Planet Jr.

Saturday was an absolutely lovely spring day here in Indiana. Slight breeze with plenty of sunshine. The kind of day when gardeners start itching to get outside and play in the dirt. I've been real busy the last couple of years traveling during the summer months, so I've neglected the garden, but this year it's going to happen again. Gardens are big news this year with the economy in the tank and the safety of our food supply being seriously questioned. I know I won't be the only one tending to some vegetables, the Obama's have already got their patch dug at the White House.

I picked up a rototiller a few years ago that was pretty much on it's last legs. It worked well enough to chop up the sod but the noise and aggravation of getting it running every spring just wasn't worth it. I'm a big fan of internal combustion engines but when fishing or gardening are involved, I prefer peace and quiet. After the tiller threw the rod, I went back to the spade and found it much more enjoyable. As a maker of things, however, I decided a push cultivator would be a handy item. Enter the Planet Junior.

The Planet Junior was manufactured many years ago and is probably the best of the low wheel cultivator designs. It was made from cast iron and had a variety of attachments available for it. I saw one at an antique shop or someplace and took some quick measurements. I did a little research - Lehman's had a little booklet available for the one they were selling - and then went to work. They're really easy to make. I made the bottom plate that every thing bolts to out of 3/8" plate. I fabbed up the front wheel with some nice bronze bushings inside the hub and found the handles at the Steam & Power Show at Hesston. I made a bracket that mounts standard cultivator shoes like all the farmers around here use and I found a three tine cultivator someplace that I modified to bolt on as well. They did have both left and right hand shoes available so you could mound up the dirt on either side of the row and a setup to put two front wheels on so you could straddle the row when the plants were small. Total cost for mine was about twenty bucks. An Internet search will turn up lots of hits and there are similar cultivators being made but some of them are pricey.

Until I retire, I can pretty much handle all of my gardening requirements with a spade, a rake and a hoe. I've been planting fruit trees and berries for the last couple of years. When I retire I'm planning on expanding the garden so the Planet Junior knock-off should come in real handy then. If it becomes too much to handle by hand, I do have the David Bradley I picked up a few years back. That's another piece of equipment who's time has come again and a good subject for another post. Think spring and get your seed orders in.