Another thing that I didn't know before this year was how successful the vegetable production would be. My lovely SO mentioned to me the other night, over a beer on the patio, as we were watching the chickens frolic in the yard, that the home veggie patch looked so much better than in years past. After getting over my initial shock-- didn't it look good last year, too?!-- I realized that she is right. It does look better this year. Bigger. Greener. Healthier. And more veggies! I sat down today and thought of some reasons that might be the case.
Full time farmer
The most obvious reason is that I am working the urban farm full time. Other than family, my fruits, vegetables, and chickens come before everything else and I spend a good deal of time outside every day. But that's not to say that someone who works full time couldn't have success. My vegetable beds are large (and hopefully growing in the future) so for me it's a full-time gig. But for a smaller gardener, the goal would be to set aside a few hours a week where you can really get in there and work on your garden, especially early in the season. This commitment will make a huge difference.
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As long as you spend some time each week on the care of your plants (and singing to them doesn't hurt!) you will almost always be successful.
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Feed slowly
When fertilizing plants, it's best to feed them slowly. Think about how people eat-- small meals over the week instead of gorging for only one meal on Monday morning. I wish I could remember who taught me this, but the idea really sank in. Commercial fertilizers are powerful and tend to overfeed plants. The plants get big and green really fast, but maybe that's not what nature intended. A healthy plant living in the wild eats slowly as it absorbs nutrients from composted material. This is the system I have tried to put into place. I added compost to all the beds before planting, and for the most part that's the only fertilizer I have used. Corn is a heavy feeder, so I did use some fish emulsion fertilizer a couple of times this year. But that's it, and everything is producing very well.
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| The corn is flowering right on time. Sometime over the winter I'll be enjoying a bowl of this popcorn while watching a good movie on a cold night. |
Weed early
The biggest change I made this year was to weed meticulously the first month after planting. This is when weeds are taking hold and it's make or break time. If you can get those weeds early, then the rest of the growing season is so much easier!
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| Eventually the tomatoes take over and shade out everything else, but while they are small in the spring I spend a lot of time weeding around them so that in July I can relax and watch them ripen. |
Proper spacing
In the past I have either crowded my plants (not enough room so many plants get shaded) or I have given them too much room, and weeds grow and space is wasted. This year I used information from the Square Foot Gardening book to make sure I gave plants exactly the square feet they require and no more.
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| Tomatillos are monster plants and they require extra space. I'm growing basil and cilantro underneath them (partially shaded) and this keeps the herbs from bolting too fast. |
Pest Management
I had two main pests this year that I had to deal with, cucumber beetles on my cukes and flea beetles on my broccolini and Brussels. For the cucumber beetles I used a net over the plants while they were small. I left it on until they started to flower and by then the beetle population was very low. For the flea beetles, I sprayed my cole crops with neem oil to deter the pests. Both organic, safe methods worked well and kept the insects in check.
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| The chickens love helping out by eating all the bugs they can find! |
Happy urban farming and I will check back after RAGBRAI!
