till the soil damp or dry?

[Tom7227]

I am going to be tilling up some turf that I biffed a month ago. I am planting a native grass and forb plot. The ground is very dry right now and my front tine tiller won't hardly touch it. I have about 3000 square feet to do. Should I water it to get it damp? I am thinking I need to rent a rear tine tiller rather than screw around with the small garden unit I have. I don't need to go deep, just tear up the old turf and maybe an inch below it. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

Tom

[MuleShack]

You could always rent a sod cutter. You can set that to 2 1/2" deep on some units. Once you slice the soil up, your front tine tiller should made easy work out of it.

[IFallsRon]

You could rent a tractor with a Harley rake. The rake is a steel tube with knobs that grinds up the top layer and levels at the same time. I used one to rehab my yard.