Sustainable farming practices 2016 Pam Dawling

Sustainable Farming Practices

©Pam Dawling 2016, Twin Oaks Community, Virginia

Author of Sustainable Market Farming

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Twin Oaks Community Gardens

What’s in This Presentation Part 3 - Year Round Production Direct sowing Transplanting Crop spacing Succession crop scheduling Efficient production strategies Season extension Pests Diseases Weeds Harvest and maturity

Part 4 - Resources

Part 1 – Planning and Record-keeping Tools for crop planning 12 steps of planning

Part 2 – Feed the Soil Crop rotations Cover crops Compost making Organic mulches

Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping

Tools for Crop Planning • 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.


Create Your Own Field Manual The Fundamental Four Descriptive month-by-month

Calendar Maps of the layout of the crops Field planting schedule Seedling schedule for greenhouse

production of transplants Other useful pages: • Soil Temperatures for vegetable seed

germination • Days to Emergence at different

temperatures • Sunrise and Sunset Timetable • Crop Rotation Plan • Winter Cover Crops Maps • Cover Crop Information • Farmscaping Worksheet • Other charts and lists from your

planning


Twin Oaks Garden Calendar • A month-by-month task list describing in words the

tasks to be done each month, including

–Crops to sow, transplant, thin

–Areas to compost and disk or till

– Equipment to check over

– Fruit bushes needing attention

–Crops to harvest

• I’ve posted this on my blog www.sustainablemarketfarming.com

See my slideshow Crop Planning for

Sustainable Vegetable

Production on SlideShare.net



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 Schedule 7. 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

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.


Harvest Dates Sowing Dates

When to sow to meet the harvest dates? Find the number of days to maturity (from the catalog). Is that from seed 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.


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


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.


Seedlings Schedule

Pepper transplants. Photo Kathryn Simmons

East Garden

227’ x 265’

Plots are 9,275-10,600 ft2

More about this and crop rotations later

Part 1 – Planning and Record Keeping Step 8 Where to plant each crop ?

Measure and Map; Divide the land into roughly equal plots


Fitting in Summer Succession Crops After locating the major crops (including sweet corn), following our rotation plan, we look for any extra space in the plots, to fit in the succession plantings of beans, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, edamame and cantaloupes. Green bean flowers, Photo Kathryn Simmons


Succession Crops Chart We pencil in arrows,

fitting the succession crops into the spaces available.

At the beginning and end of the season, and in mid-season when space in the main plots is tight, we also look for spaces in our raised beds.

Part 1 Planning and Record Keeping Step 9 Veg Finder

Example: Squash

#3 WEST Plot J

Plant 6/23 120’

Planted…..

Harvesting…

Finished…..

BEANS CUKES SQUASH CORN CARROTS EDAMAME #1 29W, 29E

Plant 4/16 180' dbl

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#1 BED 13W

Plant 4/20 90'

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#1 BED 23W

Plant 4/20 90'

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#1 EAST Plot G 4x265’

Plant 4/26+4/29 1060' Bod

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#1 BED 9E

Plant 2/14 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#1 BED 21W

Plant 4/26 90’

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#2 EAST Plot G

Plant 5/14 176’ dbl

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#2 EAST Plot I

Plant 5/24 180’

slice 90' + pickle 90'

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#2 EAST Plot I

Plant 5/24 88’

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#2 EAST Plot G 4x265'

Plant 5/21 1060' Bod/KK/SQ

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#2 BED 25E

Plant 2/28 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#2 EAST Plot G No-soak


Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#3 WEST Plot J


Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#3 WEST Plot J

Plant 6/23 120’

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#3 WEST Plot J

Plant 6/23 120’

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#3 WEST Plot A north 4 x 180'

6/6 1080' Sug Pearl /KK/SQ

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#3 BED 12W

Plant 3/13 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#3 EAST Plot I

Plant 6/7 60’ dbl

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#4 EAST Plot K

Plant 6/29 175' dbl

(5x35’)

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#4 CENT Plot D

Plant 7/15 240'

slice 120' +pickle 120'

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#4 EAST Plot K

Plant 7/15 105’

(3x35’)

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#4 WEST Plot A 6 x 180'

