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Post by steev on Nov 5, 2012 23:40:35 GMT -5
That's not the weed-sweep they used to sell, when they were serious about such things. It didn't have "parts"; it was one thing.
By the way, sharpening this stuff is just reducing its lifespan without getting much benefit; soil contact dulls metal tools; sharpening them thins the edge to be dulled, speeding the wearing away of total metal mass, which wears out the tool. Sharpening a shovel or hoe, fine, because it reduces wear on us, which may be a net benefit, but sharpening a motor-driven tool is another matter. All things considered, there is no free lunch, and we're all dead, in the long run.
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James
grub
Greetings from Utah -- James
Posts: 93
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Post by James on Dec 28, 2012 11:19:28 GMT -5
At the end of market last season, I took a look at what I had been wishing I had for market, and drew up a garden plan for next season while it was still fresh on my mind. It entailed digging up a bit more space of course.
A couple of notes: Plant a bit of corn every week so I have corn every week for market. Corn was my best money maker on the days I had it at market. More carrots, beets, broccoli, chard, lettuce, dill and cucumbers.
People keep asking about small cukes for sweet pickles. They want them from one inch to 3 inches. My gosh they don't seem to know how big a patch it takes to get a bucketful of that size cuke, nor how long it takes to pick them. To be worth my time I would have to charge way more than they would be willing to pay. I always just tell them that I don't have any. Now 8 inch slicing cukes on the other hand are money makers. I sold every cuke I dropped on the table and wanted more.
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Post by davida on Jan 13, 2013 15:31:25 GMT -5
Planting carrots and making a crop is a bit difficult eh Joseph. Try this. Get some good radishes of different colors and maturity that will grow as spring radishes. Use the carrot seed you prefer though I would point out that your soil needs a heavy chantenay type to perform well. Till the soil to a powder. Get a 10 ft long piece of galvanized pipe 1.5 to 2 inches diameter. Drop the pipe where you want a row so it forms a trench about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. Carefully sow carrot seed and then radish seed in the row. The carrot seed should be at a rate of 20 or 30 seed per foot of row and the radishes at 5 to 10 seed per foot. Use a bag of peat moss crumbled very fine to cover the seed about 3/8 inch deep. Do not put anything else on top of the seed. Planting time is just as early as possible in the spring, carrots and radishes enjoy cool weather. Harvest the radishes as they mature. Let the carrots grow. You may not be able to do this, it is primarily a heat management option. When the carrots are about 3 or 4 inches tall weed carefully, then cover the sides of the rows with peat moss about 1/2 inch deep. I grow my radishes and carrots in a bed 3 feet wide by about 30 feet long. This is the equivalent of roughly 90 row feet in a straight row. Weeding is easy with a garden fork. Since the soil has plenty of added organics, it does not harden up in the heat. DarJones Dar, thank you for this post. I am so excited to plant carrots this year. My daughter and granddaughter that garden with me, desire an abundance of carrots. I have always been able to grow a few but never an abundance to eat fresh, can and dehydrate. Germination has always been the biggest problem. Your system has given me hope. I have not been able to keep the seeds moist in compost, but the peat moss should work. And then the extra peat on the sides, should give them enough moisture to thrive. With an early crop in the hoop house, the spring and then fall crop outside and then back in the winter in the hoop house, we should have an abundance. So simple but effective. Sometimes, one post can make such a difference. Thanks again, Dar. Now for the forum, what varieties do you think that my girls would enjoy? Thanks for the help, David |
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Post by davida on Jan 13, 2013 16:01:59 GMT -5
More carrots. I am always wishing for more carrots. Germination is unreliable for me. The weeds out-compete the tiny little seedlings. I'm always pleasantly surprised if I get any carrots at all. We grow our carrots for the root cellar so it's always a mid-July sowing. This year that meant we were going to have germination problems between the drought and scorching sun. Joyce came up with the inspired idea of covering the beds with row cover kept just off the ground by tacking it to 2 x 4's. We'd water early in the morning and find that the soil was still moist-ish by early evening. Germination was pretty good and far better than what it would have been had the soil been dried out by exposure to the sun. And by using this method if the peat is still drying out, we shall have carrot germination. I have some super white mesh feed sacks that alfalfa cubes came in that are 3' long. Tack these using the double layer to eight foot 2 x4"s and we can cover. They will also store easily. Thank you MikeH and Joyce!! |
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Post by 12540dumont on Jan 13, 2013 17:21:07 GMT -5
Davida, I'm sending you some carrots from the carrot trial in your package this year. They are big carrots, good to eat, good for your cow. and you can either feed her the carrot tops or make carrot pesto. Let me know if there's anything else burning on your list, as the box is still open.  |
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Post by davida on Jan 13, 2013 19:27:26 GMT -5
Davida, I'm sending you some carrots from the carrot trial in your package this year. They are big carrots, good to eat, good for your cow. and you can either feed her the carrot tops or make carrot pesto. Let me know if there's anything else burning on your list, as the box is still open. Wow. I get a box even after all my failures of 2012. I joined this forum in Nov. 2011 with the high hopes of being an excellent collaborator. You guys furnished excellent seeds that germinated excellent and made great plants. But I did not get a return on the investment so I was literally embarrassed to ask for a single seed this year. Thanks so much for sharing. The only other thing that I could request would be a couple of Dan Grunt's favorites of any plant variety. We shared numerous private messages but never exchanged seeds. I would like something to grow to think about such a great man and to always remember to "Pay it Forward" like you have always done for so many of us. |
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Post by steev on Jan 14, 2013 0:12:53 GMT -5
The notion that "we" (in the USA) make better steel than other countries is out of date. "We", in the USA, no longer make steel much, at all. Too damned bad, but there it is.
