3. What’s in This Presentation
Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Healthy soils
Crop rotations
Cover crops
Compost making (&
growing)
Organic mulches
Part 1 – Planning and Record-keeping
Why and how
12 steps of planning
Succession crop scheduling
Part 3 - Year Round Production
Direct sowing
Transplanting
Crop spacing
Efficient production strategies
Season extension, crop
protection
Cold-hardy winter vegetables
Pests
Diseases
Weeds
Harvest and maturity Part 4 - Resources
4. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
• Why plan?
• How to plan?
• 12 steps of planning
1. How much money
2. Which markets
3. Which crops
4. Harvest schedule
5. How much to plant
6. Field planting schedule
7. Seedling/transplant schedule
8. Maps
9. Packing more in
10. Tweak
11. Plan B
12. Next year’s better plan
See my slideshow
Crop Planning for
Sustainable Vegetable
Production
on SlideShare.net
5. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Why Plan? On-farm Rewards
҉Plan in the winter, farm in the growing season!
҉Make the most productive use of your land.
҉Pace yourself
҉Reduce stress and confusion
҉Enjoy your life!
҉Become a better farmer - keep good records,
make good plans.
҉Planning gets easier - tweak last year’s plan.
6. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Market Rewards for Planning
҉ Earn a living!
҉ Full CSA bags, groaning market tables every week = satisfaction!
҉ Enjoy your great reputation providing what customers want.
҉ Enjoy having information at your fingertips - when broccoli will start,
or cucumbers end.
҉ Achieve balance each week: some leafy crop, something brightly
colored, something bulky and filling, something new, something
highly flavored.
҉ Use your full market season, all your opportunities.
7. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
How to Plan? Helpful tools
• Be clear about your goals (before choosing tools).
• Design a system you like, so you’ll use it.
• Do you prefer clipboards, computers, or photos?
• There are Web-based Tools, Spreadsheets,
Worksheets and Notebooks
• Build in the ability to adapt the plan if conditions
change.
8.
9. COG-Pro is a record keeping software made for Certified Organic Farms
It uses a simple tabbed notebook visual and generates reports for the
certification process. The planning tools include prompts for information your
certifier needs.
10. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Spreadsheets
• Make your own, or copy others – see Resources at
end
• During the year we follow printed sheets - don’t
often need the computer.
• The program does the calculations.
• Quickly sort out selected parts of the information
and rearrange it
11. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Worksheets
• Cindy Conner explains worksheets in her book
Grow a Sustainable Diet.
• She also sells a DVD/CD set Develop a
Sustainable Vegetable Garden Plan. Aimed
primarily at homesteaders, the steps help you
figure how many seeds and plants you need,
when to plant and where, and when to expect a
harvest.
• Mark Cain www.drippingspringsgarden.com and
Daniel Brisebois and Frédéric Thériault Crop
Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers, are
other good sources for ideas on worksheets.
12. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Planning is Circular, Just Like Farming
1. How much
money do
you need to
earn?
2. Which
markets
to sell at
3.
Which
crops
to grow
4. How much of
what to harvest
when: Harvest
Schedule
5. How much to
grow to achieve
your harvest goals
6. Calculate sowing dates to
meet harvest dates: Field
Planting Schedule7. When to sow for
transplants: Seedlings
Schedule
8. Where to plant
each sowing of
each crop: Maps
9. Packing more in:
succession plantings,
intercropping, relay
planting, double
cropping
10. Adjust to make
your best
possible plan
11. What to do if
something goes wrong:
Plan B
12. Record results
for next year’s
Better Plan
13. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 1. How much money do you
need to earn?
• What are your living expenses?
• What are your farm expenses?
• What do you want to save for old age, rainy
days, raising children, college funds. . .
• The Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25/hour
(Jan 2014), going up to
$10.10. Just saying. . .
• Do you have other
sources of income?
14. Setting prices
The Iowa State University publication Determining Prices for CSA
Share Boxes compares pricing based on
• what customers will pay,
• what other growers are selling the crop for
• what it costs to produce.
It includes a chart of share value of 24 crops based on grocery
prices and the quantity included.
Step 1
15. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 2 Which markets will you sell at?
New growers are often advised to start with a
farmers’ market rather than a CSA the first year, as you
can sell a more erratic supply of crops at market.
On the other hand, if you have experience from
working on another farm, a commitment to careful
planning, and you need that upfront beginning-of -
season cash, you may decide to start a CSA right away.
If you have an off-farm job to tide you over, it may
be practical to leave the financial questions for a
year, and build on that experience.
16. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 3 Which crops are most profitable?
Clifton Slade at VSU in his 43560
Project shows how to earn $43,560
from one acre ($1 per square foot).
Choose crops which produce one
vegetable head or stalk, or 1 pound
of produce, per square foot.
Richard Wiswall Organic Farmer’s
Business Handbook
Outdoor kale can produce $2463
from 1/10 acre, and of the crops he
compared, only parsley and basil
earned more.
Field tomatoes came in at $1872, and
several vegetables (bush beans,
sweet corn, peas) made a loss.
Vates kale. Photo Kathryn Simmons
Some crops offer more money
per area, some are more
profitable in terms of time
17. Enterprise budgets
Vern Grubinger in Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start-up to
Market explains how to make an enterprise budget for each crop. These
calculations compare one crop with another, while not delving into
overhead costs.
In your Crop Journal, record the amount of work done on each crop
each day:
o Bed prep, cultivating
o Planting, mulching, staking.
Record at each harvest
o weight or count of each crop,
o time spent harvesting and cleaning it;
o money raised from each crop each week.
At the end of the season, add up the total time for each crop
o Divide the income for that crop by the time spent on it, and
o divide the income for that crop by the area, or number of beds.
Aim for $400/100’ bed per season. The range could be $109-1065.
Step 3
18. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 3 Consider flowers as well as
vegetables
Mark Cain of Dripping
Spring Gardens, Arkansas:
50% of their growing
area in cut flowers and
50% in vegetables.
The cut flowers bring in
75% of the income.
Photo Tom Freeman, Twin Oaks Flowers
19. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 3 Reasons to grow some crops that
don’t make the highest income
provide a good crop rotation for your farm,
provide diversity (customers will only buy so much
parsley and basil).
provide for different times of year, even for the whole
year.
Kohlrabi. Photo McCune Porter
20. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 4 How much to harvest
The average person eats 160-200
pounds of fresh vegetables per
year (USDA)
the average CSA share feeds 2 or
3 people,
an annual share will need to
include about 500 pounds of 40-
50 different vegetables,
distributed, say, once a week for
8 months and once a month for 4
months.
Many CSAs have a shorter season
than this – your call.
