• The tractor moves earth, prepares soil and aids in the planting process.Alistair Berg/Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  Large scale vegetable gardening requires the preparation, planting and irrigation of extensive rows or beds. Both small farms and commercial agricultural operations employ powerful equipment to maximize productivity and minimize manual labor. You can turn your land into a productive, large-scale vegetable garden with the right farming tools and equipment.
  
  

Tractor

• The tractor, an icon of modern agriculture, is essentially a pushing and pulling machine. Like a little bulldozer, tractors are tough and compact. The vegetable farmer attaches a variety of tools to front and back of a tractor, including implements that scrape the ground's surface, cultivate soil, dig planting rows and distribute seeds.
  
  

Boom Irrigation Systems

• A boom irrigation system evenly distributes water across large-scale greenhouse and outdoor vegetable plantings. In agriculture as in sailing, the word boom refers to a horizontal pole. Attached by vertical posts to a series of wheels, the farmer's irrigation boom carries hoses or sprinklers across a field or through a greenhouse. As water sprays from the boom-mounted sprinklers, a tractor or motorized pulley drags the boom over the plants. Some booms pivot around a center point and run in a circular path. Booms range in width from a few feet to well over 30 feet.
  
  

Traveling Gun Irrigation Systems

• The traveling gun, like the boom, moves across a vegetable field. The primary component of a traveling gun is a wheeled cart. Atop the cart a large sprinkler, called a "gun," distributes water. A motor-driven pulley system or a tractor pulls the traveling gun's cart through a vegetable patch.
  
  

Sprayers

• Sprayers apply liquid fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides to vegetable plantings. Sprayers may be mounted to booms for broad applications or attached to backpacks for small spot-treatments. A backpack sprayer distributes liquid through a thin-tipped wand. The farmer pumps a handle attached to the sprayer's container to pressurize its contents. A pull of the wand's trigger causes a mist to spray from the wand's tip.
  
  

Transportation Equipment

• Large scale vegetable farms use trucks and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to transport produce, farming equipment and people. Four or three-wheeled ATVs allow a farmer to quickly travel over rough terrain. Many ATVs tow small trailers filled with farming equipment and supplies. Refrigerated box trucks and flatbed trucks transport vegetables from field to market.