remember reading that in Solomon's book.)

Thanks for the article.

Doug


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## viggie (Jul 17, 2009)

I've been using a spading fork for mine for a couple years now. Once I started throwing the rabbit bedding into the gardens that pretty much negated the use of a shovel. Tillers are ok, but they do function to break down the soil structure you are trying to build up.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Why would one use Solomon's COF recipe without first knowing if it were suitable to his soil? The instructions for its use are contrary to what it should be. It calls for using a lot of it and if the plants aren't growing fast enough then add more. Plants growing in alkaline soil will grow slower since they can't take up enough nutrients. Making it more alkaline isn't going to help matters. And indeed, after a few years of making the soil too alkaline for normal growth, then it has to be undone to get it back to where it started. If that's going to be the case, don't start!

Martin


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## Dieselrider (Jul 8, 2008)

dheat said:


> hey callieslamb,
> 
> read the article and this jumped out at me (emphasis added):
> 
> ...



cof????


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

COF is Steve Solomon's Complete Organic Fertilizer.

www.northwestgardennews.com/id286.html

Martin


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

A broadfork would incorporate organic matter or fertilizer into the soil if the material were fine and dry and allowed to sift down through the cracks. I've done that with a 16" trenching spade by stepping it straight down to its limit and then drawing back to about a 45Âº angle. That's after spreading dine compost and sand on top of the soil. The loose stuff tries to fill in the void under the shovel. That works great since an 8" wide chunk of soil is being lifted. You'd be lifting narrower bands of soil with a fork.

Martin


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

A broadfork is different than a spading fork. We use a broadfork to dig garlic and potatoes -- it lifts through the soil, loosening it. A spading fork can actually move soil. So I'm not sure how well a broadfork would do to incorporate amendments, especially bulky organic ones.


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## Manny (Dec 26, 2003)

A few years ago I bought one of "Johnies" broadforks designed by Elliot Coleman and I retired my tiller. I'm going to do all my gardening now by the "Square Foot" method because I found that if I lay out a four foot square it takes me about five minutes to till the soil in it with the broadfork. It is very easy on this old mans back and I'm not mushing up all the earthworms.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Depending on the size of the area, large?, and the availability of a tractor, I'd suggest a spader. A spader is an automated way of doing what a broadfork does. It will incorporate a standing crop under circumstances a tiller can't work and preserve soil structure.


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## bluesail2681 (Dec 12, 2012)

Hound dog or ground dog? It's a stand up hand cultivator I got a Home Depot. It's a straight stand up rod with a handlebar on top. At the bottom it four long times and a couple short ones. By long I mean like four inches. I love it no bending or lifting or pushing. Just stab and turn. I have broken up sod with it and In an existing bed you can't beat it for turning I'm compost. Easy on the back I got one for my older mother and she loves it too


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## bluesail2681 (Dec 12, 2012)

Hound dog stand up tiller it's called


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## highcotton23 (Apr 29, 2013)

I bought one of Meadow Creature's 14" broadforks this past Fall to break up my raised beds. When I received it, I realized it was built to such a heavy-duty quality that I could use it to break new ground, not just loosen the beds. We have solid clay with zero top soil. I positon the fork, step up and sink the tines, then just lean back letting my weight break through the ground. The clay comes out in chunks. The soil that's been trucked in is then mixed with the clay, and tilled to mix it. I've decided the broadfork is my favorite new handtool.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

A broad fork will work as good as a tiller, just as a snow shovel will work as good as a snow blower. A scythe as good as a power mower. A bicycle as good as a motorcycle.
If you have enough time, you can do most things.


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## dheat (Jul 27, 2005)

OP here.

Thanks for all of the input. I'm going to hold off on acquiring new tools this season--unless they're given to me --and I'll keep all your experience in mind.

Thanks,

Doug


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## bluesail2681 (Dec 12, 2012)

What's a broadfork? Pls don't laugh. I grew up with strange names for tools as the labels were long gone. I looked at home despot yesterday and didn't see anything with that name. I thought I knew what u meant but guess not. Sounds like a good tool id like to have


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## dirtman (Sep 15, 2011)

I made one last year. It's thirty two inches wide with eighteen inch tines spaced four inches on center. I used to turn over my raised beds in which the soil is two foot deep. It worked great for adding new compost and breaking up the compaction from the weight of the snows we get, however it is a little cumbersome. I got the design from a old MEN from a article about John Jeevons. I'm going to make another one that is only about eighteen inches wide this year. It also worked great for pulling up potatoes.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

The bigger and heavier they are, the easier they are to set into the soil. After that, ones need a good set of shoulder and a strong back to haul back and break up a lot of soil. I have 3 spading forks and one has four 16" tines. That's not too bad to handle but I would not want to double the width in heavy soil.

Martin


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