Market Farming

[bg006 AT scn.org (Douglas Hendrickson)]

Suzanne:

I just returned from a vegetable gardening symposium in which Eliot 
Coleman was one of the featured speakers. 

He is as eloquent a speaker as he is a writer and his slide show was 
incredible. He is always searching for the most simple way to acomplish a 
task and as such is moving away from soil blockers. "Sometimes the old 
ways are best."

For his winter growing system, he has built a concrete radiant floor into
one end of a 30x110 ft. greenhouses. He as built huge flats on top of 
this floor and simply seeds directly into the flats. The rows can be as 
close together as they would be in a flat. When they plants are large enough
to transplant, he just cuts them with a knife into three inch cubes like 
brownies. 

This process is explained in detail in his book "Four Season Harvest."
Obviously you wouldn't need to build a concrete radiant floor. Heating 
coils and mats work just fine.

Hope this helps.

Doug Hendrickson
Salt Creek Farm



>
>I am diligently following Elliot Coleman's recipe for seed starting with 
>soil blocks.  I have even made his 1/4 inch plywood 'trays' for holding the 
>blocks.  Does anyone use germination heat mats with this system?  Seems to 
>me like the wood would get in 
the way - but I can't imagine transfering the blocks from heat mat to wood 
tray.
>
>I would appreciate any advice/information!
>
>Suzanne Ostersmith
>Ancient Grove Garden
>Chattaroy WA
>
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