Photo Bridget Aleshire
21. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 4 Your Harvest Schedule
• Decide which crops you
want to harvest when, how
often and over what length
of time, including quantities.
• For a CSA, make a Share
Schedule, telling sharers
what to expect when.
• Multiply that up, add a
margin for culls and failures,
and list how much of each
crop to have ready for
harvest each week.
22. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 5 How much to grow to meet
your harvest goals
Take likely yields and add a margin for culls and failures
(10%?). The table I provide in Sustainable Market Farming
lists 48 crops, with likely yield, quantity required for 100 CSA
shares, and length of row needed to grow this amount.
23. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 6 Harvest Dates Sowing Dates
When to sow to meet the harvest dates?
Find the number of days to maturity (from the catalog).
Is that number from seeding to harvest or transplant to
harvest?
Work back from each target harvest date, subtracting
days to maturity, to give the planting date.
Days to maturity in catalogs are generally for spring
planting once conditions have warmed to the usual range
for that crop.
‒ If you are starting very early, add about 14 days - seedlings
grow slower when cold.
‒ In summer crops mature sooner than in spring.
‒ When growing late into the fall, add about 14 days for the
slowdown.
24. Days to Maturity
• “Days to Maturity” usually means “Days to First Harvest” which
may not be the same as “Days to Full Harvest”.
• With carrots it doesn’t matter exactly what size they are, but an
unripe eggplant is just no good.
• With CSAs, you can distribute eggplant to some sharers one week,
and others the next, although keeping track involves more work.
• If it’s important to have a plentiful harvest when you do start, add
another 7-14 days.
Carrot photo Kathryn Simmons
Step 6
25. Field Planting Schedule
Draw up your list of outdoor planting dates, along with
varieties, row feet, spacing, notes and space to write
down what you actually do.
Step 6
26. Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping
Step 7 When to sow for transplants
If the crop is to be transplanted and the catalog doesn’t include the
time to grow the transplant, add that. See Sustainable Market
Farming
Use your own experience or the catalog information, or somewhere in
between
In future years you will have your own records to customize your calculations
Extract the dates to sow for transplants, and make your Seedlings
Schedule
Seedlings in Twin Oaks Greenhouse
Photo Kathryn Simmons
28. Step 8 Maps
Where in the fields to
plant each sowing of
each crop ?
Start filling your map
with your major
crops
remembering crop
rotation
and cover cropping
considerations.
Note the spaces for
squeezing in other
crops
More on this later.
29. Intercropping, Relay Planting and Double
Cropping
• Promptly clearing short term crops like beans or cucumbers
helps with pest and disease control and opens up the space for
double-cropping or for more cover crops to replenish the soil
• Fast growing crops like lettuce, radishes and greens can be
planted between or alongside
slower-growing crops to
generate more income and
diversity
• We grow peas with spinach,
peanuts with lettuce,
okra with cabbage
Tyee spinach in a relay with snap peas.
Photo Kathryn Simmons
Step 9 Packing More in:
30. Step 9 Packing More in
Find Space for Succession Crops:
• Beans, edamame, cucumbers, melons ,
squash, sweet corn can be produced
through the frost-free period, if you
sow several times.
• Beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, collards, kale,
spinach can be grown in spring and again in the
fall in the Southeast.
• Lettuce can be grown year-round
• Lettuce, spinach, turnips, radishes, scallions, tatsoi
and some other Asian greens can be sown in
succession in the winter hoophouse
31. Step 9 Packing More in
Succession Crops
Planning Chart
• We list the spare
spaces in the plots (in
order of availability)
• and the crops we hope
to plant (in date order)
• Then we pencil in
arrows, fitting the
succession crops into
the spaces available.
32. Step 10 Look at the Overview - Tweak to
Make Your Best Possible Plan
• Can’t fit everything in? Drop crops or
change your plant quantities?
• Always keep your highest priorities in
mind – best markets, signature crops,
personal needs.
• Use all available space for food crops
or cover crops
• Check timings of seedlings – do you
have enough germinating capacity?
• Is it physically possible to do all the
transplanting you plan in the time
allotted?
• Simplify planting dates, eg squash and
cucumbers on the same days.
Photo credit Kathryn Simmons
33. Step 11 What to do if something goes
wrong: Plan B
Have a brainstorm list to help
deal with disasters:
Do immediate damage control to stop the
problem getting worse
Ask for help from sharers, neighbors, kids,
Salvage anything you can and process it in
some way to sell later.
Plant some quick-growing crops to
substitute for crop failures
Buy from other local growers to tide you
over
Team up with other growers, share a
market booth, save on the rent
Write down what went wrong and why, so
you don’t have the same problem next year
Senposai can be harvested 40 days from
sowing. Photo Kathryn Simmons
34. Step 12 Record results for next year’s
Better Plan:
• Make recording easy to do
• Have a daily practice of writing down what was done that day
• Allow time for that, without losing much of your lunch break
• Delegate to reliable people
• During the main growing season, we don’t do a lot of paperwork.
We record planting dates and harvest start and finish dates.
• At the beginning of the winter, have a Crop Review Meeting, discuss
and write up what worked and what didn’t, to learn from the
experience and do better next year.
• Adjust dates to halfway between last year’s plan and whatever
actually happened - gradually zero in on the likely date without wild
pendulum swings based on variable weather.
35. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Succession Crop Scheduling
• Plan sowing dates for even,
continuous supplies of popular
summer crops, such as beans,
squash, cucumbers, sweet corn;
year round lettuce and winter
hoophouse greens.
• Length of time from sowing to
harvest varies according to
temperature (and day length in
some cases).
• Planting squash once a month will
not provide an even supply.
• Keep records and use information
from other growers in your area to
fine-tune planting dates.
Photo Credit: Kathryn Simmons.
For all the details, see my slideshow
Succession Planting for Continuous
Harvests on SlideShare.net
36. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Several approaches to succession crop
planning – which suits you?
1. Rough plan: “every two
weeks”
2. “No paperwork”
methods
3. Sow several varieties on
the same day
4. Plan a sequence of
sowings to provide an
even supply, using
graphs
5. Use Accumulated
Growing Degree Days
data
Squash drawing by Jessie Doyle
37. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Rough Plan:
Every 2 weeks for beans
and corn,
Every 3 weeks for squash
and cucumbers and
edamame
Every 4 weeks for carrots
2 or 3 plantings of
muskmelons
(cantaloupes) at least a
month apart.
CREDIT: Kathryn Simmons.
38. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
“No Paperwork” Methods
• Sow another planting of
sweet corn when the
previous one is 1”–2"
tall
• Sow more lettuce when
the previous sowing
germinates
• Sow more beans when
the young plants start
to straighten up from
their hooked stage
39. Part 1 – Planning and
record-keeping
Sow Several
Varieties on
One Day
Use varieties
with different
days-to-maturity
sown on the
same day.
40. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Make a graph - 6 steps
1. Gather Sowing and Harvest Start
Dates for each planting of each
crop.
2. Make a graph for each crop:
sowing date along the horizontal
(x) axis and harvest start date along
the vertical (y) axis. Mark in all
your data.
3. Mark the first possible sowing date
and find the harvest start date for
that.
4. Decide the last worthwhile harvest
start date, mark that.
5. Then divide the harvest period into
a whole number of segments,
according to how often you want a
new patch.
6. Figure the sowing dates needed to
match your chosen harvest start
dates
For details of this method see
Succession Planting on SlideShare.net
41.
42. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Year Round Lettuce Part 1Photo Credits Kathryn Simmons
The short version is that
we sow
• twice in January,
• twice in February,
• every 10 days in March,
• every 9 days in April,
• every 8 days in May,
• every 6-7 days in June
and July,
43. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Year Round Lettuce Part 2
Photo Credits Kathryn Simmons
• every 5 days in early
August,
• moving to every 3 days in
late August,
• every other day until Sept
21.
• After that we ease back to
every 3 days until the end
of September.
Those last plants could feed
us right through the winter.
44. Part 1 – Planning and record-keeping
Winter succession crops in the
hoophouse
To provide continuous supplies of salad and cooking greens,
as well as radishes and small turnips, we plan successions of
winter hoophouse crops.
For details, see my
slideshow Hoophouse in
Fall and Winter on
SlideShare.net
45. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Grow and Maintain Healthy Soil
What are Healthy Soils?
• Healthy soils promote plant,
animal, and human health.
• They produce good crop yields,
year after year, without
degrading the environment.
• They grow strong plants and
make the conditions
unsuitable for diseases and
pests.
• Sometimes plagues still strike!
Tatsoi Photo Wren Vile
46. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Healthy Soil is Alive
One acre of organic soil can have 2400 pounds of fungi and 1500 pounds
of bacteria. These contribute to good soil structure, the breakdown of
nutrients, and increased levels of organic matter. USDA image
47. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Signs of a Healthy Soil
• Has good crumb structure, lets air and water in
and out.
• Resists erosion and compaction.
• Absorbs, holds and releases nutrients.
• Promotes good root growth.
• Provides good habitat for soil organisms.
• Has a moderate pH (6.0 – 7.0).
• Has low levels of salts and toxins.
• Has balanced fertility with adequate levels of
nutrients.
48. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations
- Many Benefits
Optimize the health and fertility of the land,
Maximize productivity,
Reduce pests and diseases,
Increase opportunities to plant cover crops,
Meet Organic Certification requirements,
Make the planning work easier on the brain.
See my slideshow
Crop Rotations for Vegetables and Cover Crops
on SlideShare.net
49. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Steps to Creating a Permanent Rotation
1. Figure out how much area is needed for each
major crop (the ones needing the largest
amount of space).
2. Measure and map the land available
3. Divide into equal plots
4. Group compatible crops together to fill each plot
5. Determine a good sequence
6. Include cover crops
7. Include no-till crops
8. Try it for one year, then make improvements
50. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations step 1
Space Needed for Major Crops
• Sweet corn: 6 or 7 plantings of about 3,500 ft2 (322 m2) each
• Spring planted potatoes: about 7,000–9,000 ft2 (644–828 m2)
• Summer planted potatoes: about 7,000–9,000 ft2 (644–828 m2)
• Spring broccoli & cabbage: 4,000 ft2 (368 m2)
• Fall broccoli & cabbage: 7,000 ft2 (644 m2)
• Winter squash: about 8,200 ft2 (736 m2)
• Watermelon: about 9,000 ft2 (828 m2)
• Sweet potatoes: about 4,300 ft2 (396 m2)
• Tomatoes: 4,000 ft2 (368 m2)
• Peppers: 2,200 ft2 (202 m2)
• Garlic: about 3,600–4,000 ft2 (332–368 m2)
• Fall carrots: about 3,600–4,000 ft2 (332–368 m2)
51. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations steps 2 & 3
Measure and
Map;
Divide the Land
into Equal Plots
West Garden and
Central Garden
• West Garden
180’-65’ x 243’
• Central Garden
200’ x 50’, plus
25’ x 60’ “dogleg”
Maps show plots of
9,000-10,000 ft2
52. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations step 4
Group Other Big Crops Together to
Fill Each Plot:
Two or three corn
plantings together in one
plot
(3,500 ft2 (322 m2) each)
Spring broccoli together
with overwintered garlic
(4,000 ft2 (368 m2) +
3,600–4,000 ft2 (332–368 m2 ))
Tomatoes together with
peppers
4,000 ft2 (368 m2) +
2,200 ft2 (202 m2)
Left to right: Broccoli under rowcover, garlic,
strawberries.
Photo Kathryn Simmons
53. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations step 5
Determine a good sequence
To figure out a crop sequence, we looked at the
families of our major crops, and kept crops in the
same family either
• beside each other in the same plot, or
• in plots several years apart in the rotation.
To decide what follows what,
we looked at timing and at
winter cover crops.
54. Winter
Squash
Late Corn
undersown with
oats (1/2). Sweet
Potatoes (1/2)
March-planted
Potatoes, followed
by fall-planted
broccoli & cabbage,
undersown with
clovers
All-year
Green
Fallow
Early Corn
followed by
fall Garlic
(1/2) and
oats (1/2)
Garlic followed
by Carrots (1/2).
Spring Broccoli
& Cabbage,
then rye &
vetch (1/2)
No-till paste
Tomatoes
Water-
melon
Mid-season
Corn, then rye
& crimson
clover
June-
planted
Potatoes
Next, we’ll
look at cover
crops, for
good matches
55.
56. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations step 6
Plan good cover crops
For early spring food crops, a
preceding cover crop of oats (maybe
with soybeans) is ideal, as it winter-
kills and is easy to incorporate.
Add legumes in mixes with grasses
whenever possible.
More on cover crops later.
Crimson clover flower, Photo Kathryn Simmons
57. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations step 7
Including no-
till crops
We plant our tomatoes and peppers
into a mowed cover crop of winter
rye, hairy vetch and Austrian winter
peas. Austrian winter peas are said
to reduce the incidence of Septoria
leaf spot in following tomato crops,
so we now include them in our no-
till planting.
This reduces inversions of the soil,
and the vetch (if plentiful) can supply
all the nitrogen the tomatoes need.
