Diversify Your Vegetable Crops

Diversify Your Vegetable Crops ©Pam Dawling 2018 Twin Oaks Community, Virginia Author of Sustainable Market Farming and The Year-Round Hoophouse SustainableMarketFarming.com facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming The Purpose of this Presentation Help you • Provide the most interesting vegetables around, while still reliably supplying old favorites. • Attract and keep – Chefs (who often want something different), – Retail or wholesale customers, – CSA sharers, – School and other institutional clients. • Learn to distinguish between crops likely to succeed and the siren call of weird eggplants. Photo Baker Creek Seeds Outline Part l: What does diversify mean to you? 1. Offer a broader range of vegetables and varieties; gourmet high value crops. Consider non-food crops (but this presentation is about vegetables!) 2. Season extension – crops when people don't expect them 3. Provide favorites! Never miss a chance to sell squash! Part ll: From your list of interesting crops, winnow the chaff 1. Clarify your goals 2. Which crops are likely to succeed? Avoid distractions 3. Rate crops against each other to decide which to grow Resources and my contact info 1A. Less Usual Crops  Introduce your customers to crops they haven't tried before. Keep them coming back with a new crop every week. Restaurant chefs love special new ingredients. Peanuts, parsnips, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes, chicories, radicchio, endives, celeriac, kohlrabi, multiplier onions, daikon, Asian greens, unusual Kohlrabi. Photo Emma greens, microgreens, perennial Christensen, Kitchn vegetables For details, see my slideshows Fall Vegetable Production, Storage Vegetables for Off-Season Sales, Cold-hardy winter vegetables on www.slideshare.net Peanuts • Peanuts need a frost-free period of at least 110 days. • They like warm or hot conditions, with adequate but not excessive water. Carwiles Virginia Peanut Photo Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Parsnips Root crops that thrive in mild weather, surprisingly easy to grow in warmer Hollow Crown parsnips. Photo Southern Exposure Seed climates Exchange Similar requirements to carrots and beets, but slow growing – start them in March-late April – they are almost guaranteed to be big enough by the end of the season Don’t harvest before frosts – poor flavor Hybrids are often smoother, higher quality than OPs Photo Small Farm Central

Leeks  Leeks are slow growing, start them in spring. Leek varieties - 2 main types:  Unlike onions, leeks grow • independently of day length Less hardy, faster-growing varieties, often with  Will stand in the field in cold lighter green leaves, temperatures, increasing in which are not winter- size until you harvest them. Overwintered leeks with a scattering of snow. hardy north of Zone 8. Lincoln, King Richard • Hardier blue-green winter leeks. We like Tadorna (100 days), Bandit, King Sieg (84 days) and Bleu de Solaize (105 days). Jerusalem artichokes/Sunchokes • Easy to grow, 10ft sunflower cousins • Various skin colors • Look for smooth, not knobbly shapes, to save cleaning time • Best to have a semi-permanent plot, as any small tubers you miss will regrow • Plant small, whole tubers from early spring until last frost. • Dig them from late fall to mid-winter. • Cool weather improves flavor. • Harvest 100 lbs from 25 sq ft. • Store in a root cellar or refrigerator • Save small tubers to replant

Endives and Chicories • Related to wild chicory and dandelions, naturally bitter. • 3 main species: endive, wild endive and common chicory Endives and Chicories

Wild Common Endive Endive Chicory

Frisée Escarole Chicory, Belgian (curly (Batavian Radicchio Sugarloaf endive) endive) the weed endive Endives Frisée endive is the most bitter. Escarole is the least bitter member Normally blanched before eating. of the family - looks like a sturdy Upper photo Hudson Valley Seed Library lettuce. Can be eaten in hearty salads, but is usually sautéed or braised, which brings out the sweetness and mutes the bitterness.

Lower

photo Van Geest Inter- national Photo NPR Kitchen Window Chicory for Chicons • Belgian Endive (Witloof chicory) – forcing chicory • The seeding date is earlier than other chicories, to get a large root for harvest before the ground freezes. • The harvested roots are stored (planted) in deep crates of soil mix • In late winter the crates are warmed in a completely dark space to force leaves to grow, forming a tight, very pale head of leaves (chicons). • Darkness reduces bitterness Witloof chicory Heading Chicories • Some chicories including radicchio and sugarloaf chicory are storable Photo www.growitalian.com • Chicories develop peak flavor and sweetness as temperatures drop in the fall • More hardy than lettuce • Hold well in the cooler, much better than lettuce, especially when harvested slightly immature with an inch of root attached • 2 main types of radicchio - Chioggia (round and red), and Treviso (oblong and red). • Slower maturing varieties are more cold tolerant; faster maturing ones are more heat tolerant.

Sugarloaf Chicory

• A heading chicory between a Belgian endive and a radicchio in appearance • It grows to the size of a small romaine lettuce • One of the sweetest, least bitter chicories • But also the least cold hardy.

