Chuck, how do you hill yours? Since I didn't have the proper implement, the last two years I had two 80' rows, I tilled the ground, then put the seed potatoes in the row, on top of the tilled ground. Then I turned the tractor 90 degrees to the row, and used the front end loader bucket by pushing and raising the bucket at the same time to push the dirt up on the near side, then with bucket dumped, I'd pull forward and lower the bucket on the far side of the row and pull back as I raised the bucket. Slow, but for two rows, it sure beat doing it by hand. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
I don't have an FEL for my tractor, and even if I did I'd have to drasticall change my usual garden style to be able to use it on the potato hilling. I just do it by hand. I only have two fifty foot rows, and I tell myself as the sweat runs down my face and onto my glasses, effectively blinding me, that some people pay to go to gyms for exercise that isn't as good as what I'm doing. It usually doesn't make me feel any better about it, and when it does I know that I'm starting to go into heat exhaustion. I do often use my little tiller to break up the soil between the rows so the dirt is easier to hill up, but I got one of those wiggle hoes....the stirrup shaped kind...and it really digs the dirt up pretty easy. You can't use it to move the dirt around very well, so after I use it to make some loose dirt, I use a rake to hill it up onto the potatoes.
You know, that sure sounds like a lot of work when I describe it.
The rows get hilled a little more each time I cultivate them with the one row cultivator. Depending upon the week crop, this may be from one to three times during the season.
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