Each year about this time, we sit back and look at the
growing season; what worked and what didn’t, as well as what could stand some
improvement. We also consider the challenges we may face in the next growing
season. Some things like weather and pests are give ins each year, but other
large issues that only surface once in a while for a grower - and how they’re
approached- will determine your level of success that season. A varied list of
challenges await all farmers each growing season and to assess them now, and
come up with a thought-out plan of approach, will hopefully lessen the effects
of these issues in the busy Spring planting season ahead.
I’ve outlined below some challenges we faced in the 2013
growing season and how we plan on overcoming these issues in the upcoming year.
Soil:
This was a big issue in 2013. A part of this was getting
our compost and fertilizers delivered and spread on time; supply problems you
could say. For compost, we had four suppliers and of these four suppliers one
had weed issues, one had rocks in the compost, and one had delivery problems.
The fourth was the most expensive, but they have an excellent product and their
delivery schedule is second to none. If I needed 300 yards for Monday morning,
when I got to work on Monday there would be six 50-yard trailer dumps waiting
to unload. The best product and best service gets my vote. All of our compost
for 2014 has been delivered and will be ready to spread when we are next
spring.
We use pelletized chicken manure for our organic fertilizer.
We have been purchasing from a company which also spreads the product. With our
dry, then wet Spring, we had many problems getting our fertilizer spread in
time to do our fieldwork. In early May, when the field conditions were fairly
dry, the supplier first couldn’t get the product and then didn’t have time to spread
it before the heavy rains arrived. When everything else finally cooperated, the
spreader truck was out of commission. The end of May found us scrambling to
fertilize, prepare the soil, lay the plastic, and plant all in a rather
frenzied procession. For 2014, we purchased our own new fertilizer spreader
which holds four tons (our old one held 600 pounds). I will order our soil
amendments (based on soil test results) this month so we’ll have them on hand
come February 15th. The advantages of this include having adequate
supplies on hand, being able to spread in that early season window if we have
one, not having to worry about the roads being weight posted, and lastly, being
able to haul 4 tons of material instead of 600 pounds. Loading one- ton bags
will be faster and easier than using 50 pounders too. Four tons will cover
eight acres so many fields can be spread with one load instead of many.
Weeds:
Weeds are a constant challenge in any farming system. In
our squash and pumpkin trials and nurseries, we like to leave a bed between
planted beds so it’s easier to trace the vines for accuracy in determining
which fruit go with which vine. This amounts to approximately ten feet of space
between the strips of plastic in which weeds like to grow. Weed control while
the plants are small is relatively easy; it’s once the vines come out into the
open and are between the beds that weed control becomes difficult. The vines
make it nearly impossible to mechanically cultivate the areas with weeds. A few
years back, we started using hay mulch for weed control; a good idea but
fraught with drawbacks. The labor it
takes to roll out and spread 350 large round bales of hay is a tremendous
amount. To put in perspective, it takes approximately 320 hours. The thickness at which it rolls out varies
with how the hay was baled and what type of grass it was. A thin grass, like
annual bluegrass, rolls out to a 3-4 inch depth whereas a swale grass can be a
foot thick. Therefore, the bale may cover two hundred feet, or it may cover only
fifty.
This year we purchased a straw shredder which unrolls and
shreds the bales before spreading them onto the field. We took delivery of this
unit last month and did some testing in the field to try it out. It will put
down a uniform layer of hay mulch to four hundred linear feet twelve feet wide.
Two people should easily be able to spread 3 acres a day; therefore all of the
work will be finished in less than three days.
Another success from 2013 was widening out the rows of crops
on plastic that have row covers on them. We cover our peppers to prevent cross
pollination and to give the plants some protection from the harsh Spring
elements. We use wire hoops to keep the
row covers up off the plants, however. This also prevents us from cultivating
the peppers as we don’t have a tractor tall enough to straddle the covered
rows. By spacing out the rows to allow us to go between them with our smallest
tractor, as well as a four foot tiller, we can now cultivate out the weeds all
season long. It uses a bit more room this way but saves a tremendous amount of
hand labor, which we can always use somewhere else. We’ve used this spacing for
years in our tomatoes to facilitate equipment for spraying so the setup was
easy to figure out. This allows more crops with wider spacing for next year; at
least the ones with row covers.
The Land Base:
You can almost
never have enough good land to have a good rotation plan. If we had 35% more
land than we need in any given year, think how much we could put into cover
crops and devote to rotation plans. Last year I added a twelve-acre field and
this year I added seventeen more. I think that’s good for a while. We’ve got a
couple of small land projects that will add another four acres of good soil. Many
of our fields need work to become productive again so this is where we’ll focus
some of our attention in the upcoming years. We added a couple thousand feet of
drain tile this year and have some stumping to do next year, so it looks like
we’ll be busy in 2014 too. Farming is always busy!
The Weather:
No, I can’t control the weather. All we can do is prepare
for the worst and enjoy the best. We do everything we can in the previous Fall
so we don’t have to do it in the Spring. Two years running we’ve been on the
fields earlier than ever before, and then we got constant rains which put us
behind. Once you get behind, it’s pretty hard to catch up and stay caught up.
This year we’re implementing a seven day work week schedule. No, not seven days
in a row but rather spreading out the work to seven days instead of five. It’s
just too hard to schedule the same two days a week off for everyone. We work
hard all week then everything stops for two days then we’re back at it for
another round on Monday.
I realize not everyone wants to work only on sunny days and
have rainy days off. Me neither, but I do want to get the work done, and if we
have the optimum weather conditions and it just happens to be a weekend- we’re
going to work. And, if we get heavy rains during planting season, I know we
have done everything possible to get the crops planted correctly and on time.
At all costs, try to be ready for Spring long before it gets here.
Lastly, one final thing I think will make a big difference
to the folks working on the farm, is for me to spend more time in the field and
less in the office. I like being in the field; that’s where I started. I can do
everything here that needs to be done, and more importantly I can train folks
how to do the tasks we need to do. I researched most of the equipment here; in
fact I bought most of it, and know how best to use it to achieve the results
we’re looking for. I know the funny little nuances and quirks of the equipment
and tractors. I know how to cultivate and plow and spread compost and so on. I
also know how I want it done. I want it done to the same high standards we do
everything here at Johnny’s. I’m sure the farm crew will enjoy more of my
presence in the field in 2014.
Until next time,
Brian