Photo www.growitalian.com Celeriac • Also known as turnip-rooted celery, celeriac stores very well. • Growing celeriac is similar to growing celery, but is somewhat easier. • Slow-growing – 85 days to transplant size and another 95 days from transplanting to maturity • Transplant once the weather is settled warm. • Keep soil damp for uninterrupted growth and good quality roots. • Only the root is eaten, the stalks are fibrous.

Mars celeriac. Photo Johnnys Selected Seeds Kohlrabi • Only 58 days from sowing to harvest. • Kohlrabi can be direct sown or transplanted in spring or fall. • We transplant 3-4 week old starts on August 3, and harvest at the end of October. • Planting mid-August provides early November harvests. • Hardy to about 15°F (–9.4°C). • Stores well in perforated plastic bags under refrigeration

Kohlrabi Photo McCune Porter Multiplier Onions (Potato Onions) • Planted the largest ones in September • Plant medium-sized ones in late October or early November • Plant small ones in November or in early spring (less good) • Mulch immediately after planting • Do nothing all winter • Weed in spring • Harvest as the tops fall in June • Sell the largest ones for eating (but save back any for planting) • Cure and store the smaller ones for Yellow Potato Onions replanting or sell for growing Photo Kathryn Simmons Winter Radish, including Daikon • We sow winter radish August 4. China Rose and a daikon. • We harvest in October or November before temperatures drop to 20°F (-7°C) • Store well in perforated plastic bags under refrigeration • Popular for making Kim Chee, as well as for salads and stir- fries.

Frosty daikon. Photo Bridget Aleshire Mustard Greens • Hardy to light frosts • American Mustards (eg Southern Green Wave) • Asian mustards such as Red Giant, Osaka Purple, Brassica juncea, • Attractive colors. 21 days to baby leaves, 40–45 days full size Green Wave Mustard. Photo Mature Red Giant Mustard Photo Planet Natural http://www.rareseeds.com

Asian Greens Blues Napa Chinese cabbage • Quick-growing, fast returns for Photo Ethan Hirsh your market booth or CSA bags • Huge range of attractive varieties • Grow when you normally grow kale • Short spring season, bolt when it gets hot • Long fall season, no bolting. Success depends on getting them germinated and planted in June and July For details, see my slideshow • Grow particularly well in the Producing Asian Greens on hoophouse, all winter in zone 7 www.slideshare.net

Advantages of Asian Greens  Better able to germinate in hot weather than lettuce.  Faster growing than lettuce  Some of the faster-growing types are ready for transplanting 2 weeks after sowing (or you can direct sow them)  A catch crop for spaces where other crops have finished early or failed.  Keep a flat of seedlings ready,

November hoophouse greens. Photo Ethan Hirsh pop plugs into empty spaces as they occur.

Asian Greens – Many Types • Senposai • Pak Choy • Komatsuna • Chrysanthemum greens • Yokatta-na • Tatsoi • Ruby Streaks, Scarlet Frills & other mustards • Napa Chinese Cabbage • Mizuna • Tokyo Bekana • Maruba Santoh • Yukina Savoy • Mizspoona • Toraziroh • Thick-stemmed mustard • Hon Tsai Tai • Mustard-based salad mixes

Unusual Greens

3 hot weather greens 3 cold weather greens Malabar spinach Miners Lettuce/Claytonia Jewels of Opar Upland Cress Purslane Minutina

3 “all season” greens Orach Sorrel Saltwort Baby Lettuce Small-leaf lettuces: Osborne’s Lettuce Mixes Multileafs, Johnny’s Salanovas, High Mowing’s Eazyleaf; Photo Lettuce Mix. Photo Twin Oaks Community Tango, Oscarde, Panisse. Osborne Seeds

For details, see my slideshow Lettuce Year-Round on www.slideshare.net

Brassica Salad Mixes

Wild Garden Pungent Mix, Pink Petiole Mix, Brassica Brassica juncea, (Wild Garden rapa (Wild Garden Seeds, Seeds, Fedco). Fedco). A cross of pungent Indian Fast-growing, cold tolerant, mustards for those who like adds a touch of color to the brassica portion of winter salad Big Flavor. 40 days to harvest. Photos Wild Garden Seeds mixes. A varied mix of colors and shapes. Ready in 40 days.

Other Salad Crops

• Sylvetta, Surrey and Astro varieties of arugula are particularly cold-hardy. Even’Star arugula photo credit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

• Parsley, Belle Isle upland cress, winter purslane, salad burnet and mâche (corn salad) are also very winter-hardy. Belle Isle Upland Cress. Photo Credit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Microgreens

For clear instructions on efficiently growing microgreens for sale, see Andrew Mefferd’s Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook – Organic Vegetable Production Using Protected Culture

www.chelseagreen.com and Andrew Mefferd Perennial Vegetables • Asparagus • Okinawa spinach • Rhubarb • Sea kale • Globe artichokes • Good King Henry • Cardoon • Nopale cactus • Arrowhead • Bitter melon • Ramps • Water Chestnut • Sissoo spinach • Ostrich Fern • Water celery • Hyacinth bean • Scorzonera • Water Lotus • Yacon • New Zealand spinach

