Building a garden cart

Thanks to our garden plans for the year, it's clear that we're going to need to improve our soil somewhat. Potatoes want sandy loose soil. Others need other types. None of them are going to grow in grass. Because our garden is not reachable by vehicle (well, without a bulldozer making a road through the underbrush), we will have to figure out a way to get large loads of good organic compost soil back to the garden.

Enter the derelict lawn tractor.

When we moved into this wonderful property, the grass was about four feet deep in the back, particularly in the orchard. Our landlord is a pretty awesome guy and told us he had explored the property and found a couple riding lawnmowers derelict. "If you want them, and fix them up, feel free, otherwise push them to the street and someone'll take them", says he.

Well, as do it yourself tinkerers, we couldn't resist, when we found this:

It took a try at rebuilding the carb in the garage, not to mention downloading wiring schematics and rewiring it, but finally I got it running. 

Of course, it's only really useful for mowing the lawn, but yesterday I decided to see if I could use it to solve the problem of moving loads of compost.

A hay... err... leaf ride!

The boys and I move a big pile of leaves to our compost bin

It works! Can carry about half a yard of material, although weight wise it's limited to about 500lbs (maybe less, not sure how much the tractor will pull, or whether it'll sink into the ground). I might add spacers between the axle and the trailer, though. It doesn't drag anywhere I've been yet, but it's pretty low.