WEST CROP
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R. Tyler Croy
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layout: post
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title: "Introducing the West Crop"
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tags:
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- croyfamilyfarms
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- garden
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---
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This season I have been expanding my gardening with more variety, which I
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mentioned in [my last post](/2017/04/24/the-2017-growing-season.html), and now
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with some _more space_. Thanks to a family member, who has generously granted me
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use of part of her property, I have prepared and planted a 20x10 foot plot with
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additional vegetables.
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<a data-flickr-embed="true"
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href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/33679554824/" title="West crop
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soil sample"><img
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src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4175/33679554824_2408e8b123_n.jpg"
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width="240" height="320" alt="West crop soil sample" align="right"></a>
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Contrary to all my previous garden plots, this was not going to be a raised
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bed. Which meant the first order of business was investigating the soil.
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Pulling up a spadeful revealed a **tremendous** number of worms, a good
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clay/silt/sand ratio, and great water retention properties. The soil in west
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Sonoma county seems to be fantastic by default, and this 200 sq. ft is no
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exception. The only problem with the plot, was that it started out covered with
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an invasive, crawling, species of weed.
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I wanted to preserve as much of the sub-soil ecosystem as possible, meaning
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roto-tilling was out of the question, as it upends the various layers of soil
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biology. Another option I considered, if only I had the time and money, was to drive
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metal or some other barrier around the plot (6" deep) and leave the plot
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covered with black plastic mulch for an entire season.
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<center>
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/34480812076/" title="Unprepared plot"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4193/34480812076_5f7f88eb55_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Unprepared plot"></a>
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</center>
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Keen to get the plot started with as little disruption to the soil as possible,
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Farmer Josh and I borrowed a tractor from Dan [the neighbor] to scoop and
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scrape the crawling weed off the first couple inches of soil.
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<center>
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/34391861731/" title="Farmer Josh scraping and flattening"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4177/34391861731_ce66e63aee_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Farmer Josh scraping and flattening"></a>
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</center>
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Frankly, I think I'm going to be battling this weed all season. I'm hoping that
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I can keep it at bay by paying attention to the soil and hoeing proactively.
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Farmer Josh and I also spread hay around the borders of the west crop to try to
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reduce weed pressure by eliminating sunlight adjacent to the plot.
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Each bed created is 34" wide and 20' long. with the alleys that's 10' wide.
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After scraping the weed back, the beds were aerated with a fork, hoed and raked
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to provide some loose top layers for the seeds to establish in.
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### Plants
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Since I have the north crop (tomatoes, snap peas, garlic, beans, leeks) and the
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south crop (potatoes, pumpkin) already established, I wanted to use some of my
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excess seed stores and plant some more variety in the west crop.
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* More bush beans (trio). I had a seed packet with an abundance of beans still
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in it, so we planted over 40' of bush [green, yellow, purple] beans.
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* Pill bugs (rolly polys) ate my zucchini starts in the south crop, so I also
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planted the remainder of my zucchini seeds.
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* Unfortunately I didn't have the space for beets in the north crop this year,
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so there are hundreds of beets from two different varieties planted in the
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middle bed of the west crop.
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* Finishing out the west crop, **all** the carrot seeds I had sitting around in
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my seed basket. 5-6 packets worth. In previous years carrots have frustrated
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me either by not germinating successfully, or by my own failure to thin
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effectively. Since we have the surplus space, trying 10' of densely planted
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carrots.
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<center>
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/34391846151/" title="Prepared the area, watered, and done!"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4173/34391846151_98c63c7101_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="Prepared the area, watered, and done!"></a>
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</center>
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In the image above, going left-to-right and front-to-back we have:
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* Zucchini, bush beans
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* Detroit Red beets, Sweet Merlin roasting beets, bush beans
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* Carrots, bush beans
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### Tools missing
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I don't currently have the budget or the storage to invest in some more tools
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for garden farming, but below is a wish-list for later in the season, or next
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season:
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**Broadfork**: Aerating these rows with a broadfork would have been quick work,
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but unfortunately I don't have one (yet). I have read quite a bit about their
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use from various no-till farmers, and anxiously want to try one out.
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**Stirrup hoe:** A good stirrup hoe would make quick work of some of the weed
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pressures we have in this plot. Unfortunately I only have a traditional hoe
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which wasn't really suited for the job.
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**Seeding machine:** With larger plots, not that this one is "large", manual
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seeding becomes a much bigger pain in the back. Preparing the soil for the
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seeds and then dropping the seeds took me the better part of an hour. With a
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proper seeder, it would have likely been less than 15 minutes.
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---
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Overall, the west crop is going to be a good experiment. I'm of the belief that
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anybody can garden in a raised bed with pristine soil, assuming they have good
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sun and water. Working a native soil presents a few more challenges which I
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will have to content with this season. Additionally, since the west crop isn't
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on my property, I'll be making trips out there a few times a week, which will
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require far more planning than the casual "step outside the front door and
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get dirty."
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While the north crop [is already producing](https://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/34493649085/),
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planting the west crop, assuming everything goes well, greatly expands the
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fresh, organically grown vegetables the family will enjoy this season.
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For now however, I have to impatiently wait for all those seeds to do what
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seeds will, then the fun really starts.
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