Hyacinth bean. Photo by Raddysh Acorn 1B. Unusual Varieties • Boldor beet, Purple Haze carrot, • lemon cucumber, Clara eggplant, • Islander pepper, Cherokee Green tomato • Adirondack Blue potato, Suyo Long Asian Cucumber, • Louisiana Long Green Eggplant, Bowling Red Okra, • Georgia Streak tomato Oscarde lettuce, Redbor kale 1B. Small Varieties

• Baby Beat, Atlas carrot, Unistars cocktail cucumber, • Kermit eggplant, Lunchbox peppers, Purple Bumblebee tomatoes • Jenny Lind melon, Fireball pepper, Claytonia, Camelot shallots • Chires Baby Sweet Corn, Lemon squash, Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato, White Galaxy Asparagus bean

1C. Gourmet High Value Crops Restaurant chefs particularly like special new ingredients Be sure you have a market, and that prices reflect the time and land involved. • Bulb fennel • Crosnes • Edible flowers • Garlic scapes, garlic scallions and green garlic • Gherkins • Gobo • Ginger • Horseradish • Herbs West Indian • Jicama gherkins • Mushrooms Photo Mary Kranz • Turmeric and Galangal

Bulb Fennel • A cool-weather crop grown as an The crunchy white annual in zone 6 and warmer. “bulb” consists of the swollen stem bases of • In zones 2-5 it grows as a biennial. the leaves. Has a • Depending on your climate, sow vaguely licorice-like seed in early spring, mid-spring, late flavor. summer or early fall. • In zone 7, two seasons for planting - March-April and July-August • Can be sown outdoors when the danger of hard frost (28°F) is over • The fall crop is more likely to succeed than a spring one. • If your spring crop bolts before forming a good bulb, your weather is too hot for spring planting - stick to fall crops in future, or start earlier in the spring

Crosnes/Chinese Artichokes • Perennial, also known as Japanese artichoke, chorogi and knotroot • Tiny spiral-shaped tubers that come from a member of the mint family. • Flavor is mild and juicy - can be eaten raw or cooked, more as a garnish than a staple. Salads, stir-fries, pickles • Plant in fall or early spring in full sun, 3” (7 cm) deep, 12” (30 cm) apart • Harvest in the fall when the leaves die. The ones you miss grow next year • Cleaning can be slow - pack size should be small and price relatively high • Store crosnes in plastic bags at a temperature of 35-40 F (2-4C)

Edible Flowers • Calendula Pacific Beauty, SESE

• Nasturtium Jewel Mix, SESE • Borage, SESE • Edible Flower Collection, Johnnys • Rocket Mix snapdragons, Johnnys • Lemon Mint Monarda, Johnnys • Helen Mount Viola, Johnnys • Costata Romansco squash, Johnnys

Garlic can be Several Crops! It’s not just Bulbs! Bulbs (and braids)

Garlic scapes

Green garlic

Garlic scallions (shown here)

Types of Garlic • Garlic (Allium sativum) has 2 subspecies, For details about hardneck (ophioscorodon) and softneck growing garlic, see (sativum). my slideshow • Hardneck types have flower stalks or scapes, Growing Great bigger cloves, are easier to peel, more cold- Garlic on tolerant. www.slideshare.net

• Softneck (no scapes, easier to braid, stores later, smaller cloves, harder to peel).

Left: Music hardneck garlic Right: Silverwhite Silverskin softneck garlic Photos SESE Garlic Scapes

Photo www.greencitymarket.wordpress.com

• Firm, round seed stems that grow from hard-neck garlic, starting to appear in our region 3 weeks before harvest, as the bulbs size up. Determined by day-length & temperature. • Remove them! The garlic bulbs will be bigger and also easier to braid, if you want braids from hardneck varieties. • Leaving scapes in does not increase the storage life. • Most people who remove scapes cut them where they emerge from the leaves. We pull ours, to get the most. Scapes Post-harvest • For ease of handling, we align scapes in a bucket, with a little water. • Easy to bunch or cut up. • Scapes sell in bunches of 6-10. • They store well in a refrigerator for months if needed. • Use for stir-fries, grilling, omelets, quiche, soups, pesto, pickles, dips, sauces, dressings • Photo simpleseasonal.com

Green Garlic The juicy immature plants before the bulbs mature. Could be small bulbs before they differentiate (divide into cloves) or later, before they dry down. Worthwhile if you have Photo by Small Farm Central www.smallfarmcentral.com a large planting and you can get a good price Reasons to Grow Garlic Scallions • A very tasty and visually attractive crop during the Hungry Gap, the spring period before any new crops are ready for harvest. • Supply garlic taste at a time when supplies of bulb garlic may have run out.

Photo from cbf.typepad.com Garlic Scallions When planting your main garlic crop, set aside the smallest cloves Plant close together in furrows, dropping them in almost shoulder to shoulder, just as they fall. Close the furrow and mulch over the top with spoiled hay or straw. We harvest garlic scallions from early March, once they reach about 7-8" (18-20 cm) tall, They last till May, unless we need to use the space.