Rye and vetch is best sown here in
early to mid-September, creating
another restriction on which crops
the tomatoes could follow. These
“restrictions” are more like the rules
to a game, providing a structure to
work within.
Winter rye and hairy vetch. Photo
Kathryn Simmons
58. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Crop Rotations step 8
Improvements
• We tightened up the rotation by
having more than one vegetable
crop in a plot within the year.
• This lets us keep a 10-year cycle
round the 10 plots while having
one plot in cover crops all year
round, to replenish the soil.
• We follow the spring planted
potatoes with the fall broccoli
and cabbage transplanted in
July/August.
• We undersow the fall brassicas
with a mix of clovers, to stay as a
green fallow the whole next year.
Fall broccoli undersown with clover
mix. Photo Twin Oaks Community
59. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Cover Crop Opportunities
Undersowing at last cultivation
(oats and soybeans in corn
shown here.)
After vegetable crops in summer
or fall, for the winter
Frost-seeding of small seeds such
as clover: Broadcast in the early
morning when ground is frozen.
As it thaws, the water draws the
seeds down into the soil.
Late winter or early spring, if the
area will not be planted with
vegetable crop until late spring.
We use oats.
In spring, between an early
vegetable crop and a later one
To replace a crop failure.
Photo Kathryn Simmons
60. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Cover Crop Goals
• Smothering weeds: sorghum-sudan, cereal rye, buckwheat,
brassicas (we don’t do brassica cover crops – rotation, bugs).
• Fixing nitrogen: clovers, vetches, Austrian winter peas,
cowpeas, soybeans, lentils, sunn-hemp.
• Scavenging leftover nutrients : small grains, brassicas, annual
ryegrass (we don’t use annual ryegrass either – danger of it
becoming a weed)
• Improving soil drainage: sorghum-
sudangrass, sunflower, daikon, sweet-
clover, alfalfa,brassicas, sugar-beet
or forage-beet (never tried that.)
• Grazing
• Bio-fumigation
• Killing nematodes
61. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Cover Crops - Oats
For early spring food
crops, a preceding cover
crop of oats (maybe with
soybeans) is ideal, as it
winter-kills and is easy to
incorporate.
Oats need to be sown at
our farm 8/5-9/17 - they
need to follow an early
finishing crop, such as
spring brassicas, spring
potatoes or early corn.
Photo Oklahoma Farm Report
62. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Leguminous Cover Crops
To get best from legumes, wait till they
flower before turning them under (mid-
April for Crimson clover at the very
earliest)
Then plant a food crop that goes in after
the end of April (later corn plantings,
winter squash, transplanted watermelon,
tomatoes, sweet potatoes or June-
planted potatoes).
Crimson clover is best sown here before
October 14, so it has to follow a crop that
is finished by then.
Austrian winter peas can be sown later
than clovers.
Cowpeas or soybeans are warm weather
legumes.
Crimson clover flower, Photo
Kathryn Simmons
63. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Late Fall Cover Crops
• Austrian Winter Peas can be sown as late as
11/8 here, so we add them to our later rye
and wheat cover crop sowings.
• Photo FifthSeasonGardening.com
• Winter wheat is easier to
incorporate into the soil
in spring, but winter rye
can be planted later than
any other cover crop.
64. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Summer Cover Crops
If we have a four week
gap between crops in
warm weather, we sow
buckwheat.
If we have 6 weeks, we
sow soy with
buckwheat.
If longer, Japanese
Millet or
Sorghum-sudangrass
Shown here after mowing.
Photo Kathryn Simmons
65. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Compost Making
• Many farms make their own compost -this
improves the soil, uses materials that could
otherwise be a waste disposal problem.
• USDA Organic Certified Farms need to follow
Organic rules.
66. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Compost is Central to our Soil
Fertility Program.
• One of our businesses is making and selling tofu.
Okara is a high-N by-product
• We mix in high-C sources: sawdust (from our
hammock-making business) or woodchips (trade
with a neighbor)
• We add food scraps from our dining hall
• and sometimes weeds or crop refuse from our
garden.
• We use the tractor bucket to lift and turn the
piles.
67. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Compost Making is Both Art and
Science
• There are several methods and recipes.
• Hot (aerobic) compost combines 1 to 3 parts
high-C materials with 1 part high-N materials in a
25:1 to 40:1 C:N ratio, and enough water to make
the piles damp, air to keep the bacteria alive.
• The mesophilic stage lasts for the first 2-3 days
after the pile is made. Bacteria which are active
at 90°F–110°F (32°C– 43°C) begin to break down
the sugars, fats, starches and proteins.
68. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Hot (aerobic) compost
• The pile moves into the
thermophilic stage, which
lasts several weeks.
Temperatures in the middle
of the pile can reach 120°F–
150°F (48°C–66°C).
• Thermophilic bacteria
increase, and keep working
as long as decomposable
materials remain available
and the oxygen supply is
adequate.
• Pathogens, weed seeds and
fly larvae are destroyed.
Large-scale compost-turning equipment
69. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
When the pile starts to cool, turn it
• Because more oxygen or more water is needed.
• Turning also remixes the material, so that all of it can be composted.
• And turning prevents the pile from overheating — above 150°F (66°C), the
thermophilic bacteria can be killed.
• During turning, more water can be added if needed to keep the pile damp but
not dripping.
Large scale
compost-turning
machinery
70. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
When the Compost Stops Heating
After the compost materials have all been consumed by the bacteria and
the N mineralized (converted to nitrates, available as plant nutrients),
the pile cools to around 100°F (37.7°C).
It can’t be reheated by more turning, and it is left to cure for about 30
days. This allows beneficial microorganisms to recolonize the compost.
The C in mature compost is resistant to further breakdown, and the N,
initially in the bodies of microbial soil life forms, slowly becomes
available to the plants.
It is then ready to be used.
Large-scale compost
screening equipment
71. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Finished Compost
Finished compost ideally has a C:N
(carbon:nitrogen) ratio of 10:1.
If the C:N ratio is greater than about 25:1,
almost no N is available from the compost and
it is unable to mineralize.
Between 16 and 20:1, about 10% of the N is
available.
Even at a C:N ratio of 10:1, only 50% of the N
is available in the near term.
72. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Growing Compost Materials
• If you have land where you are not growing
food crops and don’t want to improve the soil
by growing cover crops, you can grow
compost crops, to cut and haul to your
compost piles.
• This can be a good way to grow food crops
very intensively in a small area, with the
compost crops growing elsewhere.
