Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

I mentioned a page from Virginia Cooperative Extension, Intensive Gardening 
Methods, at http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-335/426-335.html .  
They discuss several methods of raising production, including interplanting, 
succession planting, and raised beds (or wide rows). They stress planning.  
The page contains an *intensive* spacing guide for several dozen vegetables. 
(I discuss the critical role of humus-rich soil elsewhere)

Their list of the top ten vegetables in economic value: Tomatoes, Beets, 
Green bunching onions, Carrots, Leaf lettuce, Cucumbers, Turnip (greens + 
roots), Peppers, Summer squash, Broccoli, Edible podded peas, Head lettuce, 
Onion storage bulbs, Swiss chard.

And this paragraph "Economic Value of Crops"

"It is difficult to judge the economic value of crops grown in the vegetable 
garden due to the different lengths of time they require for maturity and 
harvest, the availability of varieties and vegetable types not generally 
found in the marketplace, and the lack of comparison values for vegetables 
that are not acceptable by commercial standards (cracked tomatoes, crooked 
cucumbers, etc.), but which are perfectly useable for the home gardener. 
Nevertheless, several studies have attempted to determine which crops bring 
the most value per square foot of garden space, partly to aid small-space 
gardeners in making decisions about what to plant. Of course, if no one in 
the family likes beets, there is no point in growing them just because they 
are economically valuable, but this list may help you determine which 
vegetables to plant and which to buy. Perennial crops are not on the list 
below because each of the studies was on a one-season basis. However, 
asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish and other perennial crops have considerable 
economic worth. Fruit trees and shrubs, too, are valuable producers, 
especially considering the long term."

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paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
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The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not 
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only 
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it.
   - Aldo Leopold in  Round River, 1933