Gherkins Mexican Sour Gherkins West Indian Gherkins Photo Johnnys Selected Seeds Photo Bridget Aleshire Gobo (Japanese Burdock)

www.omafra.gov.on.ca https://wawaza.com

Harvest is not easy - Success with root vegetables Haruka and Jason Oatis www.slideshare.net/LeahJoyner/suc cess-with-root-vegetables

Baby Ginger

• Fresh baby ginger sells at $9- $20/pound. • A yield of 8:1is good. 4:1 is poor. You could get 17:1 • Planting rate is 30 lbs/100 feet, with one 2oz seed piece/5” • Start in mid-March in zone 7. • It needs a heated space from mid-March to mid-May, while the plants are young. • Condition the seed pieces for 10-14 days • When buds are obvious, plant in Ginger in the hoophouse. lightweight crates. Credit Kathryn Simmons • Keep crates at 70-80°F (night Virginia State University is working on tissue min in high 40’s). cultured ginger to supply planting material

Baby Ginger • When hoophouse soil is 55°F and rising (check first thing in the morning), transplant at 5” in-row, rows 24” apart. • Feed and hill 4 times with 2- 3” soil, every 2-4 weeks • Harvest early to mid-October (5 months after sprouting) before the soil temperature cools to 50-55°F. Dig and lift roots carefully. Photo Kathryn Simmons • Refrigeration will turn ginger For details, see my slideshow rubbery. OK to use for Hoophouses in Spring and Summer cooking, pickling, or candying on www.slideshare.net another day

Herbs – Culinary and Medicinal Culinary herbs Medicinal herbs Growing and Growing and Marketing using the top 10 Ginseng, Goldenseal and other most popular Woodland Medicinals, Jeanine herbs, Jim Long Davis and W. Scott Persons (basil, lavender, parsley, mint, rosemary, Lemon balm oregano, Photo Southern marjoram, thyme, Exposure Seed sage, chives, and Exchange cilantro) Herbs 101, Jim Long

Horseradish • Horseradish is a perennial, easily propagated from pieces of root • It can be hard to get rid of if you change your mind • Traditionally harvested September-April • Harvested roots can be refrigerated for several months until used. • It can provide value-added products for out-of-season sales • When you process it, do it outdoors, with googles on • Throw the peelings in the trash, not the compost pile, as they easily regrow! Jicama • Jicama, a crunchy tuber, is not a quick-maturing crop, but it is greenbeanconnection.wordpress.com vining, so we grew it at the “back” (=north side) of the hoophouse, where it would not shade anything. • Seeds are available from Pinetree, and Baker Creek, who warn: “Takes a very long season, these must be started very early in all areas except the deep south. Caution: the seeds and pods are poisonous”. • We realized that we did not have hot enough conditions for long enough. If you are in zone 8 or 9, you might try it.

Mushrooms • Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation, Tradd Cotter • Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, Paul Stamets • Mycelial Mayhem, David and Kristin Sewak • Cultivating Mushrooms, Stephen Russell

Turmeric and Galangal • Both are tropical root crops. • Easier to grow than ginger - It needs less feeding. • Turmeric is not hilled. • Turmeric contains curcumins, which have good medicinal properties. • Planting rate is 6" (15 cm) between seed pieces. • 10-16 pieces/lb (22-35/k). Red Hawaiian Turmeric, Photo • Galangal – I know nothing! http://www.quallaberryfarm.com 1D. Non-food Crops Consider some non-food crops (but this presentation is about vegetables!) • Gourds • Luffas • Decorative strings of chilis, • Decorated garlic braids • Halloween pumpkins • Birdhouse gourds • Cut flowers • Bedding plants • Indian corn Photo Johnnys Selected Seeds • Seed crops

Consider Flowers as well as Vegetables

Mark Cain of Dripping Spring Gardens, Arkansas:  50% of their growing area in cut flowers and 50% in vegetables.  The cut flowers bring in 75% of the income.

Photo Tom Freeman, Twin Oaks Flowers 2. Season Extension in Every Season Diversify into other seasons Season extension in cold weather – Grow earlier crops in spring, Grow later crops in the fall. Use fast-maturing hardy varieties, and transplants. For details, see SlideShare.net • Cold-Hardy Winter Provide cold weather crop protection. Vegetables Season extension in hot weather – • Fall Vegetable Production • Hoophouse in Fall and Learn how to get seeds germinated, Winter Keep crops cool and watered, • Hoophouse in Spring and Keep pests off. Summer • Season Extension Grow cold-hardy winter vegetables • Storage Vegetables for Off- Season Sales Grow storage vegetables for out-of- • Year Round Vegetable season use. Production Winter Hoophouses  In a double-layer hoophouse (8F/5C warmer at night than outside) plants can survive 14F/8C colder than they can outside, without extra rowcover; 21F/12C colder than outside with thick rowcover  Solar heating is sufficient to grow a wide range of cold-tolerant crops: Salad crops; cooking greens, especially Asian greens; roots; onions; early peas; fava beans; bare root transplants for setting outdoors in February and March.  Crops grow much faster inside. They continue to grow throughout the winter whenever temperatures are warm enough.

