Market Farming

["cheselka AT theriver.com" <cheselka AT theriver.com>]

I'm a bit confused here and I need you experts to straighten me out.

>From everything I've done in terms of research, the recommendation is to
apply 40 tons of compost (or whatever soil improver you choose) to the
acre.  Assuming that 1 ton of compost is about 2 cubic yards, then we're
talking 80 yards per acre.  With me sofar?

Ok, if you then spread this over the entire acre (43560 square feet), you
get a thickness of the compost layer of a little over 1/2 an inch.

Now, this is where I'm getting confused and/or worried.  On my new (virgin
soil) beds that I've been working with for over a year, my modus operandi
has been to put about 2-3 inches of compost (or some other concoction)
down, and then till it all in fairly deeply (8-12 inches).  This seems to
be about 4-6 TIMES AS MUCH as what I should be applying.

The reason I'm applying this thickness is that I figure I need to get this
amount mixed into the 8-12 inches of virgin (and fairly poor) dirt below. 
I guess I just have a hard time believing that a "mere" 1/2 inch is enough
to give me the kind of improvement to the soil that I'm looking for.  

In any case, my veggies last year were VERY VERY happy (for example, my 55
day lettuce matured in 28-35 days and was 18-24 inches in diameter, and
VERY tasty!).  But maybe they're a bit *too* happy??

I'm asking this mainly becuase now I'm looking at expanding my production
this year by a very very large amount (about 1000 lbs of veggies a week),
and if I use MY soil improvement rate, I'll need a HUGE volume of compost
(not a problem to get, but it takes *time* to make all that, eh?).

If I AM "over-improving" my virgin soil, then I'd like to know now before I
go and "waste" all that compost and time.

Any suggestions, on-line info, comments, (yes even chastisement,
eye-rolling, or snickering) would be appreciated.

TIA, folks.

Matt Cheselka
Cosmic Lettuce

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