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Post by davida on Jan 20, 2013 12:03:32 GMT -5
Which reminds me, I wanted to show you this corn/squash experiment. On each side of the flour corn I planted Little Green Seed. I have not lost one plant to gophers, even though they are not caged. Also, there are NO squash bugs in this plot. Now, that's something to replicate next year. Holly, Thank you for the Little Greenseed package. I remembered this post and finally found it. Did this experiment end the year without gophers and squash bugs? If so, I want to also replicate this trial. Do you agree that the type of corn would not matter as long as Little Greenseed is planted on both sides? Thanks, David |
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Post by synergy on Jan 20, 2013 14:47:05 GMT -5
I am very excited to try the carrots 12540dumont, and thank you ! I am trying to cut down on grain consumption and I find root and tuber veggies fill that carb craving . I am trying to set an example for my kids too with an emphasis on delicious veggies straight from the garden . Ha, that is the plan , anyways. The road to hell is paved with good intentions ....
When I have left carrots to go to seed in our cold wet climate they have tended to rot and be eaten by slugs. I had thought about lifting the best for planting them in a pot of fairly dry peatmoss until the next spring and then setting that back into the garden to try for seed. Any thoughts ?
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Post by littleminnie on Jan 20, 2013 19:44:50 GMT -5
At the end of market last season, I took a look at what I had been wishing I had for market, and drew up a garden plan for next season while it was still fresh on my mind. It entailed digging up a bit more space of course. A couple of notes: Plant a bit of corn every week so I have corn every week for market. Corn was my best money maker on the days I had it at market. More carrots, beets, broccoli, chard, lettuce, dill and cucumbers. People keep asking about small cukes for sweet pickles. They want them from one inch to 3 inches. My gosh they don't seem to know how big a patch it takes to get a bucketful of that size cuke, nor how long it takes to pick them. To be worth my time I would have to charge way more than they would be willing to pay. I always just tell them that I don't have any. Now 8 inch slicing cukes on the other hand are money makers. I sold every cuke I dropped on the table and wanted more. When I used to have my home garden and pickle baby cucs I would pick every day for a week and keep them in ice water in the fridge and they would stay good for the week until I had a few jars worth. When people want canning quantities of stuff there are some major issues of which they have no idea! If you grew enough to sell canning quantities you would have that much to sell every week or more! That would mean lots and lots! I tried to sell some half or quarter bushels of nice fancy paste tomatoes last year but there are 2 members at market who grow 'canners' and sell for like $12 a bushel I think. I think $10 for a peck of paste tomatoes is good. Generally I feel there is no use canning unless you grow your own. Freezing corn is an exception for sure. But when I sell a bushel of tomatoes, peppers, hot peppers, onions, garlic and herbs to make salsa it is like $75 so that is expensive salsa! |
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Post by littleminnie on Feb 13, 2013 20:27:09 GMT -5
Well I have had my garden plan done for some weeks but I am looking for things to tweak you know. So back to thinking about what is worth growing more of and what isn't. I have read some books where farmers have worked out the exact cost of growing something, including fuel, and the exact profit. They were surprised what was the most profitable. It reminds me of Restaurant Impossible when chef Robert asks restaurant owners what menu items are the highest selling and most profitable and they are never right. I feel like that too. Maybe someday I will have refined things down to growing just my most profitable crops.