6/19 1080' Bod/KK/SQ

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#4 BED 12E

Plant 3/27 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#4 CENTRAL Plot D


Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#5 25E 22W


(2x90’)

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#5 BED 15E

Plant 8/5 90' slicers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#5 BED 13E

Plant 8/5 90’

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#5 WEST Plot A 6 x 180'


Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#5 BED 19W

Plant 4/10 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#5 EAST Plot K

Plant 7/14. 70’ (2x35’)dbl

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#6 BEDS 9W, 9E


Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#6 CENTRAL Plot D 7 x 200'


Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#6 BED 17W

Plant 5/14 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#8 BED 1 CARROTS#8 BED 30W

Only if needed

Plant 7/8 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#7 Not this year, perhaps never

again

#7 BED 27E

Only if needed

Plant 6/11 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished

#8 BED CARROTS #9

Overwinter Raised Beds

Plant 7/28 Danvers

Planted

Harvesting

Finished


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

• 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.


Record Results for Next Year’s Better Plan

Part 2 – Feed the 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

See my slideshow Feed the Soil

on SlideShare.net


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


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.


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


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

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)

Part 2 Feed the Soil Crop Rotations steps 2 & 3

Make Maps Divide your land into

roughly equal plots, each big enough to take your largest crop

Start filling your map with your major crops remembering crop

rotation

and cover cropping considerations.

Note the spaces for squeezing in other crops


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


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.

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


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


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

See my slideshow

Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers on SlideShare.net


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.

Crimson clover, Photo Kathryn Simmons


5 steps of cover crop planning

1. Identify your opportunities for cover crops

2. Clarify your cover crop goals

3. Shortlist suitable cover crops for each situation

4. Make a decision from among the options

5. Record your decisions and results, and review for possible changes next year.

Crimson clover and bumble bee. Bridget Aleshire


Cover Crop Opportunities

Late winter or early spring, if the area will not be planted with vegetable crop for 6 weeks (Oats)

In spring, summer or fall, 4 weeks or more between one vegetable crop and a later one

Undersowing at last cultivation (oats and soybeans in corn shown here.)

In fall, after food crops, for 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.

To replace a crop failure. Year-round cover crops/green

fallow. Photo Kathryn Simmons


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


Leguminous Cover Crops Include legumes in cover crop mixes whenever possible, to add nitrogen to the soil. For maximum N, mow and incorporate cover crops when they start to flower. A good legume stand can provide all the N the following crop will need. We only spread compost for our late crops if we had poor luck with the legumes. Crimson clover is our favorite clover for over-wintering. We use it in almost half of our winter cover crop mixes. Red clover would also work, but grows less biomass. Cowpeas or soybeans are warm weather legumes. Most cowpea varieties mature in 60-90 days and will be killed by the first frost. (Oats may provide temporary protection). Austrian winter peas can be sown later than clovers.

Crimson clover flower, Photo Kathryn Simmons


Summer Cover Crops

If we have a 4 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


Late Fall Cover Crops We sow Crimson clover up till 10/14.

After that, we sow Austrian Winter Peas as late as 11/8 here, with our later rye and wheat cover crop sowings.

Winter wheat is easier to incorporate into the soil

Winter rye can be planted later than any other cover crop, up to mid-November here.

Winter rye is the hardiest cover crop. Hardy to −30°F. It’s only worth sowing in November if it will have time to make some growth in spring Austrian winter peas with

winter rye. Photo Cindy Conner


Incorporating Cover Crops into the Soil

• If possible, grow to early bloom for max biomass • Incorporate before plants set seed • Mow with a rotary mower (eg bush hog) which

chops the plants into small pieces. (Sickle-bar mowers and scythes leave long strawy plants)

• Till shallowly, put cover crop where soil life is most active, not deeper.

• If direct-sowing the next crop, incorporate cover crop 3-4 weeks before sowing date, especially winter rye.


No-till Cover Crops

We plant our paste tomatoes into a mowed cover crop of winter rye, hairy vetch and Austrian winter peas.

This reduces inversions of the soil, and the legumes (if plentiful) can supply all the nitrogen the tomatoes need. Tomatoes in hairy vetch (without added N fertilizer, or weeding) can out-yield plastic-and-fertilizer plots by 25%, and out-yield fertilized bare soil by 100%.