For details, see my slide show Hoophouse in Fall and Winter on SlideShare.net Hoophouse December view. Photo Kathleen Slattery 3. Don’t Stop Supplying Old Favorites!

Photo Kathryn Simmons  Be a reliable supplier of basic crops while adding intrigue with new crops  Never waste a chance to sell squash!  Many vegetable crops can be planted several times during the season, to provide a continuous supply.  Plan for continuous supplies but don’t waste time or land growing a glut. For details, see my slideshow Succession Planting for Continuous Harvests on www.slideshare.net

Sow Several Varieties on one Day Use varieties with different days-to- maturity sown on the same day. We do this with broccoli, lettuce, sweet corn.

Photo Small Farm Central Succession Crop Scheduling  Typically, plants mature faster in warmer weather. Bean bed in June. Photo Pam Dawling  So, to harvest a new planting at regular intervals, you need big sowing gaps early in the spring,  then shorter intervals between one sowing date and the next as the summer progresses.  In the fall, as temperatures and day- length decrease, the time to maturity lengthens, and a single day's difference in sowing date can lead to almost a week's difference in harvest date.  Keep records and use information from other growers in your area to fine-tune your planting dates. For all the details, see my slideshow  Use our graph-making method for Succession Planting for Continuous best results Harvests on SlideShare.net

Make a Graph - 6 Steps 1. Gather sowing and harvest start dates for each planting of each crop 2. Make a graph for each crop: sowing date along the horizontal (x) axis; For details of this method see harvest start date along the vertical Succession Planting (y) axis. Mark in all your data. on SlideShare.net 3. Mark the first possible sowing date and the harvest start date for that. 4. Decide the last worthwhile harvest start date, mark that. 5. Then divide the harvest period into a whole number of equal segments, according to how often you want a new patch. 6. Use the graph to figure out the sowing dates needed to match your desired harvest start dates

Year Round Lettuce Part 1 The short version is that we sow • twice in January, • twice in February, • every 10 days in March, • every 9 days in April, • every 8 days in May, • every 6-7 days in June and July,

Spring lettuce in flats Photo Kathryn Simmons Year Round Lettuce Part 2

• every 5 days in early August, • moving to every 3 days in late August, • every other day until Sept 21. • After that we ease back to every 3 days until the end of September. • From September to April we grow lettuce in the Tango cold-weather lettuce Photo Kathryn Simmons hoophouse. Part ll Winnow the Chaff 1. Can you earn a living growing it? 2. Is it challenging to grow in your climate? 3. Is there a market for it? 4. Would you have to reduce space for another crop? 5. Would you lose efficiency by growing many different crops? – Consolidate and simplify (Asian greens) – Grow crops needing similar conditions or timing (sow 3 corn varieties on one day) – Specialize in one Signature Crop, grow many kinds 6. Compare crops – use a rating system

Clarify your Goals • Jean-Martin Fortier in The Market Gardener shows how to meet your goals and fit your resources. • Having decided how much money they need to support their family, Jean-Martin and Maud-Hélène decided to provide 220 CSA shares for 20 weeks, with 8-12 different vegetables/week. • They choose crops based on demand balanced with the financial value of those crops and the practicalities of growing. 35 of their 160 beds grow mesclun – it's #2 in sales rank, although only #19 in revenue/bed. But salad mix only takes 45 days, then another crop is grown, increasing the income/bed • My climate is very different from Quebec. Our market is very different. We don’t want 300 pounds of salad mix each week! We're providing for 100 people for 52 weeks. We want potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and winter squash to feed us all winter. Which Crops are Likely to Succeed?

• In Market Farming Success, Lynn Byczynski identifies and explains aspects of market farming that growers need to tackle. • You need a diversity of crops, not just a few profitable items. • You need not only early crops, but critical mass for the whole of your chosen season. • Grow what yields well for least labor, For details, see my grow what sells best at the highest slideshow Crop Planning price, and also grow what fills gaps for Sustainable Vegetable between your major crops. Production on www.slideshare.net