73. Part 2 – Feed the Soil
Organic Mulches
• Organic mulches such as
straw, hay, sawdust,
woodchips, tree leaves,
newspaper and cardboard all
add organic matter to the
soil.
• Here we are preparing a new
strawberry bed mulched
with 2 layers of newspaper
and dried sorghum-
sudangrass cut from the plot
in the background.
Photo Luke J Stovall
74. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Direct seeding
Transplanting
Crop spacing
Efficient production strategies
Season extension and crop protection
Cold-hardy winter vegetables
Pests
Diseases
Weeds
Harvest and maturity
See my slide show Fall
Vegetable Production
on SlideShare.net
75. Part 3 - Year Round Production
16 factors that help us keep good food on the table year round:
1. Planning: Minimize the brain-frying calculations in August. Rotations
2. Gearing up: Scale-appropriate equipment.
3. Research and information: One of the best farm implements is the brain!
4. Caring for the soil: Compost, cover crops, organic mulches. Soil tests,
amendments.
5. Maximizing plant health: Prevent and control pests, diseases and weeds, get a
longer harvest.
6. Choose crops and varieties suited to your conditions. Read catalog descriptions
carefully. Go for flavor, productivity and disease resistance. Introduce new crops or
varieties on a small scale.
7. Overwintering crops: Kale, collards, spinach,
leeks. In spring, get earlier harvests.
8. Season extension: At both ends of the normal
growing season. Adding 2 or 3 weeks takes
only a little extra vigilance and a modest
investment in rowcover or shadecloth.
76. 9. High Tunnel growing: The rate of growth is much faster in a hoophouse; the quality
of the crops is superb.
10.Transplants: Extend the season in spring by starting plants inside, giving them a
head start over direct-sown crops. Let over-overwintered cover crops grow longer.
11.Succession cropping: 9 plantings of carrots, 7 plantings of sweet corn, 6 of
cucumbers, squash, zucchini, edamame and bush beans. 50 plantings of lettuce!
12.Interplanting and undersowing: Sowing or transplanting one crop (or cover crop)
while another is still growing. Establish your cover crop sooner.
13.Winter storage: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, garlic and onions,
carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, celeriac and kohlrabi. Longer availability.
14.Food processing: Processed (“value-added”) foods lengthen the season, with no
out-of-season growing. Pickle, can, freeze and dry
15. Crop review: Keep good records,
discuss and write up what worked and
what didn’t, and do better next year.
16. Lots of help: Arrange some work so
that unskilled visitors can join in and be
useful.
Solar food dryer.
Photo Twin Oaks Community
77. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Direct Seeding
Photo Kathryn Simmons
• Pros
– Less work than transplanting
– Less money compared to buying starts
– No need for a greenhouse and
equipment
– Better drought tolerance – roots grow
without damage
– Some crops don’t transplant easily
– Some crops have millions of plants!
(Carrots)
• Cons
– Uses more seed
– Uses more time thinning
– Occupies the land longer
– Maybe harder to get started in cold (or
hot) conditions
78. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Getting the best from direct sowing
Good soil conditions lead to even
germination: tilth (size of particles),
moisture
Decide by soil temperature, not
calendar. New Seed Starter’s
Handbook.
Correct depth and sowing density
Good seed contact with soil: tamp
lightly
Good tools: EarthWay, precision
seeders, hoes, jab planters for large
seeds, tractor seed drills.
• Photo Bridget Aleshire
79. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Transplanting pros and consPros
• Start earlier than outside, get earlier
harvests
• Start seed in more ideal conditions in
greenhouse, better germination, more fun!
• Easier to care for new seedlings in a
greenhouse
• Protected plants grow quicker
• Select sturdiest plants, compost the rest
• More flexibility if weather turns bad. Plants
still grow!
• Fit more crops into the season
• Use time windows for quick cover crops
• Save on seed costs
Cons
• Extra time caring for the starts
• Transplant shock can delay harvest
• More attention needed to watering new
plants
Photo Kathryn Simmons
80. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Getting the best from transplanting
Roots need space. Open flats, plug trays, soil blocks, bare root
plants.
Transplant shock is less for plants with good root systems - harvest
starts sooner.
Good seed compost
Use a soil thermometer, not a calendar, to decide when to plant
out tender plants. Don’t rush them!
Measure and mark the correct spacing: tractor equipment, rolling
dibbles, row marker rake, measuring sticks and triangles, span of
finger and thumb.
Ideal conditions for transplanting are mild windless afternoons
and evenings just before (or during!) light steady rain.
Transplanting late in the day gives the plant a chance to recover
during the cooler night hours - the rate of water loss is slower.
Shadecloth or rowcover can be used to reduce the drying effects
of wind and sun.
81. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Transplant age and size
Vegetable Notes Ideal Age at Transplanting
Cucumbers,
melons,
squash 2 true leaves max (maybe less) 3–4 weeks
Watermelons (older is OK) 3–4 weeks
Sweet Corn 3–4 weeks
Tomatoes age is less important 4–8 weeks
Lettuce 4–7 weeks
Brassicas 5 true leaves is ideal 6–8 weeks spring/
3–4 weeks summer
Peppers & eggplant 4 or 5 true leaves, not flowering 6–8 weeks
Onions (spring sown)
& leeks 10–12 weeks
Celery 10–12 weeks
82. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Transplanting depth
o Deeper planting reduces wind stress on
young plants.
o Plant to the first true leaves - increases
yields of many crops. Often this is deeper
than the plant was in the flat.
o Some plants (tomatoes) grow extra roots
along the buried stem.
o But soil is cooler deeper down and this
may not be a good thing for warm-
weather plants. e.g. sweet potatoes and
tomatoes
o So - plant in a shallow horizontal or
diagonal trench. Bury much of the stem in
the soil, increasing the growth of extra
roots and protecting the plant against
wind damage, while keeping the roots in
the warmer soil near the surface.
Photo Kathryn Simmons
83. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Water is Vital for Transplants!
Damp soil is important for transplanting.
Water plants an hour before transplanting, and
again after planting.
In very dry weather, water the field ahead of
planting, either with overhead sprinklers or
drip irrigation right on the planting row. Set
out drip tape with emitters at the chosen crop
spacing, water for 20 minutes before planting,
and then plant directly into the wet spots. No
other measuring is needed.
When setting out a large number of plants,
water every 20-30 minutes, regardless of the
number of plants set out.
Water the transplants the next day, on days 3,
7, 10 after planting, and then weekly after
that.
Photo credit Luke Stovall
84. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Crop Spacing
Yield is related to plant density.
Area per plant is the important bit, not
particular row spacing.
There is a balance point at which the plant
density provides the maximum total yield.
At that density some plants will be too small
to use. That’s taken into account when
calculating yield.
