This is what I started with. When I tried to till it, even the most powerful tiller became tangled with grass and it killed a 16 hp motor. Had to go back to the drawing board and begin with a week whacker. Cut the grass to the ground. Rake. Remove to our fill area. THEN TILL.
Photographed from the same place after I cut, raked and removed the grass material.
A photo from ground level looking East. Lots and lots of material. I worked for a couple of days to remove it all by hauling it to our fill area on a tarp – which is all uphill.
This tiller was one heavy beast, and I wrestled with it for about 8 hours. Needless to say, I was whooped after that, but it did the trick. This ground hadn’t been broken in years. Other than a couple of mishaps rolling down the hill, and a few expletives, we did just fine.
I raked twice to try to pull up the majority of the grass and pushki roots, which take up the majority of the top 6 inches of the soil. Left to themselves, they just want to sprout right back up. But I raked it, leveled it, and planted 5 # of wild flower seed. The area I worked was about twice as big as what you see in the photo. The other area is on each side of “the flat” – to the left and right.
