Posts from — March 2009

March 28, 2009
The move is made

I went out to the farm this weekend to clear out the camper. Many surprises lurked in corners, under benches, wedged between the floor tiles and the walls. Among them-

mouse nests made of green foam insulation

cigarette butts

a broken grow lamp

various hinges and handles

a gorilla mask

innumerable bolts, nails, and screws

a giant yellow dingy, which may or may not be seaworthy

All of the above got unceremoniously evicted, with the help of one very noisy vacuum.  I also finished 95% of the interior panelling and found myself perhaps overly proud of the simple logistical triumphs this entailed, ie using the jigsaw to cut the paneling into shapes that at least sort of followed the curve of the roof and hammering them into place.  I ain’t no carpenter, and the Catalina isn’t where I want it quite yet, but it’s getting there.

On Sunday, I took a break to plant peas, partly because I needed to escape the camper’s clorox fumes, and partly because it’s time, even a little past time, to get outside with seeds. Peas in particular should be planted as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. It felt good to get back to digging at last, but it also brought home for me that I need a plan.  A capital P PLAN.  For when to plant what.

Working as an apprentice, the flow of seeding, transplanting, and harvesting was something I rather took for granted.  I would just show up to work in the morning, harvesting knife in hand, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.  Along with the rest of the crew, I’d receive instructions for the days’ tasks, and take it from there – the weeks and the seasons kind of wash over you, greens in the spring, tomatoes in the summer, squash in the fall.  Of course.  Very logical.

But when is the exact date one should plant Armenian cucumbers?  Or nasturtiums?  How about onions?  Well, I’ve never given that much thought.

Such questions are made more complicated by the fact that most market growers, such as myself, are aiming for a harvesting period of at least a month, or more for some crops.  In order to achieve this, you must do more than one planting of the same crop, at properly spaced intervals.  This is the art of succession planting.  Properly executed, succession planting ensures a consistent supply of the chosen crop throughout a given window of the harvest season.  

For example, I want to have basil to sell from July through September, at least.  To make this happen, I will have to seed new plantings of basil at two-week intervals, starting in April.  Easy enough to remember, right?  Do a flat of basil every other Monday.  Except I’m growing three kinds of basil, and almost thirty other plants to boot.  Try to map it out in neat rows and boxes, and it all soon becomes rather head-spinning.

So I’ve done what any self-respecting kid would do – I’ve set up a farm google calendar. It’s cheap and easy, and I’m filling in the days, bit by bit.  It’s been really humbling, to have to work through all these different calculations with days-to-maturity and germination rates and seeds-per-gram.  I’m realizing that planning is really complex and frustratingly inexact, and is something I was almost entirely unaware of as an apprentice, when I sat in the dirt and dug carrots and thought about how I wanted to run the show.  I wanted to be the boss lady.

Well, let’s see what I do with my wish.