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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] May Produce

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  • From: Richard Moyer <ramoyer AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] May Produce
  • Date: Sun, 10 May 2015 23:06:08 -0400

Lisa and all,
Great queries and responses so here are a bunch of experiences and thoughts, not as well organized as I'd like, so feel free to ask more.  

Agreed that I want to be there with veggies when our market opens. Challenge for us is that now we are year-round, every two weeks during Jan-Mar and 2x weekly come mid-April.  Since it's just me and some of my kids, we take our break in veggie production in June and July, by having less when so many growers bring so much.  Then we ramp up again in late summer and fall.  I much prefer picking greens in the HT in winter than in the heat of summer inside or out.  But I've not used shade-cloth, perhaps a worthwhile investment.

At our market, I was the only farmer with produce for sale last Tues, and did well.  Customers remember who had the first salad items of the year...
You may want to trial overwintered greens in the field for May harvest, instead of buying another HT just for this.  We overwinter kale, collards, mustards, daikons and carrots in the field, with one layer med wt row cover.  We were minus 23 F last winter but had 2 ft of snow.  More challenging was minus 2 in Nov with no snow cover.  So don't think you need a HT to overwinter greens.  We got into overwintered spinach on recommendation from a VA extension researcher who had a history of doing so in Indiana.

Gary, like your detailed info on winter and spring root crops.  We transplanted beets this spring, first time in HT, and am very pleased with how they are sizing up.  Will do this again.  We sell all overwintered, field grown carrots and parsnips before they start to grow again.  The wide row cover and occasional snows keep the ground from freezing, so we can dig root crops between snows.

Lisa, we've decided to have a 'cool' high tunnel in the winter and spring, and sell strawberries in May, LOTS of spinach and head lettuces, sugar snap peas, many other greens mentioned by others.  We transplant most of the greens in March and early Apr.

When we overwinter kale and most mustards in the HT, they bolt in Feb and March when we have fewer customers. For us, well worth the time and money to give the best compost and fertilizer for spinach.  Much bigger and thicker leaves to harvest, and each leaf takes just a long to harvest whether small and thin vs. big and thick.  My HT is only 1/4 spinach, will do more next winter.

Spinach is the one item we never have enough of, even though we tripled our planting last fall and winter, and get $8/lb.  Where our soil is well-drained, spinach also performs well overwintered in the field with med-wt row cover.  It can't uptake enough nitrogen in cold, sodden soil so the leaves yellow before we can pick it.

Guess what I'm saying Lisa, is that you may be able to overwinter some crops in the field for May instead of a HT, esp kale, depending on how long and deep your snow cover is in winter.  Our soil under the row cover and occasional snow does not freeze, esp., where we use 15-30 ft wide row cover, so a larger area is protected instead of narrow beds with unprotected paths between.  We reliably harvest lots of kale in spring throughout May, which survives under a single layer on row cover with snow on top.  Though we do plant the kale in mid-fall, with no fall harvest, as we don't want the plants mature going into winter.  And we stay with lower growing, frilly types such as Russian and Siberian, so they can support the row cover directly.

Again, last two winters we've had many nights below minus 10 F, even though we are officially Zone 6.  But we have days in the 40s in between.  We're trying to keep producing when it's both colder and hotter than historical averages, and spells of both wetter and drier.  All in the same 12-18 months.

Where you are (and Jay), low tunnels may work well for certain winter crops.  But here in SW VA, we also have sunny days in the 50s and rarely 60s, where my overwintered greens get too warm in low tunnels, and bolt before the bulk of customers come out of hiding in April.  Hence I only protect with 1-2 layers med wt row cover in the field, directly on the plants.

Lots of options, some of which should work for greens in May.

Richard Moyer
SW VA




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