Farm School Weeks Six and Seven: Finally Planting Time

Reader Contribution by Alison Spaude-Filipczak
Published on May 20, 2010
1 / 4
2 / 4
3 / 4
4 / 4

Spring is in full swing, and here at the Greenbank Farm Training Center we have been swinging ourselves between the greenhouse and the fields. The time to plant is now, and it has been a constant dance between planting seeds in the greenhouse, direct seeding in the field, and transplanting. If anyone is curious, I thought I would share our method or organization here at the farm.

Crop Plan

This is where we use our Excel spreadsheets.  First, we figured out how much food we need to grow to support our 50-member CSA, farmers market, and wholesale accounts. Then we figured out how much space we needed to grow that much food, along with how much time each crop needs to reach full maturity. This process took a lot of math – from counting back days to maturity to days of desired harvest to figuring how many chard plants make a bunch.  We also calculated how often we need to plant our staple crops that we intend to harvest bi-weekly, like radishes and lettuces, and how long those crops can stay fresh in the field.  After doing the hard work, we determined what plants would be planted where on our five-acre field, laminated the crop plan, and headed to the fields.

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-803-7096