Week 1 - attended the Growers' Conference in Missouri
Week 2 - released information about the Bear Butte Gardens CSAs for 2012
Week 3 - took inventory of the seeds I already had on hand and made a list of the seeds I wished to purchase and plant and received my first check for a CSA!
Week 4 - started fine tuning the "planting plan" and working on this year's farmer's market plans
Week 5 - seeded the first 1000 seed onions into the first round of soil blocks and placed them under grow lights in the house and became licensed to accept SNAP/EBT cards for selling produce
Week 6 - first seedlings began to successfully emerge under grow lights, seeded first seeds into containers in the new greenhouse
Week 7 - placed orders for the seeds I still needed for the spring and summer plantings ( a LOT!) and started the second batch of seeds in containers in the greenhouse
Week 8 - moved onion seedlings in soil blocks to the greenhouse and finished detailed planting plan
So now I'm at a point between initially getting things started and patiently waiting for my seed orders so I can gradually get the rest of the produce started. There are a lot of variables to keep in mind when creating a planting plan for the amount of produce I wish to harvest this growing season. There are the uncontrollable variables: non-viable seed and weather. I'm trying to minimize the effects of the uncontrollable variables by having multiple back-up plans such as lots of extra seed on hand for quick re-seeding of non-germinating seed and a small greenhouse now plus hopefully a larger high tunnel within a couple months to help compensate for the ever-present "wacky South Dakota weather" variable.
And then there are the controllable variables which tend to create the most headaches for me:
- What kind of tomatoes should I grow this year?
- How many leaves of chard will I put in a weekly CSA box?
- Do I really need to grow turnips even if I don't like them?
- Is it better to have garden rows running north-south or east-west? These are the kinds of things that drive me crazy!
There are some things that are thankfully just decided and I don't need to debate them anymore:
- Sell produce through CSAs or farmer's market? Both!
- Organic or non-organic seed? Organic!
- Soil blocks or seed trays? Soil blocks!
- A variety of produce or just the basics? A variety! For anyone who knows me, this shouldn't be surprising.
- Heirlooms or hybrids? As many heirlooms as I can possibly find in organic seed, but I'll compromise for a really good, time-proven organic hybrid and be happy with that.
At this point this blog is going to switch from "I" to "we" as I'm going to start discussing farm implements and they are definitely my husband's area of knowledge, not mine.
There are several implement additions that we need to add to our arsenal over the next several years as budget allows. Part of this year's Planting Plan depends on the implements we can purchase. Currently we have a good tractor with a bucket, a platform mower, an old disc, a blade, an old plow, and a walk-behind rear-tine tiller. Items on the "to buy" list are a tiller for the tractor, mixer for mixing soil for seed starting, deeper plow, water wheel transplanter, cultivator, precision seeder, etc.
We also need to work into this year's plan purchasing more bee supers and the additional bees to go in them, putting up a high tunnel greenhouse, putting rain gutters on the present greenhouse and setting up a system of containers for gathering the rain, tearing down and building new fences, planting one shelter belt this year and plowing for another one to be planted next year, building a new chicken coop and some chicken tractors.
So, in reading back through this blog, what I'm happy about is that I know I'm going to be busy for a while! If any of these tasks sound appealing or you'd just like to discuss what we've learned along the way, just drop us an e-mail. We're always glad to have some help or just compare methods with a fellow gardener.
Michelle Grosek
Sturgis, SD
Sturgis, SD
www.BearButteGardens.com
e-mail: Michelle@BearButteGardens.com