Rye and vetch is best sown here in early to mid-September, creating another restriction on which crops the tomatoes could follow.

Winter rye and hairy vetch. Photo Kathryn Simmons


Compost Making Compost improves the soil organic matter, humus, and the soil structure.

The effects of compost last longer than cover crops and crop residues, especially in humid conditions where plant material breaks down rapidly.

Compost adds beneficial bacteria and fungi to the soil, which can inoculate plants against diseases (“induced systemic acquired resistance”). Plants produce antibodies and other protective compounds before any infection occurs.

Many farms make their own compost, using materials that could otherwise be a waste disposal problem. Certified Organic Farms must follow Organic rules.


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.


Compost is a Long-Term Plan! Because it breaks down slowly, generally about 10

percent of the nitrogen will remain after harvest for the next crop (assuming an adequate amount of good finished compost was used).

Some growers aim to build the soil to a high overall fertility level, and then maintain that level with smaller applications of compost each season.

Others aim to apply a consistent amount each year.

Whatever your aim, it is generally agreed that the occasional shortfall in compost application will not be too dire if the soil fertility is high from previous applications.


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.


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


When the Pile Starts to Cool, Turn it • Because more oxygen or more water is needed.

• Turning remixes the material - all gets composted.

• Turning prevents the pile from overheating — above 150°F (66°C), thermophilic bacteria can die

• During turning, add water if needed to keep the pile damp but not dripping.

Large scale compost-turning machinery


When the Compost Stops Heating After the compost materials have all been consumed by bacteria

and the N is converted to nitrates, the pile cools to around 100°F (37.7°C)

More turning won’t reheat it

The C is now resistant to further breakdown, and the N slowly becomes available for crops

Leave it to cure for about 30 days, allowing beneficial microorganisms to move back in. It is then ready to be used.

Large-scale compost screening equipment


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.

Some people worry about using too much compost and the levels of Phosphorus getting too high. On the other hand:

Steve Moore, a veteran high tunnel grower, uses 12-27 gallons/100 sq ft.

In his Winter Harvest Handbook, Eliot Coleman recommends spreading compost at 20 gallons/100 sq ft or 15 tons/acre (8.6 l/m2) of outdoor raised beds, for each successive crop.

For his hoophouses, he makes a plant and seaweed compost and applies it at 41 gallons/100 sq ft.

At the MSU student farm, compost is applied before every crop at a rate of 25 gallons/100 sq ft).

Ben Hartman of The Lean Farm: When establishing new raised beds, they covered the entire growing area with 8-12" of compost. They reshape once each year and replenish with an 1-2” of compost if the soil needs help. Their soil now has 10-12% of OM.


How Much Compost?


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.


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

Part 3 - Year Round Production

Direct Seeding Pros and Cons 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


Transplanting Pros and Cons Pros • 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



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


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, sweet potatoes) 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.



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


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.”

See handout for chart of crop spacings

Photo of Morris Heading Collards by Kathryn Simmons


Optimal Crop Spacing for Various Goals Crop 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


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


Approaches to Succession Crop Planning 1. Rough plan: “every 2 weeks for

corn and beans, 3 weeks for cucumbers, squash, edamame, 4 for carrots and cantaloupes”

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


“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


Sow Several Varieties on One Day Use varieties with different days-to-maturity sown on the same day.

We do this with broccoli, lettuce, sweet corn.


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; harvest start date along the vertical (y) axis. Mark in all your data.

3. Mark the first possible sowing date and 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 harvest start dates

For details of this method see Succession Planting on SlideShare.net


Year Round Lettuce Part 1 Photo Credits Kathryn Simmons

The short version - 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,


Year Round Lettuce Part 2 Photo Kathryn Simmons

• every 5 days in early Aug,

• 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.


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


Growing Degree Days

A measure of heat accumulation

can indicate when it’s warm enough to plant tender crops,

or when they might be ready to harvest.

GDDs can also be used to plan dates for succession sowings.

GDDs reflect actual conditions, rather than simply the calendar, a method which will not work well now climate change has taken hold.