Dollars per Square Foot From Ben Hartman, The Lean Farm Dollars per square foot, highest to lowest (of the crops they grow). Does not account for the time each crop occupies the space. • Tomatoes, Heirloom $19.25 • Garlic $3 • Tomatoes, Hybrid $12 • Beets, bunched $2.80 Heirloom • Ginger $12 • Fennel $2.80 tomatoes • Pea Shoots $10 • Kohlrabi $2.80 Photo • Salad Mix $10 • Lettuce, head $2.50 Craig LeHoullier • Spinach $10 • Onions, green $2.50 • Spring mint tips $7.50 • Pak choy $2.50 • Lettuce, Romaine $5 • Potatoes, new $1.30 • Carrots, bunched $4.50 • Broccoli $1.25 • Carrots, bagged $4.50 • Snap peas $1.25 • Shallots $4.50 • Onions, bulbs $1 • Microgreens $3.75 • Rhubarb $3.75 Bulb onions • Turnips, bunched $3.30 curing. Photo Wren Vile Crops that Sell for High Prices (not necessarily easy to grow) • microgreens, • unusual crops • heirloom • out-of-season tomatoes, crops, • baby • bedding plants vegetables, and transplants, • salad mix, • cut flowers, • lettuce, • ornamental • arugula, crops • herbs, • This list is from Market Farming • edible flowers, Success • storage crops, • garlic, • fruits, Which Crops Take Most Attention? Steve Solomon in Gardening When it Counts provides tables of vegetable crops by the level of care they require. Your results may vary! • His Easy List: kale, collards, endives, chicories, spinach, cabbage, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, all cucurbits, beets, chard, sweet corn, all legumes, okra, tomatoes (followed by eggplant, peppers). • His Harder to Grow List: lettuce, arugula, parsley, carrots, parsnips, broccoli, radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, rutabagas, mustards, non-heading Asian greens, scallions, potato onions, garlic • His Difficult List: bulb onions, leeks, Chinese cabbage, asparagus, celery, celeriac, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Onion bed. Photo Kathryn Simmons early cabbage, cantaloupe. Which Crops are Most Profitable? Some crops offer more money per area, some are more profitable in terms of time put in. Clifton Slade at Virginia State University in his 43,560 Project (how to earn $43,560 from one acre), recommends choosing crops which produce one vegetable head or stalk, or 1 lb of produce, per square foot. Leafy crops feature prominently.

Morris Heading Collards, Photo Kathryn Simmons Which Crops are Most Profitable?

Richard Wiswall Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook:

• Leafy greens, parsley and basil earn more than fruiting crops. • Outdoor kale can produce $2463 from 1/10 acre, and of the crops he compared, only parsley and basil earned more. • Field tomatoes came in at $1872, and some vegetables (bush beans, sweet corn, peas) made a loss.

Vates kale. Photo Kathryn Simmons

Crop Enterprise Budgets • Richard Wiswall’s Organic Vern Grubinger in Sustainable Farmer’s Business Handbook Vegetable Production from Start-up includes budgets for 24 crops. to Market explains how to make an enterprise budget for each crop. • He makes spreadsheets easy. • Compare the financial value of • The book includes a CD you one crop with another, without can use to create budgets, delving into overhead costs. timesheets, payroll calculator, • Record the amount of work done a farm crew job description on each crop each day. template and a Farm Financials • Keep harvest records of quantity, Workbook. time and money from sales. • At the end of the season, add up the total time for each crop, divide the income for that crop by the time spent on it, and divide the income for that crop by the area, or number of beds.

Reasons to Grow Crops that don’t Make the Highest Income  provide a good crop rotation for your farm,  provide diversity (customers will only buy so much parsley and basil).  provide for times of the year when fewer growers are selling produce: fall crops to harvest before serious cold, crops for all-winter harvests, overwintering crops for early spring markets with. Kohlrabi. Photo McCune Porter Distractions From Ben Hartman The Lean Farm: How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficiency, and Maximize Value and Profits with Less Work. Which of your activities with a crop add value and which are wasteful? The customer defines what is valuable! Avoid distractions that don’t add value: 1. Fascination with gadgets or complexity; 2. Unusual methods of growing crops; 3. Letting supply determine your assessment of value. More kale is not always better! 4. Weird and wonderful shapes and colors of vegetables; (The siren call of too many weird eggplants). If you want to make eggplants your signature crop, Baker Creek Seeds has 61 varieties!

3. How to Decide which Vegetable Crops to Grow • Some crops offer more money for the area, some are more profitable in terms of time put in. A crop which quietly grows all season from a single planting early on, when time is less frantic, can be an advantage. If the same plants provide multiple harvests, this can be great value for time. Leafy greens are the best example. • In High-Yield Vegetable Gardening, Colin McCrate and Brad Halm point out that when planning what to grow, it's important to consider how long the crop will be in the ground, especially if you have limited space Quick Crops and Steady Crops McCrate and Halm distinguish between • Fast Growing Crops (25-60 days from sowing or transplanting) Direct sown arugula, baby lettuce mix, mustard greens, some Asian greens, radishes, spinach, turnips; transplanted head lettuce, endive, heading Asian greens. • Half Season Crops (50-90 days from sowing or transplanting) Direct sown snap beans, lima beans, beets, carrots, corn salad, snap peas, snow peas, shelling peas, scallions; transplanted broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, chard, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, okra, radicchio, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes. • Long Season Crops (70-120 days from sowing or transplanting) Direct sown edamame, fava beans, shell beans, sweet corn, parsnips, peanuts, rutabagas, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins; transplanted Brussels sprouts, celeriac, celery, bulb fennel, garlic (longer), leeks, cantaloupe, other melons, bulb onions, peppers, watermelon, sweet potatoes. Curtis Stone, in The Urban Farmer, distinguishes between Quick Crops (maturing in 60 days or less) and Steady Crops (slower maturing, perhaps harvested continuously over a period of time).

