Welcome to The Yardstead
When I was shopping around for a used compact tractor I came upon some brands and models that I was not familliar with. I had never heard of Yanmar tractors, but I found a handful of them at very reasonable prices scattered around the area. After searching online I found that Yanmar had manufactered compact tractors for John Deere for several year models during the 1980s. In fact after looking thoroughly at my fathers compact John Deere (15hp), I found the Yanmar manufaturer ID plates on the diesel engine. My father has used his John Deere for many years and found it to be extremelly reliable. This information and the low price was enough to make it an easy decision to buy the Yanmar YM-1300d I had been looking at. This is a 13hp 4wd compact diesel tractor. I have used this tractor for about 5 years now and have been very pleased with it. In the first few weeks after I bought it, I spent some time online searching for user and service manuals. During this research I learned an interesting fact. I had purchased a "Grey Market" tractor. I had never heard the term before, but I was able to find some good information online. A "Grey Market" tractor is a used tractor imported from another country (usually Japan) which was not specifically manufactured for sale in the USA. Many of the grey market models match nearly identical models which were manufactured specifically for sale in the US. The main differences lie in some of the safety features .....
With spring just around the corner we are getting things ready for our garden here at the Yardstead. Currently the garden is bare with the exception of a strip of onions sticking up in the middle. We will be adding compost in a few days and our plan is to till it in well and then cover the entire garden with a heavy layer of mulch. The compost bin shown here on the left is pretty full, but not nearly enough to cover our entire garden. Luckily a neighbor of the Yardstead works for a local Ag Center and maintains a huge pile of old shavings once used to bed stalls for horses or cattle. They turn the pile regularly with a front end loader. Althought the shaving are resistant to rot they do slowly break down. There is a great deal of manure and other organic matter mixed in and the shaving help make it more coarse and airy. Last time (about 5 years ago) I added this compost to the garden it took 4 loads to cover it sufficiently. I plan to add the same amount this time.
The compost in the bin will be...
We have have had a few warm days down here and it has started me thinking about our spring garden. At the moment the garden here at the yardstead is just a big dirt rectangle with a green strip of onions sticking up in the middle. It's been so cold since I last tilled it (for planting the onions) that very few weeds have grown. I plan on doing very little tilling (or weeding) in the garden this year, so I have to get a plan finalized in the next few days to combat weeds. The main component of the weed control plan this year ....
