Get Ready for Frost

Your meticulous planning and preparation can be laid to waste with one night of unexpectedly low temperatures. Don't let an untimely frost ruin your young crops and make sure your soil has the proper nutrients.

With the proliferation of hoophouses and low tunnels on farms, many growers are trying a new strategy to extend the season: planting seeds in fall to get the earliest possible harvest in spring. Southern growers and others with mild winters routinely use this strategy with many cool-weather vegetables.

As temperatures drop and day length shortens, it’s time to get our interior covering in place inside the hoophouse for the coldest months ahead.  With an interior covering, or what we also call the “inside tent,” or the “hoops within the hoops,”  it is possible for growers in the North to harvest year-round. Farmers farther south may not need the interior covering, but for us in Michigan and similarly cold climates, it would be challenging to harvest past December without it.

This season went by so fast, and the end is near for outdoor production in our area. September is always our busiest month so I think of it in terms of a marathon, where you really push yourself for that last mile. To use another sports analogy, this is the 4th quarter of the game and we have been practicing all season. Now is the time to prove to yourself that you are resilient and can persevere despite your body being ready for rest. You’re almost there! 

October is probably the hardest stretch of the year for me both physically and emotionally. While spring is filled with a hustle that is difficult to keep up with and summer includes late nights, early mornings and strict deadlines, October is just plain exhausting. At this point I’ve lost my excitement for it all and excitement is what fuels me. Yes, the flowers are still blooming but at a much slower pace. Our once abundant availability list is narrowed down to only a handful of offerings. The wind and rain inevitably return and with them the garden slides into a bruised and battered state. As the month progresses, harvesting feels more and more like a scavenger hunt. We are all weary from the long season and secretly wish for the first hard frost.

Just as the sap starts to rise in trees this time of year, so the excitement starts to rise in the hearts of gardeners and farmers. Whether or not it’s time to start planting outside, it definitely is time to get ready for the season ahead. In this issue of JSS Advantage, we’ll suggest ways to use your pent-up gardening energy so that you will be well-prepared to fly into action as the weather warms.

In the late 1980s to mid 1990s, the era in which Growing for Market was born, there simply didn’t exist a quick way for small farmers across the U.S. to share ideas, experiences, and knowledge.

Remarkably, despite the lack of communication platforms, market farming as we know it today arose almost simultaneously in every part of the United States. It was as though this great idea was just waiting to burst forth, creating not just new farmers, but also farmers markets, CSAs, trade groups, sustainable agriculture organizations, and the farm-to-table movement. That’s why so many organizations, GFM included, are celebrating 30th anniversaries.

In the March issue of GFM, I talked about a spacing change in my tomato hoophouse, which allowed me to plant 60 percent more plants than the previous year. Yet I was able to increase yield by 100 percent over the previous year. Now, I’m going to report on the improvements that led to the other 40 percent of my yield increase. Many of the principles can be applied to the field as well as the hoophouse, and crops besides tomatoes.

The first few years of any farm are chaotic. They’re filled with high-energy experimentation. Farmers are learning their land, trying out different tools and production methods, and planting everything under the sun to see what grows well and what sells. Tractors are bought, greenhouses and coolers are built, workdays are long, vacations short.  At some point, the chaos needs to settle down if new farms and their farmers are going to survive.

If you've grown or thought about growing pumpkins, winter squashes, and gourds, you have likely noticed the large number of varieties that are available. Johnny's offers a diverse selection of cucurbits, some strictly ornamental, some strictly edible, and many that serve both purposes -- in all, more than 60 varieties. With so many to select from, you may be wondering how best to make your choice.

Here are some facts about lettuce that may surprise you: It is the most valuable vegetable crop in the United States, with sales of $2.2 billion in 2010. (Fresh tomatoes were a distant second at $1.4 billion.) Lettuce alone accounts for 19% of all fresh vegetable sales in the U.S. Iceberg lettuce is still the dominant type, accounting for 53% of total lettuce value, but its popularity has been dropping, while head and romaine lettuces have been increasing steadily and salad mixes have been skyrocketing in popularity.

Across most of North America, December is down time for market farmers. Days will keep getting shorter until the winter solstice on Dec. 21 and, in most places, it’s too cold for much of anything to grow. Greenhouse growers, though, are gearing up this month. It’s time to start tomato, lettuce, and pepper seeds for transplanting into a heated greenhouse, followed shortly after by transplant production for the unheated greenhouse. If working in the greenhouse sounds like therapy for the mid-winter blues — not to mention a way to make some cash earlier next year — then read on to learn more about how greenhouse growing might fit into your business plan.

As farmers markets extend their seasons and the demand for local food goes year-round, many growers are creating value-added products to take advantage of the new marketing opportunities. The term “value-added products” encompasses a wide array of farm products, from specialty foods to non-food items such as straw bales and wreaths. In this issue of the JSS Advantage, we’ll focus on creating value-added food products as a way of diversifying your farm’s offerings, extending your selling season, and improving your bottom line.
First, identify potential products. They should be food items that you know and love, because your enthusiasm will be crucial to your marketing success in the future.

When it comes to the mechanical end of farming, growers fall into two categories. In the first are people who grew up with farm equipment or have spent a lot of time around it, and are thoroughly comfortable using it. In the second category are the people who don’t know as much as they need to about buying, using and maintaining tools and machinery.

Winter growing is one of the biggest trends in market farming. Farmers markets are staying open longer, many are going year-round, and winter CSA shares are growing in popularity. Even supermarkets are learning that “locally grown” programs aren’t limited to summer months.