Crop Value Rating • Curtis Stone has designed a Crop Value Rating system based on 5 characteristics. To use this assessment, you look at each characteristic and decide if the particular crop gets a point for that characteristic or not. Then look for the crops with the highest number of points. Spinach gets all 5 points; cherry tomatoes only 3. The smaller your farm, the higher the score the crops need to get chosen. His 5 are: 1. Shorter days to maturity (fast crops = chance to plant more; give a point for 60 days or less) 2. High yield per linear foot (best value from the space; a point for1/2 pound/linear foot or more) 3. Higher price per pound (other factors being equal, higher price = more income; a point for $4 or more per pound) 4. Long harvest period (= more sales; a point for 4 months or longer) 5. Popularity (high demand, low market saturation) Factors in DIY Crop Value Rating Putting together these various ideas, here's my list of possible factors. Loosely speaking, there are 6 categories: A. time involved (#1-4), B. yield (5-8), C. likely income (9-10), D. likely demand (11-15), E. strategic importance (16-20) F. complexity (21-25). Fast-maturing tatsoi Photo Wren Vile Time 1. Is it labor efficient? (Some space-hogging crops like sweet corn are not labor intensive) 2. Does the intense work for this crop come in at a less-busy time of year? 3. Is this crop fast-maturing? (If labor is short, weed control might be an issue for a slow-growing crop, even if space isn't) 4. Is it high yielding for the labor intensiveness? (Okra doesn't provide much food for the space or the time) Factors in DIY Crop Value Rating: Yield 5. Is it high yielding for the space occupied (does it produce one vegetable head or 1 pound of produce, per square foot or1/2 pound/row foot)? 6. Is it high-yielding for the time it occupies the ground? (if land is short) 7. Does it provide multiple harvests from a single planting? 8. Does it provide a single bulk harvest of a storable crop?

Bulk harvest of long-storing sweet potatoes. Photo Nina Gentle Factors in DIY Crop Value Rating: Likely Income 9. If you are selling produce, does it bring a high price, above $4 per pound? 10.If you are growing for a household, or a non- profit, or considering buying wholesale from another farmer for your CSA: Is it expensive to replace? Factors in DIY Crop Value Rating: Likely Demand 11.Is it popular (do you have a good market for it)? 12.Is it a staple? 13.Does it store well/easily? 14.Does it provide harvests at times of year when other crops are scarce? 15.Does it provide appealing diversity for your booth or CSA boxes?

Factors in DIY Crop Value Rating: Strategic Importance 16. Is it a resilient "insurance crop" (forgiving of difficult weather) which provides harvests even if other crops fail (chard, storage root vegetables)? 17. Does it help provide your land with a good crop rotation? 18. Is it in the Dirty Dozen? (What are the pesticide levels in the non- organic crop, if that's the alternative source for your customers?) 19. Are you relying on this crop for personal sustenance? 20. Is it nutritionally dense or important (a protein crop, an oil crop, a mid-winter crop?)

Chard is an important Insurance Crop. Photo Wren Vile Factors in DIY Crop Value Rating: Complexity

21.Is it reliably easy to grow? Or fun or pleasantly challenging to grow? 22.Is there minimal wastage/maximum saleable yield of the harvested crop? 23.Does the crop require minimal processing to be ready for sale? 24.Is its peak period for water use at a time when you have plenty of water? 25.Will it grow without a fence for Frosty fall cabbage – cut and sell deer/rabbit/bird protection? Photo Lori Katz Customize and Chart the most Relevant Factors • Rearrange the list of factors to suit your farm • Select 6-10 of the most important factors and make up a chart. • List all the crops you are growing (or might grow). • Assess the crops as objectively as you can. • Award each crop a point for each check mark. • Knock out the crops with fewest points. • If you need a tie-breaker, you could use secondary factors from the list. Beets, both greens and roots, whether spring or fall, scored well for us. Photo Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Resources – Books (I have reviewed many of these books on my blog at www.sustainablemarketfarming.com)  The Market Gardener, Jean-Martin Fortier, New Society Publishers  Gardening When it Counts, Steve Solomon, New Society Publishers  The 43560 Project, Clifton Slade http://www.slideshare.net/LoudounBiz/clifton-slade-43560- project, https://vabf.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/clif-slade-43560-demo-project.pdf www.markklingman.com/docs/43560_Project_Overview.pptx  The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, Richard Wiswall, Chelsea Green  Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start-up to Market, Vern Grubinger, NRAES http://host31.spidergraphics.com/nra/doc/fair%20use%20web%20pdfs/nraes-104_web.pdf  The Lean Farm and The Lean Farm Guide to growing Vegetables, Ben Hartman  The Urban Farmer, Curtis Stone, New Society Publishers  High-Yield Vegetable Gardening, Colin McCrate and Brad Halm, Storey Publishers  Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook, Andrew Mefferd, Chelsea Green  Market Farming Success, Lynn Byczynski  Perennial Vegetables, Eric Toensmeier, Chelsea Green  Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and other Woodland Medicinals, Jeanine Davis and W. Scott Persons  Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation, Tradd Cotter  Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, Paul Stamets  Cultivating Mushrooms, Stephen Russell More good books  The Complete Know and Grow Vegetables, J K A Bleasdale, P J Salter et al.  Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers, Donald N. Maynard and George J. Hochmuth. The 2012 edition is free online from Missouri Extension  The New Seed Starter’s Handbook, Nancy Bubel, Rodale Books  The New Organic Grower, Eliot Coleman, Chelsea Green  Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers, Daniel Brisebois and Frédéric Thériault (www.cog.ca)  Turn Here Sweet Corn, Atina Diffley  Wholesale Success, Atina Diffley, Jim Slama http://www.familyfarmed.org/publications/wholesalesuccess/  Root Cellaring, Nancy and Mike Bubel (for construction details and advice)  Growing Great Garlic, Ron Engeland, 1991, Filaree  Growing for Market Nov/Dec 2016 “How to grow heading chicories” Josh Volk SlowHandFarm.com