I think last year my most profitable crop was the scarred Cinderella pumpkins. People would probably pay $20 for a big one. I could probably sell them to the grocery store too. The field I rent was all pumpkins right before I started renting and there are squash bugs, borers and now horrible cuc beetles so I wouldn't want to grow 2 acres of Cinderella pumpkins.
Kale is becoming very popular. People put it in their smoothies. They like the Russian kind for that. It is an easy crop too. I have had CSAs tell me to hold the ground cherries and give them kale instead.
So I am weighing adding more of something and taking out some sweet peppers and who knows what else.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Feb 14, 2013 8:14:13 GMT -5
I prefer to use a rule of thumb vs doing enterprise budgets for every crop. I try and figure out how much money I make on each crop per acre. Basically all you need to know to calculate that is how much you planted of it and at what spacing, and how much you sold of it. So you need some basic planting records and harvest/sales records. Then you can figure out a $/square foot and then extrapolate up to $/acre. Then you can compare all your crops profitability. My most profitable crops per acre are Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Arugula, Mizuna, and Tomatoes. Least profitable are Snap Peas and Winter Squash.
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Post by littleminnie on Feb 14, 2013 11:37:56 GMT -5
I think that's great that you do that. I have yet to do any record keeping on how much I harvest or sell. I add up what I make after market but don't know exactly everything I sell. The first 2 years I would write down how many bunches of this and that I brought and what sold and that was as far as that went. I keep track of everything I give the CSAs but don't add it up as to each crop... Maybe I could do that.
Perhaps truly figuring out what crops are most profitable would require algorhythms. I mean winter squash need no tending through the whole season so they use little of your time. Whereas peas and beans need hours of picking. That has to be factored in. It would probably be easier to get intel if you only did markets and no CSAs.
I have heard a lot of farmers try to figure out the most profitable thing to put in their govt high tunnels. In my area I am sure it is not tomatoes or peppers. I would say berries, melons possibly potatoes or sweet corn if people will pay for it at an early price.
The guy next to me at market got a tunnel 2 years ago. The first year his sons planted it with peppers while he was gone. That must have been a real waste. Then last year he put in early Napa and Bok Choy and lettuce and then tomatoes as the cold stuff was getting done. That was an ok idea except it was very hard for him to sell the Napa and Bok Choy. He has a saying about Napa 'many admire, few desire'. And the tomatoes were pretty profitable I think except for a few people who will not buy hothouse or too perfect of tomatoes and bought from me instead.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 14, 2013 13:20:40 GMT -5
I tend to do my profit/loss calculations based on a per row basis. For most crops, I plant 50 foot long rows so that's a consistent measure for me.
Some years I kept detailed records of what it cost to plant crops, and the labor on each crop, and the harvest, and the income. But it's just unworkable to try to do the math on it at the end of the season. It would help if I kept the notes as one page per row/crop instead of as a running journal.
If I was interested in maximizing profits, I would only grow crops for seed. Because seed is not highly perishable, and I could sell it to a global market. Definitely not tomato seeds though: too much competition.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 14, 2013 17:21:21 GMT -5
Profit?
Someone is making profit? In 10 years I made a profit once. I went to a very lucrative market every Sunday. Folks there would by weeds out of my garden.
Well don't look to me for farming profit. I agree with Joseph. I should just grow seed and send it to Joseph to sell. No customers except Joseph. And Joseph is a pleasure to deal with.
Before I put the first seed in the ground I have already spent $2500 just to keep the doors open. That's just taxes for the well and land.
No, I don't think there's a dime in tomatoes, unless I have them in June and drive them to the Berkley Bowl, where people will pay $4.00 a pound for garden tomatoes as it's too darn foggy in Berkley to get tomatoes in June.
I think I could make a serious profit, if I grew the stuff, processed it, and delivered it in meal form.
Folks want triple washed lettuce, twice scrubbed potatoes, gleaming eggs. They want supermarket perfection, with farm fresh flavor, at half the price of "Whole Paycheck" (whole foods to those of you who don't have them).
My plan for this year is to keep trialing crops as we move further and further toward drought conditions.
Early planted corn, sweet, Flint & Flour
Cicers
Vignas
Phaseolus
Lupinis & Favas
Faro/Emmer Spring type
Cukes
Zukes
Tomatoes
Greens of all nationalities
artichokes
asparagus
Broc, Cabb, Carrots, Beets, Turnips, Parsnips - if it's not too hot
Leeks, onions, garlic
Peas
Peppers
Melons
Winter Squash - Enough for 2-3 weeks for the CSA
rhubarb
Herbs & Flowers
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