Crop size (do customers want big carrots or
small carrots?)
Disease control (humidity and molds)
Preferred layout (beds with equidistant
plants, or rows).
Ease of cultivation (tractor equipment,
hoes, horses) and irrigation
For large plants such as okra or eggplant, it
makes more sense to plant a single row in a
bed and have the plants close together in
that row, in a “hedge.”
Photo of Morris Heading Collards by Kathryn Simmons
85. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Optimal Crop Spacing for Various GoalsCrop Row spacing In-row spacing Notes
Beets 7" (18 cm) 4" (10 cm) For early harvest
12" (30 cm) 1" (2.5 cm) For max total yield (small).
2" (5 cm) for bigger beets
Beans, fava 18" (45 cm) 4.5" (11 cm) For tall varieties.
Beans, green 18" (45 cm) 2" (5 cm) 12" (30cm) × 3" (7.5 cm) gives the same area/plant
Broccoli (Calabrese) 12" (30cm) 6" (15 cm) For equal amounts of heads and side shoots
Cabbage 14" (35 cm) 14" (35 cm) For small heads
18" (45 cm) 18" (45 cm) For large heads
Carrots 6" (15 cm) 4" (10 cm) For early crops, limiting competition
6" (15 cm) 1.5" (4 cm) For maincrop, medium size roots
Celery 11" (28 cm) 11" (28 cm) For high yields and mutual blanching
Cucumber (pickling) 20" (51 cm) 3" (8 cm)
Leeks 12" (30 cm) 6" (15 cm) Max yield of hilled up leeks, average size
Lettuce 9" (23 cm) 8" (20 cm) Early crops under cover
12" (30 cm) 12" (30 cm) Head lettuce
5" (13 cm) 1" (2.5 cm) Baby lettuce mix
Onions 12" (30 cm) 1.5" (4 cm) For medium size bulbs
12" (30 cm) 0.5" (1 cm) For boiling, pickling, kebabs
Parsnips 12" (30 cm) 6" (15 cm) For high yields of large roots
7.5" (19 cm) 3" (8 cm) For smaller roots
Peas, shelling 18" (46 cm) 4.5" (11.5 cm) Can sow in double or triple bands, 4.5" (11.5 cm) apart
Potatoes 30" (76 cm) 9-16" (23–41 cm) Depends on size of seed pieces; small pieces closer
Sweet Corn 30-36" (76–90 cm) 8" (20 cm) Closer than 8" (20 cm) the plants shade each other.
Tomatoes, bush types 19" (48 cm) 19" (48 cm) For early crops
Watermelon 66" (168 cm) 12–24" (30–60 cm) For small varieties. 5–10 ft2 (0.5–1 m2) each
66" (168 cm) 30–84" (76–215 cm) For large varieties. 13–40 ft2 (1.2–3.7 m2) each
86. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Efficient Production Strategies
See Jean-Paul Courtens and Jody
Bolluyt at Roxbury Farm
www.roxburyfarm.com
Photo Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Advance planning helps maximize
success when growing a wide range of
different crops and doing many varying
tasks each day.
Switching tasks takes time. Plant similar
crops together to minimize this.
Plan good access for your truck or carts
to haul away the bounty – include roads
and paths.
Break long rows up into manageable
chunks. Don’t ask anyone to haul a
harvest crate more than 100ft. Keep
container weight reasonable.
Have the tools ready before you start.
Make sure there enough knives, scissors,
crates, etc. for everyone
Set containers along the rows when you
arrive. Put them near the path when
full.
87. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Make a Harvest Methods Manual
Describe the crop when ready to harvest, the tools needed, the harvesting technique, how
to pack in the field, washing and storing techniques, and how to pack in the barn. Train the
crew on each crop, and have the harvest manual for reference. Include the standards for
how many boxes, heads, etc. an average harvester can harvest in an hour.
See the Roxbury Farm Harvest Manual at http://www.roxburyfarm.com/harvest-manual
88. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Season Extension in Every Season
Advantages and disadvantages in time and money
Growing earlier crops in spring:
o Choose fast-maturing hardy varieties
o Warm microclimates
o Transplants
o Rowcovers, low tunnels, Quick Hoops, high tunnels (= hoophouses)
Extending the growth of cool-weather crops into summer:
o Learn how to germinate seeds in hot weather
o Shadecloth
o ProtekNet to keep bugs off
o Intercropping allows a new crop to establish in the shade of the old one
Extending the survival of frost-tender crops beyond the first fall frosts
o Rowcover
o Minimizing frost damage
Growing cold-hardy winter vegetables
89. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Crop Protection
• Frost-tender crops can be
kept alive and productive
beyond the first frosts by
using rowcover
• Three basic levels of
protection:
– Rowcovers
– Hoophouses (High Tunnels)
– Heated greenhouses
Photo Kathryn Simmons
90. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Formula to determine last sowing date
for frost-tender crops
Count back from the expected first
frost date, adding:
• the number of days from seeding
to harvest,
• the average length of the harvest
period,
• 14 days to allow for the slowing
rate of growth in the fall, and
• 14 days to allow for an early frost
(unless you have rowcover).
Zephyr Summer Squash
CREDIT: Kathryn Simmons.
91. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Growing and Storing Cold-hardy Winter
Vegetables
Four Situations:
• Cool weather spring/fall crops to harvest before
very cold weather
• Crops to keep alive as far into winter as possible
• Hardy winter-harvest crops
• Overwinter early spring-harvest crops
For details, see my slide show
Cold-Hardy Winter Vegetables
on SlideShare.net
92. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Sustainable Pest Management
4 steps of Integrated Pest Management:
1. prevention (reduce chance of problems)
2. avoidance,
3. monitoring (is action needed?)
4. suppression (using least toxic solution)
Carrot pest damage photo by Jessie Doyle
Zipper spider on tomato, photo by Wren Vile
93. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Mexican bean beetles
• Mexican bean beetles used to
destroy our beans.
• We needed 7 plantings at 15-
day intervals.
• After 2 weeks of harvesting a
planting, we did “Root
Checks.”
• Now we buy the parasitic
pedio wasp.
• We sow 5 or 6 times rather
than 7.
• We also get more beans than
previously, and they’re
prettier.
94. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Bean Beetle Parasite
(Pediobius foveolatus)
• These tiny wasps do not overwinter, so buy them each year
unless you don’t get enough MBB to worry about.
• Wasps are shipped to you as adults or as parasitized
Mexican bean beetle larvae, called mummies. The adults
emerge from the mummies, and the females lay eggs in
your MBB larvae.
• Timing is critical: order as soon as you see larvae.
