Tag: market gardening

Posted on

Farm season starting

It’s getting to that time of year once again. The planning is well underway, seeds are all here and the grow season is about to take off. For me it has already started. Where most home growers are planning around last frost dates for their seed starting adventures i work around 3 planting dates. The first one is march 15th in my heated greenhouse, then may 1st in the minimally heated greenhouse, then finally the after frost date which is around the third week of may here(zone 5a).

So far in my grow tent i have started February 3rd, Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs and cabbage. Then on Feb 15th i planted tomatoes, pak choy, kohl rabi,spring onions, and lettuce.

Grow tent with produce

Still to plant for the first round i have cucumbers, zucchini and direct seeding.

Generally for markets i would fill my main greenhouse with tomatoes interplanted with lettuce and pak choy but i am changing my focus this year, which is to feed myself and my family as much variety as possible early as possible and for as long as possible. Crops like cabbage are not profitable in the early greenhouse environment but i am feeding me first and markets second.

As soon as i start heating the greenhouse i will direct seed beans, peas, radish and hakurai turnips and interplant all my transplants.

Im looking at march 3-6th to start heating the greenhouse and the 10th for planting transplants as long as the soil is warm enough.

As soon as the heat is on onions, shallots and leeks need to be seeded as well. Shortly after that its peppers and on march 15th all the summer crops to get planted for the partially heated greenhouses.

The difference between the heated greenhouse and partially heated greenhouses is this. Heated greenhouse has double plastic and propane heaters and climate control. The partially heated greenhouses use forced air heaters and manual window and door openings, single layer of plastic.(photos to come when i get working out there). Thats the update of what’s been going on around here just now. another week and we will be full swing into growing.

this photo above was taken April 27th. It is my main heated greenhouse. Next wednesday May 1st i start back at market. Lettuce is ready. Spinach that was overwintered in a hoop house is ready. Hakurai turnips and pak choy will be ready for market as well. The cabbages, kale, broccoli and cauliflower need a few more weeks and they are mostly for us anyways. Cherry tomatoes are in flower and if im lucky harvest will start at the end of may for those.

in the middle bed with the black pots laid out every 2 feet. Marked out for cucumbers that will be going into the bed in 2 weeks.

Posted on

An intro and where we’re going

For the past ten years i have been farming vegetables.

It started when we raised some pigs and attended a market to sell the pork. We picked some produce from my parents garden to make the table look good. The produce sold better than the pork. At the time we were doing mixed farming. Chickens for meat and eggs, sheep (we had 30 ewes) pigs and produce. Between the produce selling better and growing produce really excited me. Gradually we switched to just growing produce. Between 2016 and 2018 i really dialled in my growing method. I have 1 heated greenhouse and 6 12×50 hoop houses that i can minimally heat. Looking back the transition went from learning and experimentation to proficiency to specializing my crops. I pushed to be first to market with all my produce and push later into the season each year, eventually growing year round for the past 3 seasons.

Each year i tended to grow less variety and more volume of the high value crops. Tomatoes, lettuce, all manner of greens, peppers, cucumbers, beans, peas etc. I still grow a large variety of crops but there hasn’t been much experimentation and new trials

This year is going to be different. My goal is to grow as many crops as possible to feed myself and take the left overs to market. Instead of 3 markets, a large csa, as much wholesale as i can muster. It’s going to be 1 market and 2 long standing wholesale customers only. I want my time back and i want experimentation back as well.

Chickens for meat and pork are going to be on the farm this year. I’m planning to grow corn for cooking. I’m interested in tobacco growing and cannabis cultivation. I’m still going to be growing full time just not having any staff and see how much can be accomplished by just 1 person. I have a different perspective and system set up now than i did the last season i grew without any staff.

I plan to devote more time with cover crops, knf, Jadam and basically having time to observe and better my processes.

The orange area is most of my established gardens.

I have already started all the crops that will fill my heated greenhouse in a grow tent in my basement. Shortly i will make a post laying out the details of that.