172 lines
7.9 KiB
Markdown
172 lines
7.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: "Starting an ambitious 2017 growing season"
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tags:
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- croyfamilyfarms
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- garden
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---
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Spring has officially erupted in Sonoma county, with the immense amount of
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biological activity we have come to expect from one of the more productive
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regions of the country. On our meager parcel we have more plants, with more
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variety, than ever before going into the ground. With two seasons under our
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belts in the "south crop" and one season with the "north crop," I absolutely
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couldn't wait for the cold nights to pass, and am pleased beyond belief that
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Spring is finally upon us.
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### Plants
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There is enough variety this season that we need to break things up by plant
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type, how exciting! Generally speaking, our varieties of plants break down into
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fruits and fruiting vegetables, root plants, and herbs.
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Another experiment I'm starting this season is planting of microgreen
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rotations. Microgreens can be effectively grown in trays on a rotation, and
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require a few weeks to germinate the seeds but once the greens reach 4-5" tall,
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they're immediately cut with scissors for salads. I am omitting microgreens
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from the rest of the post because the seeds are still in the bags and I am
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still at the design stage for the trays and rotation.
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Some of plants listed aren't yet directly seeded or transplanted, but will be
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before the end of April, those have been marked with an asterisk.
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#### Fruit/Vegetables
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* Tomato: New Girl (Early Girl variety)
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* Tomato: Julia Childs (A slicer variety from Harmony Farms in Sebastopol)
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* Tomato: Roma (sauce)
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* Tomato: Principe Borghese (sauce)
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* Sugar snap peas
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* Bush beans (\*)
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* Leeks
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* Scallions
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* Corn (\*)
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* Zucchini (\*)
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* Blueberries
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* Lemons
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Tomatoes are always a big hit in the garden, as are my sugar snap peas.
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Currently both are in the ground and established. As I did last year, I started
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snap peas from seed but purchased tomato starts. Unlike last year however, I
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have two full bed-length rows of snap peas planted (8' rows), instead of one
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4' row. The tomatoes are laid out differently than last year too, with the
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shorter plants (sauce tomatoes) planted in the southern end of the bed so it's
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not shaded by taller plants during the morning transit of the sun.
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New this year are leeks, also started from seed which, currently, look like
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nothing more than little green wisps poking out of the earth. I'm still unsure
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what to expect from them.
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Also new this year will be bush beans. Unlike the sugar snap peas which require
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something to climb up, bush beans are supposed to support themselves and grow
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nice and bushy. We'll be dedicating part of one of our north crop garden beds
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to the "bush beans experiment" this season.
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#### Root Plants
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* Potato: Yukon Gem (Yellow creamer variety)
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* Potato: Desiré (Red creamer variety)
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* Radishes
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* Garlic
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* Hops: Magnum and Sterling cultivars.
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* Purple onion
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* White onion
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The potatoes are fun new experiment this season. In the "south crop" there are
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a couple beds which receive decent sunlight but haven't performed well with
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tomatoes or peppers in years past. I haven't grown potatoes before so I'm
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uncertain what to expect as far as yield is concerned.
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I'm also trying radishes again, which I have am planting in the "north crop" as
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a bed-liner to capture some additional sun and water from otherwise unused
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space. The older seeds which I used for the first two rows had a 90%+
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germination rate, so I have high hopes for some small tasty salad radishes
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around Memorial Day.
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The onions are more out of laziness than anything else, sometimes we don't eat
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onions fast enough, and they sit on the counter long enough to sprout. Whenever
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something sprouts in my kitchen, I throw it into the ground. My friend, Farmer
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Josh, grows a few rows of purple onions so I don't feel particularly motivated
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to spent precious bed space on them, when I can trade some snap peas for fresh
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onions.
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The hops continue to be more fun and decorative than anything. The root systems
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are now well established, and I continue to enjoy learning about the hop
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growing process, but it's unlikely the hop cones at the end of the season will
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find their way into any beers.
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#### Herbs
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* Thyme
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* Genovese Basil
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We do truly need more herbs but I just hate dedicating garden space to it.
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Depending on how things pan out around the garden, some parsley may find its
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way back into the mix.
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### Soil
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As I read more about organic and sustainable gardening, the more I am coming to
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appreciate soil health. To think that our entire civilization depends on
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something as simple as soil health and biodiversity is still something which
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amazes me.
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Because I'm working in enclosed and raised garden beds, I don't worry much
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about soil erosion. Additionally, for better or worse, our area of Santa Rosa
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is covered with absolutely awful compact clay, so under my beds there isn't
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much transfer of moisture or leaching of minerals likely.
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For most of the garden beds, soil preparation consisted of aerating and folding
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in chicken manure. This is a fairly rudimentary preparation, once fruit
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vegetables get nearer, I'm planning on doing proper soil tests for the first
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time to make sure all my tomatoes turn out nice and juicy.
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For the garden beds which are hosting potatoes, I employed an old gardening
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technique which involves trenching the garden bed, laying down rice straw,
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placing seed potatoes over it, and then covering with a few inches of loose
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soil. The straw helps give the roots some loose space to grow into when the
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seed potatoes are just starting out. Unlike the fruit/vegetable plants, root
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vegetables need extra care taken for "hilling" during the growing period.
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Meaning we'll want to build up soil around the stem of the plant as the season
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progresses. For the potatoes, between the trenches I have a tall mount of dirt
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which I will be using to hill as the tubers start to appear on the stems.
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Unfortunately, due to soil compaction, loss of soil during harvest, and other
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factors, the "soil reserve" which we had last season has been spent topping off
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beds. Soon we'll need to pick up another cubic yard of garden soil to ensure we
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have the necessary surplus on hand for hilling and potting plants.
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### Challenges
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Gardening wouldn't be much fun if it weren't challenging along the way. Thus
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far the largest challenge is the same as last year: managing soil moisture
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during the hot days. Our primary garden soil purposefully crusts over on the
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top to preserve moisture in the soil below. The downside of this is watering
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can be more challenging as a first-pass with water must first be done to soften
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this "crust" and then after a few minutes a deeper watering can be achieved.
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The awful, but native, clay soil is also a persistent challenge. This year we're
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attempting to reclaim some parts of the yard with decorative flowers and some
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basil plants. It's too early to tell how well the transplants are rooting but
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I'm not very optimistic right now. The clay soil captures moisture quite well,
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but once dried it's almost indistinguishable from rock. Depending on how this
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smaller, almost entirely native soil, area performs this season, I may amend it
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next year with some sand and compost to help loosen it up.
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### The path forward
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By the end of April, I am expecting to have seeds, transplants, or plants for
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everything in the ground. I also expect to be planning the rest of the rotation
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through the garden for late May. What I haven't successfully done in the past,
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except with corn, is rotate multiple plants through the long California growing
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season. Radishes for example, should be harvested in about a month, snap peas
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in about two and a half months. Since we started earlier this year, this means
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we should be able to get a good full second (at least!) sowing of a number of
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our plants before the end of the productive season in October.
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With the experience of a couple years in this location, this will be the first
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year where I operate more systematically like a farm and less like an
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experimental garden, so I'm looking forward to the long days of sunshine ahead!
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