Wednesday, June 29, 2016

The Mighty Broadfork

The broadfork. I had heard about them but had never seen one in real life. They are used for loosening the soil waaay down deep which is exactly what's needed for carrots and some other root vegetables. It's also a low-tech grid-down muscle-ready substitute for a tiller.

Last year we bought ourselves one. It's a monster and it's not even the biggest they have. I was a bit concerned about using it myself because it was so heavy I wondered if I would be able to handle it.
Turns out to be a piece of cake. Even though Tom is pictured here demonstrating it, I was the one who did a 14 x 6 foot section myself with hardly any effort. It couldn't have taken me more than 15 minutes. The toughest part was carrying it back and forth from the garden shed. It did a great job!
Balancing on the crossbar I moved the handles slightly forward and back pushing it into the ground, then pulled back to lift the soil. It was quick and rewarding. The chunks that were left raked out easily.
Tom plans to use it to loosen the soil for harvesting potatoes also. It worked great in preliminary testing. I love this thing and am grateful for it.

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