The Berta Plow by Jean Martin Fortier

Previously I mentioned how we are now using a Berta Plow (also referred to as a rotary plow) to create our raised beds. Before presenting this tool in more details, I’d like to elaborate more about the raised bed system 

Permanent raised beds form the foundation of our intensive cropping system. They provide better drainage, soil warms faster come springtime, dramatically reduces possible soil compaction, increased yield per square foot, and all the while providing the ideal solution for soil building. We found that using the same layout of beds and paths each year restricts organic amendments to only the growing area. The fact that they are permanent saves us the work of building new beds every year, which in a big way is how we can get away from farming without a tractor. Working and shaping large quantities of soil every year would otherwise require a lot more work and is not very efficient. After many years growing in such a system, I find it hard to even imagine growing vegetables any other way.

Permanent raised beds provide the most space and labor-efficient layout for the market gardener and the most beneficial growing environment for the plants

Permanent raised beds are great, but if your digging them up with a shovel, and if you have a lot of them, creating raised beds on 1 or two acres can prove to be a lot of work.. When established ours at les Jardins de la Grelinette, The first thing we did was to mark off the perimeter of each plot. We then used strings to indicate the width of each bed and dug the earth from the pathways onto the beds. Since we had about 180 of them, each 100 feet long, it took a while but we were motivated by the fact that we would only be doing this once.

With a rotary plow the same work can be done about 100 times faster. This implement essentially takes the soil from the bottom and moves it sideways and moving it upwards. The plow works 8-10” wide per pass, just enough for it to create an 18” alleyway (which is the ideal pathway distance for leaving enough room to properly circulate with wheel barrels or when harvesting in a crunching position). The 4 blades of the plow are vertically driven and turn at approximately 300rpm, which is good enough to work with any soil texture, even in heavy clay or rocky conditions.

The design of the blades also allow for it to work in rocky conditions. We’ve been hitting some pretty hard, rocky ground with ours in its feels indestructible. Its good advice though to use it at very slow speeds in these conditions.

What’s also great about the rotary plow, is that it is surprisingly gentle on the soil. Due to the fact that the soil is not trapped under a hood and repeatedly pulverized, as would happen with a tiller, the soil structure is not beaten to death. Thanks to the corkscrew action, the plough is berthed to the ground, turning the soil over and throwing it out to the side just like a shovel would do it. Also the discharge is easily controlled by the adjustable top cover and a removable side flap that comes with the tool.

The Berta Plow is also great for breaking new ground and burying cover crops.

According to Earthools BCS (which is were we got ours) a rotary plows will work on BCS and Grillo walk-behind tractors that have at least 8.5 hp (gas) or 7 hp (diesel) and 4x10x18” wheels or larger. The distance between the wheels needs to be 14” to 18” (measured from the inside of one wheel to the inside of the other), and the closer you get to 18”, the better the plow will perform because it takes a bigger bite. Axle extensions may be required to achieve optimal working width on wheels.

30” wide raised beds made in one afternoon with a Berta Rotary Plow. Because raised beds have a tendency to settle over time. Every spring, we make sure to build up a few beds to ensure that they are all maintained every two to three years.

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