3,715. Working the Land Before Shemittah

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 2:14

During shemittah, one may not build a wall between his field and his neighbor’s field, but one may build a wall between his field and the public domain. He is permitted to dig until he reaches a stone, and he may remove the soil and gather it in his field the same way that one does with manure. Similarly, if one dug a pit, a trench or a cavern during shemittah, he may gather the soil in the same fashion.

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 3:1

It is a law transmitted to Moshe at Sinai that we may not work the land in the last thirty days of the sixth year because this constitutes preparing the land for shemittah. This rule only applies when the Temple is standing. The Sages instituted that, when the Temple is standing, one may not plow an orchard in the year before shemittah after Shavuos, nor a field of grain after Pesach. When the Temple isn’t standing, one may work the land until Rosh Hashana as per by Biblical law.