Ever since my recent "tractor" purchase, I've been turning into a tractor-nut. When I dive past the a works crew using their tractors to cut grass by the side of the road, I find myself craning my neck to get a better look....
Even before we moved into the new house, we knew we'd need a ride-on lawn-mower (or "tractor") to help manage almost an acre of grass lawn. With little experience in the
field of ride-on mowers, I began doing some research. This was a time consuming process, during which the grass was slowly inching upwards.
I began by looking at what Lowes, Home Depot and Sears had to offer. I discovered that the Poulan and Craftsman (Sears) tractors are actually branded versions of the Husqvana tractors. I also looked at John Deere, but somehow missed Cub Cadet and others. I worked through various buying guides to try and determine which tractor was right for me. It was not an easy task with a hundred or so to choose from. To
cut a long story short, I now know that there are several main
features to consider when selecting a tractor:
- Deck Size
- Transmission Type
- Engine Type and Horse Power
- Supported Attachments
- Wheel Size
Other
factors to consider are:
- How much grass will you be cutting?.
- What kind of terrain will you be driving on?
- What else might you like to use the tractor for?
- Price.
Tractor selection is confused further by terminology such as "Lawn", "Garden" or "Yard" tractors. For example: on the sears website, Yard tractors are found in the Garden tractors section, and come with a manual that says it's a Lawn tractor and talking to the sales associates just adds to the confusion. One might think these terms can be used interchangeably. However, my research has lead me to be believe that Lawn, Garden, and Yard are categories referring to overall increasing "size" of the tractor. They become "Yard" tractors if they have 23 inch wheels or greater, and a Yard tractor is capable of accepting "ground engaging" attachments, such as a leveler or dozer blade, both of which require a "sleeve hitch" (different kind of hitch to regular attachments).
Anyway, after many hours trying to digest all this, I finally selected the Craftsman Lawn Tractor Model No. 917.288900. This particular tractor is also known as: DYS 4500, Mfr. model# 28890, and Sears item# 07128890000. It has a 48 inch deck, hydrostatic transmission, a 25HP Kohler twin V engine, accepts most non-ground engaging attachments, has 20 inch wheels, and a cup-holder.
In a future post, I'll tell you how I've been getting on with this little tractor.
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Having a vegetable garden is a must, so once the weather started to warm up, we began planning. Because the ground is largely clay and rock, we knew it was going to require some work. We chose a location on the north side of the house that is in sun for most of the day and decided to build raised beds that we could fill with compost and top soil.
After settling on a basic design, the real work started! When Dan began digging in the site, we discovered that there were many more rocks and much larger rocks than we had anticipated. It quickly became clear that additional equipment was needed, and so we bought a pick-ax..JPG)
Dan smashed the biggest rocks with the pick-ax and dug out enough dirt to set the raised bed into the hillside. He then built a sieve using our garden fencing materials so that we could sift out the smaller rocks and debris. Note the large stack of rocks to the left of the garden. That pile continues to grow and may turn into its own little rock garden..JPG)
We were also in need of a permanent compost site. We used re-purposed wood pallets to form the frame of the three-sided compost. If you have the space, this is a cheap and easy way to set up a composting site. Start adding leaves, vegetable waste from cooking, coffee grounds, tea bags and you will have fresh, rich soil in no time..JPG)
Once the first raised bed was done, it was time to put the fence up (to keep out pesky animals) and to begin work on the second bed. We had originally planned on only building one bed, but decided it would be more efficient to build them both now - plus we knew we would want the extra growing space!.JPG)
In this shot, taken just before we started planting seeds, you can see that both raised beds have been installed and top soil, compost, and peat moss have been added to create a rich growing environment. At this point, we also had two compost sites and the fence was nearing completion..JPG)
By the end of May, our vegetable patch was complete and seeds had sprouted! We are looking forward to fresh tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, peas, carrots, basil, pumpkin, and peppers!
One of my first projects this spring was to clean up the flower bed along the front of the house. The area was completely overgrown, so I pulled up the grass and weeds and cleared out hundreds of rocks (literally!). Because the soil around here is a lovely mixture of rocks and clay, I added some fresh compost and top soil into the mix and crossed my fingers that everything would grow!
After clearing out the bed, I transplanted our collection of Asiatic Lilies from the old house to the new house. I was surprised at how big the lilies already were in early April when I dug them up, but the process of moving the bulbs went surprisingly well.
With the lilies happily transplanted, it was time to finish planting. For this year, we decided to keep it simple by adding a row of daylilies (Happy Returns and Red Volunteers) interspersed with zinnias. Once those were in, we added a layer of fresh mulch and voila!
All the plants have been thriving in their new home and just this week the first flowers began to appear! Plans are already in the works to add new flower beds next year.....