Resources – websites  ATTRA attra.ncat.org: Scheduling Vegetable Plantings for a Continuous Harvest, Season Extension Techniques for Market Farmers, Organic Pumpkin and Winter Squash Production.  SARE www.sare.org A searchable database of research findings.  Season Extension Topic Room  extension.org/organic_production The organic agriculture community with eXtension. Publications, webinars, videos, trainings and support. An expanding, accessible source of reliable information.  Growing Small Farms: growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/ Farmer Resources  2012 Production Guide for Storage of Organic Fruits and Vegetables, Cornell https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/42885/organic-stored-fruit- veg-NYSIPM.pdf?sequence=1  Decision Innovation http://www.decision-making-solutions.com  Holistic Management from ATTRA: https://attra.ncat.org/attra- pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=296  Holistic Management Test questions: http://managingwholes.com/test- questions.htm  Holistic Management International http://holisticmanagement.org/

Resources – slideshows Many of my presentations are available at www.Slideshare.net. Search: Pam Dawling.  Cold-hardy Winter Vegetables  Crop Planning for Sustainable Vegetable Production  Crop Rotations  Fall and Winter Hoophouses  Fall Vegetable Production  Growing Great Garlic  Growing Sweet Potatoes from Start to Finish  Producing Asian Greens  Succession Planting for Continuous Vegetable Harvests Other slide shows I recommend:  Mark Cain Planning for Your CSA: www.Slideshare.net (search for Crop Planning)  Tom Peterson Farm Planning for a Full Market Season  Brad Bergefurd, Cultural Practices And Cultivar Selections for Commercial Vegetable Growers. www.slideshare.net/guest6e1a8d60/vegetable-cultural- practices-and-variety-selection

Resources – Ginger and Turmeric  Alison and Paul Wiediger http://aunaturelfarm.homestead.com/High-Tunnel- Ginger.html  Reza Rafie and Chris Mullins at Virginia State University https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auayx8l_M04 http://www.vsuag.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ginger- Day-Presentation-2014.pdf  College Of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai’i at Manoa http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/scm-8.pdf  Puna Organics and Biker Dude to buy seed ginger in November http://www.hawaiianorganicginger.com/how-to-order. Turmeric and galangal also available  Growing For Market August 2008, November 2011  www.quallaberryfarm.com in NC for info and supplies of ginger and turmeric

Resources – Season Extension  www.hightunnels.org  Penn State Center for Plasticulture http://extension.psu.edu/plants/plasticulture  U of MN High Tunnel Production http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/fruit-vegetable/#high-tunnel  The Winter Harvest Handbook, Eliot Coleman  Extending the Season: Six Strategies for Improving Cash Flow Year-Round on the Market Farm, a free e-book download for online subscribers to Growing for Market magazine  The Hoophouse Handbook, 2nd edition, Lynn Byczynski  Walking to Spring, Paul & Alison Weidiger http://aunaturelfarm.homestead.com/  The Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual, Carol Ford & Chuck Waibe  Cold Climate Greenhouse Resource www.extension.umn.edu/rsdp/community-and-local-food/production- resources/docs/cold-climate-greenhouse-resource.pdf

Resources – storage  Johnnys Storage Recommendations http://www.johnnyseeds.com/t- storage-crops.aspx  Washington State University Extension, Storing Vegetables and Fruits at Home pubs.wsu.edu/ListItems.aspx?Keyword=EB1326E  USDA Agriculture Handbook 66: The Commercial Storage of Fruits, Vegetables, and Florist and Nursery Stocks. https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/oc/np/CommercialStorage/Comme rcialStorage.pdf Revised Feb 2016  UMass Extension Post-harvest and Storage Resources https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/resources/winter-production- storage/storage  UMass Extension Harvest, curing and storage conditions for fall and winter vegetables. https://ag.umass.edu/sites/ag.umass.edu/files/pdf-doc- ppt/harvest_and_storage_chart_winter_sare_project.pdf  Vegetable Harvest and Storage. http://extension.missouri.edu/p/g6226