• Release 20 mummies = 400-500 wasps for every 1000 sq. ft.
of beans (40 units/acre). 2013 prices $60/1000 adults,
$30/20 mummies. Plus UPS Next Day Saver, about $20.
• NJ Department of Agriculture Beneficial Insect Rearing
Laboratory contact: Tom Dorsey at (609) 530-4192. See
http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/benef
icialinsect.html
95. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Sustainable Disease Management
Diseases need
• a susceptible host,
• the presence of a pathogen,
• suitable environmental conditions.
Plant pathogens can be
• soil-borne,
• foliar-borne,
• seed-borne,
• a combination of seed-borne with one of the others.
But don’t blame the victim! Bad things can happen to
good farmers!
See www.sustainablemarketfarming.com for more details of these types. Search for
Biointensive Integrated Pest Management
96. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Bio-intensive Disease IPM
1. Cultural controls
(preventative strategies)
2. Monitor crops for problems
3. When control measures are
needed
a) Physical controls
b) Biological controls
c) Microbial controls
d) Botanical controls
e) Inorganic controls (Also known as
biorational disease controls)
See www.sustainablemarketfarming.com
for information on these types of
controls. Search for Biointensive
Integrated Pest Management
Proteknet on hoops, keeps
cucumber beetles out. Dubois Engineering
97. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Sustainable Weed Management
Weeds compete with crops for sunlight, water
and nutrients, and can encourage fungal diseases
by reducing airflow.
Too-frequent cultivation to remove weeds can
leave the soil more prone to erosion
Each tilling or deep hoeing stirs air into the soil
and speeds combustion of organic matter
Most weeds respond well to nutrients, especially
nitrogen. If you give corn too much nitrogen,
even as compost, its productivity will max out
and the weeds will use the remaining nutrients.
98. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Sustainable weed management is
about effectiveness
• Remove weeds at their most
vulnerable stage, or at the last
minute before the seedpods
explode —ignore weeds doing
little damage.
• Different types: annuals and
perennials; stationary perennials
(docks) and invasive perennials
(Bermuda grass); cool-weather
and warm-weather types; quick-
maturing and slow-maturing
types; “Big Bang” types (pigweed)
versus “Dribblers” (galinsoga,
shown here)
• Photo Wren Vile
99. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Methods of sustainable weed control
1. Preventing weeds from
germinating
Photo credit Luke Stovall
2. Reducing weed seeding
3. Reducing weed seed viability
4. Reducing the strength of
perennial weed roots and
rhizomes
Photo Brittany Lewis
See www.sustainablemarketfarming.com
for more details. Search for Biointensive
Integrated Pest Management
100. Part 3 - Year Round Production
Harvest and maturity indicators
For market you may need to harvest “fruit” crops a bit under-ripe
• Size: Cow Horn okra at 5” (others shorter), green beans a bit thinner than a
pencil, carrots at whatever size you like, asparagus at 7”, zucchini at 6”.
• Color: Garden Peach tomatoes with a pink flush. The “ground spot” of a
watermelon turns from greenish white to buttery yellow at maturity, and the
curly tendrils where the stem meets the melon to turn brown and dry
• Shape: cucumbers that are rounded out, not triangular in cross-section, but not
blimps. Sugar Ann snap peas completely round
• Softness or texture: eggplants that “bounce back” when lightly squeezed,
tomatoes that are not hard, snap beans that have crisp pods with pliable tips.
Harvest most muskmelons when the stem separates easily from the fruit (“Full
slip”), skins of summer squash should be tender enough to pierce with a
fingernail.
• Skin toughness: storage potatoes when the skins don’t rub off, usually two
weeks after the tops die, whether naturally or because of mowing.
• Sound: watermelons sound more like your chest than your head or your belly
when thumped. Try the “Scrunch Test” by pressing down firmly on the melon
101. Broccoli and Cauliflower
Select blue-green broccoli heads and
harvest them before the small, yellow
flower buds open.
Leave the small leaves on broccoli stems
intact—they're very nutritious.
Cabbages when the head is firm and the
outer leaf on the head is curling back.
To keep mature cabbage in the ground a
bit longer, twist the heads to break off
some of the feeder roots and limit water
uptake, and they will be less likely to split.
Part 3 - Year Round Production
102. Sweet Corn
• Sweet corn will be ready to
harvest about three weeks
after the first silks appear.
• Corn is ready when the ears
fill to the end with kernels
and the silks become brown
and dry.
• An opaque, milky juice will
seep out of punctured
kernels.
Part 3 - Year Round Production
103. Determining when to harvest garlic
• Garlic is ready to harvest when the sixth leaf down is starting to brown on 50% of the crop.
See Ron Engeland's Growing Great Garlic.
• Harvesting too early means smaller bulbs (harvesting way too early means an
undifferentiated bulb and lots of wrappers that then shrivel up).
• Harvesting too late means the bulbs may "shatter" or have an exploded look, and not store
well.
• Cut across hardneck garlic – airspaces around stem show maturity
See my slide
show Growing
Great Garlic
on
SlideShare.net
Part 3 - Year Round Production
104. Onions
Wait until the tops fall over to harvest, then gently dig up the whole plant and dry.
Leave the dry, papery outer skin on the onion.
Photos by Southern Exposure Seed
Exchange
Part 3 - Year Round Production
105. Resources - General
ATTRA attra.ncat.org Market Farming: A Start-up Guide, Plugs and Transplant Production for
Organic Systems, Scheduling Vegetable Plantings for a Continuous Harvest, Intercropping Principles
and Production Practices (mostly field crops, but the same principles apply to vegetable crops),
Season Extension Techniques for Market Farmers, and many other great publications.
SARE sare.org -A searchable database of research findings. Available to download: Using Cover
Crops Profitably and Crop Rotations on Organic Farms, A Planning Manual
extension.org/organic_production http://www. eOrganic.info. The organic agriculture community
with eXtension. Publications, webinars, videos, trainings and support. An expanding, accessible
source of reliable information.
Growing Small Farms: growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu Click Farmer Resources. Debbie Roos keeps
this site up to the minute. Includes Farm Planning and Recordkeeping
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina State University has good
information on compost-making, such as Composting on Organic Farms.
Compost recipe software is available from Cornell University
www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost/science.html
Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, www.imok.ufl.edu/programs/vegetable-
hort/research-extension-ozores/veg-transplant/ (Information on age of transplants, container size,
biological control for pests, diseases, hardening off, plant size, planting depth and temperature. )
Cornell Extension website: vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/All_BactSeed.htm
Good detailed information on seed treatments.
