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Planning next year's grow

W

wordwiz

Been studying a bunch, to say the least. I have about 1/3 of an acre to raise plants on with the goal of selling. I plan on growing mostly determinate types, most of them hybrids. Found some seed germination medium that offers seems promising. Needless to type, I'm excited.

A couple of things I am thinking about, and if you have any experience in the area, would love to read your results.

First is the idea of doing something close to no-till. IOW, only till the area where the plants will grow, about 18". Allow the weeds/grass between the rows to stay as sod but use a string trimmer or lawn mower to keep them very low. The idea is to allow the plants to sprawl but onto grass or nubs. Sort of like mulching with straw between rows but without the expense of labor. Use a modified Florida Weave, one stake every 12 feet or so, with no more than two layers of string, to keep the plants erect.

Employ row covers. I found I can buy some Reemay-type stuff that will protect plants to about 26 degrees. It will cost about $60 to cover 270 plants but it can be used for 2-4 years. The advantage is I can transplant seedlings at least three weeks earlier and if I grow early season varieties I can have vine ripened, flavorful toms by the third week of June - at least a month earlier than most growers can offer them. Two pounds per plant times $2/lb (an easy price to get at Farmers Markets) equals $1000 per week. I'm excited!

Mike
 
I've been getting lots of suggestions in another forum that is providing food for thought - and maybe food for sale and consumption. One guy really is a believer in multi-cropping. For instance, growing broccoli in the spring, green beans in the summer and broccoli in the fall. I want to plant lettuce between the early rows of tomatoes - in two rows I can grow about 250 heads - that would be a significant amount.

I also finally was able to meet with the owner of a couple of large produce stores. He knows me from my paper and is willing to consider me as a source for his veggies - everything from asparagus to zucchini! He said he buys about 1500 pounds of tomatoes per week. We didn't discuss price (no use until he tastes my fruit) but the cheapest he sold maters this year was $1.29/lb. So I'm thinking 50ยข/lb. plus the box cost delivered. If I can sell another 200 pounds at a Farmer's Market @ $1/lb. and more via stopping in at places that have several employees, I should make a bit.

Add in some peppers - Bell, Banana and Jalapeno; basil; the broccoli, lettuce and beans; onions; maybe a couple other things such as spinach and that little piece of ground could provide some serious spending money.

One other advantage - I didn't include the total amount of square footage. A small part of the ground is very hilly but if I till it east/west rather than north/south and leave the sod between the rows, I would have another 300 square feet of space I can use. True, even at $2/sq. ft. of revenue, that's not a lot of money but $600 is not chump change either!

The bottom line is I love growing stuff and I have a chance to maybe make a bit of money doing what I love. What more could a person ask!

Mike
 
I had some Sun Gold and Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes recently. They're extremely sweet and gaining some popularity as I was told. Are you growing them or plan to? Still, I'm not sure if they're as profitable as the larger slicing toms.
 
Yaargh,

Good question. I had not thought about cherry toms, mainly because it takes 16 ounces of them to make a pound! But, IME, Riesentraube produces hundreds of toms that have a great flavor. Taking my blinders off, those plants provide just as many,if not way more pounds per week than slicers do.

Thanks for the idea!

Mike
 
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