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I get a lot of questions from newer growers about how to figure out good succession planting schedules and crop rotations. The tools I use for both are the same: a combination of very basic spreadsheets and concise field maps that capture both space and time. But like most things, it’s actually less about using […]

Leeks are a versatile vegetable, with a potentially long harvest season from summer to the following spring. Though most customers don’t really get excited about leeks until the weather cools, they can add to the diversity of winter crop offerings, being neither a hardy leafy green nor a stored root vegetable. In the southern United

Cultivating blooms on injured land When farmers look for land to grow food or flowers, they generally seek out healthy soils. On the other hand, the flower farmers profiled below grow on land polluted by harsh industrial chemicals, or in one case, military firefighting foam that leached perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) into the groundwater, where the

When I purchased a penetrometer two years ago, I had no idea the impact it would have on our farm. Initially, I wanted to confirm that our dedication to soil health had measurable results. What I didn’t realize, was how it would transform our approach to bed preparation, saving us unnecessary labor and decreasing our

This article originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Growing for Market Magazine. It’s okay to say NO to your CSA members. If you are new to running a CSA, expanding to increase membership, or just trying to improve with every season, this advice is for you. You have my permission to be inflexible

Excerpt from new book The No-Till Organic Vegetable Farm, available from Growing for Market here By Daniel Mays   All the evidence shows we cannot improve on nature’s model. So how do we put into action ecological principles of soil care that are based on non-disturbance? This chapter, excerpted from my book The No-Till Organic

#toolsforgrowingformarketPost your farm-made tool on Instagram or Facebook with #toolsforgrowingformarket. If author Josh Volk picks your tool, you win a $50 tool gift certificate and a Full Access subscription to GFM. I’ve seen a few posts recently showing vole damage and one asking for suggestions on controlling voles, and winter is prime time for voles

Slow Flowers partnered with BLOOM Imprint, its publishing arm, to release the 2022 “Slow Flowers Floral Insights and Industry Forecast.” For the eighth year, Slow Flowers Society heralds the New Year with predictions of emerging themes, topics and categories for the floral marketplace.  Our report has become an important gauge for our members, the greater

Adding value to radicchio so you can grow and sell more In recent years fall has become radicchio season in North America. Farmers post pictures of this iconic Italian crop all over Instagram and it is being promoted with Chicory Week and Sagra del Radicchio from the Culinary Breeding Network (#chicoryweek). Like many farmers, I

As farmers, we like to complain about the weather, but mostly what we do is adapt to it as best we can as it happens. We have bags of tricks to coax plants into early growth or to survive frost. I inherited the many generations of tricks through my family of farmers and gardeners from