106. Resources - slideshows
Many of my presentations are available at www.Slideshare.net . Search for Pam Dawling. You’ll find
Crop Rotations
Cold-hardy Winter Vegetables
Fall Vegetable Production
Succession Planting for Continuous Vegetable Harvests
Crop Planning for Sustainable Vegetable Production
Spring and Summer Hoophouses
Fall and Winter Hoophouses
Mark Cain Planning for Your CSA: www.Slideshare.net (search for Crop Planning)
Planning the Planting of Cover Crops and Cash Crops, Daniel Parson SSAWG 2012
www.slideshare.net/parsonproduce/southern-sawg
Cover Crop Innovation by Joel B Gruver www.Slideshare.net
Cover crops for vegetable cropping systems, Joel Gruver,
www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/cover-crops-for-vegetable-crops
Finding the best fit: cover crops in organic farming systems. Joel Gruver, Some overlap with previous
slideshow. www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/cover-crops-decatur
Farm Planning for a Full Market Season Tom Peterson, Appalachian Farmers Market Association and
Appalachian Sustainable Development http://vabf.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/tom-peterson-
farm-planning-for-a-full-market-season.pdf
Cultural Practices And Cultivar Selections for Commercial Vegetable Growers. Brad Burgefurd, Wide
scope. www.slideshare.net/guest6e1a8d60/vegetable-cultural-practices-and-variety-selection
107. Resources - books
The Market Gardener, Jean-Martin Fortier, New Society Publishers
The Complete Know and Grow Vegetables, J K A Bleasdale, P J Salter et al.
Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers, Maynard and Hochmuth
The New Seed Starter’s Handbook, Nancy Bubel, Rodale Books
The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, Richard Wiswall, Chelsea Green
Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start-up to Market, Vern Grubinger,
The New Organic Grower, Eliot Coleman, Chelsea Green
Extending the Season: Six Strategies for Improving Cash Flow Year-Round on the Market Farm a free e-
book for online subscribers to Growing for Market magazine
Sharing the Harvest, Elizabeth Henderson and Robyn Van En
Gardening When it Counts, Steve Solomon
Grow a Sustainable Diet: Planning and Growing to Feed Ourselves and the Earth, Cindy Conner, New
Society Publishers, (worksheet based). DVD/CD set Develop a Sustainable Vegetable Garden Plan
Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers, Daniel Brisebois and Frédéric Thériault (Canadian
Organic Growers www.cog.ca)
Nature and Properties of Soils, fourteenth edition, Nyle Brady and Ray Weil
Garden Insects of North America, Whitney Cranshaw
Managing Weeds on your Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies. Charles Mohler and Antonio
DiTommaso. SARE. In prep.(not yet published)
SARE Crop Rotations on Organic Farms, A Planning Manual, Charles Mohler and Sue Ellen Johnson,
editors.
108. Resources - Planning
The Twin Oaks Harvest Calendar by Starting Date and by Crop are available
as pdfs on my website
sustainablemarketfarming.com/2013/11/07/growing-for-market-articles-2/
AgSquared online planning software: agsquared.com
COG-Pro record-keeping software for Certified Organic Farms: cog-pro.com
Free open-source database crop planning software
code.google.com/p/cropplanning.
Mother Earth News interactive Vegetable Garden Planner, free for 30 days:
motherearthnews.com/garden-planner.
Target Harvest Date Calculator: (Excel spreadsheet) johnnyseeds.com/t-
InteractiveTools.aspx
Growing Small Farms: growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu click Farmer
Resources, Farm Planning and Recordkeeping to download Joel Gruver’s
spreadsheets.
Mark Cain www.drippingspringsgarden.com under the CSA tab, you can
download their Harvest Schedule. Notebook-based system.
109. Resources – Detailed Planning
Tables of likely crop yields johnnyseeds.com/assets/information/vegetablecharts.pdf.
gardensofeden.org/04%20Crop%20Yield%20Verification.htm two charts, one of organic
crops from The Owner-Built Homestead by Ken & Barbara Kern, one from California.
Determining Prices for CSA Share Boxes Iowa State U
extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/pdf/c5-19.pdf
New England Vegetable Management Guide Crop Budgets
http://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/crop-budgets
Clif Slade’s 43560 Project: Virginia Association for Biological Farming newsletter
vabf.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/clif-slade-43560-demo-project.pdf.
USDA annual vegetable consumption www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf
John Jeavons How to Grow More Vegetables has charts: Pounds Consumed per Year by the
Average Person in the US and Average US Yield in Pounds per 100 Square Feet.
The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the UC Santa Cruz Crop Plan
for a Hundred-Member CSA, for a range of 36 crops in its Unit 4.5 CSA Crop Planning:
casfs.ucsc.edu/education/instructional-resources/downloadable-pdf-files2 or directly at
63.249.122.224/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4.5_CSA_crop_plan.pdf
Jean-Paul Courtens , Roxbury Farm www.roxburyfarm.com. Information for Farmers tab,
100 Member CSA Plan, including a Weekly Share Plan, Greenhouse Schedule, and Field
Planting and Seeding Schedule (with charts of possible crop yields). Courtens is also willing
to send you their 1,100-member schedule.
There are methods of succession planting that involve no paperwork. This one uses the size of the previous sowing as a cue for when to make the next planting
Draw a smooth line.
Allow time for writing
Carrots provide the same maximum yield at very different densities. The weight of tiny carrots from very crowded beds can be the same as the weight of giant carrots from carefully cultivated and thinned beds (or from precision-sown pelleted seed).
This meant that pole beans were a complete waste of time (they didn’t mature before the beetles ravaged them).
15 day intervals: April 16, May 20, June 9, June 24, July 9, July 22, and Aug 3.
“Root Checks” was our euphemism for pulling up the beetle-ridden plants, picking off the last beans, and taking the plants off to our composting area.
Once the parasites are established for the season, there’s no more need for hand picking beetles, and the second and subsequent plantings will look very healthy.
Our 6 sowing dates are on April 16, May 14, June 7, June 29, July 19, and Aug 3
Red root pigweed is a “Big Bang” weed — the plant grows for a long time, and then all its seeds ripen at once as it starts dying. Most seeds come from a few large plants — pigweed monsters that mature late in summer can shed four hundred thousand seeds! Pulling the largest 10 percent of the weeds can reduce seed production by 90 percent or better.
“Seed dribblers” like galinsoga, mature seed while still quite small plants, shed some, make some more, and can carry on for a long seed-shedding season. Galinsoga seeds are short-lived and germinate only near the soil surface, but velvetleaf seeds can lie dormant for years deep
in the subsoil and germinate whenever they are brought close to the surface.
If they are nearly ready and rain is projected for 7 days, just harvest it.