For most purposes a base temperature of 50°F (10°C) is used –roughly the temperature at which most plant growth changes start to take place. Each day when the temperature rises above the threshold, growing-degrees accumulate.


Growing Degree Days

Average the maximum and minimum temperatures for the 24 hour period, and subtract the base temperature. Add each day’s figure to the total for the year to date. This is the GDD figure.

Wikipedia has a good explanation at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing-degree_day

http://farmprogress.com/mobile-apps has a free mobile phone app!

Using GDDs to schedule sweet corn plantings https://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=6618

Using Heat Units to Schedule Vegetable Plantings, Predict Harvest Dates and Manage Crops http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/f11degreedays

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing-degree_day



http://farmprogress.com/mobile-apps




https://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=6618



http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/f11degreedays


Efficient Production Strategies See Jean-Paul Courtens and Jody Bolluyt at Roxbury Farm

www.roxburyfarm.com Photo Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Plan ahead for success when growing a wide range of different crops and doing many different tasks each day.

Plant similar crops together to minimize time-consuming switching of tasks.

Plan roads and paths for your truck or carts to haul away the bounty.

Break long rows up into manageable chunks. Don’t ask anyone to haul a harvest crate more than 100ft. Keep container weight reasonable.

Get 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 full ones near the path.

http://www.roxburyfarm.com/


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

http://www.roxburyfarm.com/harvest-manual




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

Using spring and fall for carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, kale, spinach

Extending the survival of frost-tender crops beyond the first fall frosts

Growing cold-hardy winter vegetables

See my slide show Cold-Hardy Winter Vegetables

on SlideShare.net

See Fall Vegetable Production on SlideShare.net

For details, see my slideshow Hoophouse in Spring and Summer on SlideShare.net


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.


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


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



Sustainable Weed Management • To be most effective, 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


Harvest and Maturity Indicators • Size: Cow Horn okra at 5” (others shorter), green beans a bit thinner

than a pencil, carrots at whatever size you like, 7” asparagus, 6” zucchini

• 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. For market you may harvest “fruit” crops a bit under-ripe

• 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, snap beans that are crisp with pliable tips. Harvest most muskmelons when the stem separates easily from the fruit (“Full slip”).

• 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 like your chest not your head or your belly when thumped. Try the “Scrunch Test” - press down firmly on the melon

Broccoli Select blue-green broccoli heads and harvest them before the flower buds open, but after they’ve enlarged. We press down with finger-tips and spread our fingers to see if the head is starting to loosen.

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.


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.


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


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


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. )

Jean-Paul Courtens , Roxbury Farm www.roxburyfarm.com. Under the Information for Farmers tab you’ll find great stuff.

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=18

http://www.sare.org/

http://eorganic.info/



http://growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/

http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost/science.html

http://www.imok.ufl.edu/programs/vegetable-hort/research-extension-ozores/veg-transplant/










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

Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers

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

http://www.slideshare.net/


http://www.slideshare.net/parsonproduce/southern-sawg







http://www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/cover-crops-for-vegetable-crops












http://vabf.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/tom-peterson-farm-planning-for-a-full-market-season.pdf


















http://www.slideshare.net/guest6e1a8d60/vegetable-cultural-practices-and-variety-selection











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.

http://www.cog.ca/

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.

http://sustainablemarketfarming.com/2013/11/07/growing-for-market-articles-2/










http://www.agsquared.com/

https://cog-pro.com/



https://code.google.com/p/cropplanning/



http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html

http://www.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner




http://www.johnnyseeds.com/t-InteractiveTools.aspx




http://growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/

http://www.drippingspringsgarden.com/

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.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/assets/information/vegetablecharts.pdf



http://www.gardensofeden.org/04 Crop Yield Verification.htm



http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/pdf/c5-19.pdf









http://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/crop-budgets








http://vabf.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/clif-slade-43560-demo-project.pdf











http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf





http://casfs.ucsc.edu/education/instructional-resources/downloadable-pdf-files2








http://63.249.122.224/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/4.5_CSA_crop_plan.pdf






Sustainable Farming Practices

©Pam Dawling 2016, Twin Oaks Community, Virginia

Author of Sustainable Market Farming

SustainableMarketFarming.com facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming


