Top 10 ways to grow more food in the same space
- Grow your own transplants and plant them at the most efficient spacing. Use pelleted seeds and a precision seeder when direct sowing to avoid wasting space.
- Grow in a hoophouse, caterpillar tunnel, or low tunnel. Yields and quality are significantly higher in an environment that is protected from wind, hail, rain, disease, and insects.
- Overwinter cold-tolerant crops under Quick Hoops™; they will start to grow very early in spring and be ready for harvest long before spring-planted crops.
- Use plastic mulches to warm soil, prevent weeds, repel insects, and increase yields.
- Protect crops from insect damage with floating row cover. Use support hoops for upright plants with growing tips that could be damaged by contact with the row cover.
- Use drip irrigation. Without wasting a drop, drip irrigation delivers the water plants need for steady growth.
- Companion plant for maximum space efficiency. For example, plant lettuce on the outer edges of a bed and tomatoes down the center; the lettuce will be ready for harvest by the time the tomatoes need space.
- Hoe regularly when weeds are tiny to keep them from competing with crops for water and nutrients.
- Graft tomatoes to reduce disease and increase yield, especially in heirlooms. Then prune and trellis them to improve air circu- lation, prevent disease, and focus the plant's energy on fruiting.
- Get a soil test and follow the recommendations for fertilizers and cover crops.
Protect your crops
Protected cropping is the single biggest trend in horticulture today. High tunnels, low tunnels, row covers, and mulches can be used to protect crops from bad weather. Protected cropping can extend the season for months, while increasing yields and improving quality of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers.
The ultimate tool in protected cropping is a high tunnel (also called a hoophouse), which is an inexpensive, unheated greenhouse erected right in the field. Hoophouses are quickly becoming an essential component of most produce and flower farms. A single layer of greenhouse poly over metal or PVC hoops, tall enough to walk into, provides an amazingly different growing environment. Hoophouses dont need electricity or heating systems, although some growers do add them to extend the season even longer. In general, though, roll-up or roll-down sides are used to ventilate a hoophouse and the sun does the work of heating it.
Some of the crops that are commonly grown in a hoophouse include lettuce and greens early and late in the year; strawberries in spring; raspberries and tomatoes in summer; and spinach and other cold-hardy vegetables over the winter. Many other crops will benefit from the protection, depending on regional variations. With careful crop selection, a hoophouse can be the most productive land on a farm.
Another protected cropping tool is a low tunnel. Low tunnels are made of small metal or PVC hoops pushed into the soil over a bed of crops, and covered with spun-bonded polypropylene row covers. Low tunnels warm the soil and protect plants from frost and wind. They can be used early in spring for cool-weather crops, in late spring to give a head start to warm-weather crops such as tomatoes and peppers, and again in fall to keep cool-weather vegetables growing longer. They also are useful for protecting crops from predictable insect pests such as flea beetles and cabbage moths.
Using a low tunnel within a high tunnel is useful in cold climates to keep the soil from freezing until the dead of winter. Although plants stop growing when the days are short in mid-winter, cold-hardy vegetables such as carrots and spinach can be harvested nearly all winter in this system.
Row cover alone can be pulled over crops to save them from untimely frosts. Late and early frosts are often one-night affairs; protecting against those small dips in temperatures can keep crops alive for several additional weeks of good growing conditions. Most growers keep a supply of row cover on hand for just such emergencies.
Plastic or paper mulches are another component of protected cropping systems. Black solar mulch warms cold soil; white-on-black mulch keeps soil cool. Biodegradable and paper mulches eliminate the need to take them up at seasons end. All types suppress weeds, reducing labor.
By employing some or all of these protected cropping strategies, growers can take some of the risk out of farming.
The importance of soil
"To be a successful farmer one must first know the nature of the soil." - Xenophon, the Greek historian, writing around 400 B.C.
Throughout the history of agriculture, good soil has been recognized as the basis of successful food production. Without good soil, carefully tended and replenished, crops will struggle. For that reason, a program of soil improvement is an integral part of sustainable farming and gardening.
Soil quality can be described by two factors: tilth and fertility. Tilth refers to the physical condition of the soil, and how well it allows for essential plant processes including seed germination, root growth, water infiltration and drainage, and root aeration. Fertility refers to the nutrients that are held in the soil and available to plants.
The ideal vegetable soil is deep, friable, well-drained, and with adequate available nutrients to support optimum plant growth. A few lucky growers have those conditions on their land, but most of us have less-than-perfect soil that requires some work to get it into shape and keep it healthy. The work will pay off in the future with crops that have higher yields, fewer pest and disease problems, stronger drought resistance, and, in some cases, better flavor.
To preserve good tilth, it's essential to avoid compaction. Growing areas should never be driven on with a truck or tractor. Tillage should be minimized because, although it may seem to create a fluffier soil texture, it actually breaks down the soil aggregates that are important to the long-term health of the soil. Soil should be kept covered with crops, mulches, or cover crops to prevent compaction and erosion in heavy rains.
Another strategy for improving both tilth and fertility is to increase soil organic matter (SOM) by adding compost or manure and by growing cover crops and tilling them under. SOM comprises only a small portion of soil from less than 1% to about 10% in the best of conditions. But organic matter contains almost all of the nitrogen and a large amount of the phosphorous in soil, as soil organisms decompose organic matter and convert it to plant nutrients. Organic matter also contributes to good tilth, as it improves water-holding capacity, drainage, and soil structure.
SOM can be measured by a soil test, which also provides information about nutrient levels and recommendations for improving fertility. Soil tests are available from most Cooperative Extension Service offices or from commercial soil labs, which can be found online. It's important to know that organic matter increases very slowly over time.
"A soil with 3% organic matter might only increase to 4% after a decade or more of soil building," writes Marianne Sarrantonio, a sustainable agriculture researcher at the University of Maine, in the book Managing Cover Crops Profitably. "The benefits of increased organic matter, however, are likely to be apparent long before increased quantities are detectable. Some, such as enhanced aggregation, water infiltration rates and nutrient release, will be apparent the first season; others may take several years to become noticeable."
Cover crops improve soil in many ways besides increasing organic matter. For example, leguminous cover crops such as clovers and soybeans fix nitrogen, moving it from the air into the soil. Cover crops also catch nutrients before they can leach out of the soil. Many cover crops have deep tap roots that break up compacted soil layers. Some cover crops, especially the grasses, have masses of fine roots that improve soil texture. All cover crops protect the soil from erosion and compaction. With only a few exceptions (such as providing a fallow period in a field to break up weed problems), soil should always be covered with either a cash crop or a cover crop.
Resources
One of the best resources for learning about soil improvement through cover crops is the book Managing Cover Crops Profitably, published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. It can be viewed online. Printed copies of the book are available from Johnny's for $17.95. Visit Johnny's bookstore.
The University of Massachusetts has an excellent series of articles on soil and nutrient management for vegetable growers. Learn more.
