Market Farming

[Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>]

Elizabeth Pike wrote:

> In February's issue of Mother Earth News, there are pics of Coleman's
> flats, on a low table on pg 37, bottom left--but it shows them on heat
> mats.  It appears he is working on that concrete floor, but is the
> radiant heat for human comfort or seed heat??

Eliot spoke at the Carolina Conference last year. He said that he had given 
up on soil
blocks because he couldn't get a high quality peat any more. He had to drive 
to Canada to
get peat that would hold the soil blocks together. He described how he does 
his plants
now:

He makes rectangular frames with no bottoms. Then mixes his starting soil and 
places the
frames on the concrete slabs in the greenhouses and fills and plants. He lets 
them grow
until about 1 week before transplanting. He removes the frames and cuts the 
root masses
apart and grows them for another week on the slabs, then plants. He said he 
has noticed a
connection between the cutting of roots and rapid growth after transplant

This is how he does his salad greens for unheated greenhouses in the winter. 
I don't know
about other crops.

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm
Walden Ridge, TN