Cultivating the tattie field

With the BCS 715 rotavator rebuilt and running well, I headed straight out to the tattie field to start work. The ground was still damp and rain was falling, but the soil was just workable despite being slippery with a few patch of bogginess. I’m often criticised by people who think rotavators are environmentally unfriendly, damaging to the soil and invertebrates, and generally inappropriate. They believe I should be using no-dig or other “natural” methods of cultivation. (And yes, I know cultivation isn’t natural but some people don’t seem to grasp that.)

Now, I’m all in favour of working as efficiently as possible while ensuring our cultivation practices are sustainable in the long run, but even if we weren’t growing potatoes I’d still have to till and level the field. The pigs were overwintered on it, digging craters in some areas, building mounds in others, compacting their favourite spots, and generally churning everything up with snout and trotter. Rain accumulates in the craters, making them soft and boggy while the higher ground solidifies as it dries. Running the rotavator across the field breaks up the compacted areas, reduces the mounds, fills in the craters and incorporates dung and straw into the soil. So if I’m going to do all that work to repair the damage done by the pigs, then I make as well make further use of it by rotating various crops through the field.