Hi I’m Erin.
Here in Wyoming it is no where near time to plant the gardens.
But the work that we do today and the decisions that are made will have a huge impact on the
success or failure of the summer’s crops.
It’s time to order seeds and plan the garden layout for 2018 on Our Wyoming Life.
Hi and thanks for joining me today.
It’s still ridiculously cold outside and as of today we are still 77 days away from
putting crops into the ground in the outside gardens.
77 days if the weather cooperates for us.
Now is the time to make extremely important decisions about what crops we will grow and
what varieties will be planted.
It’s a world of possibility as far as seeds go.
There’s so many to choose from that it’s overwhelming.
We have tried and true favorites that work year after year and somethings that we are
still searching for the perfect crop.
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Before I started growing for market, seeds were usually purchased by the individual packet
at a local retail store.
There wasn’t much thought put into variety or yield or crop consistency.
Now those things are extremely important, and more volume of seed is needed.
Now days the seed catalogs start rolling in before Christmas and lots of time and energy
is put into deciding what worked last year and what needs improvement.
We also have to consider how much seed we will need of each crop.
And this year we are approaching the layout of the garden in a whole different manner.
Instead of planting individual rows of crops we will plant in beds.
As the crops grow the leaves will help shade the soil and since the rows are planted closer
together there will be less exposed soil for weeds to grow.
This does mean though that seed quantities will need to be reconfigured this year for
the new planting style.
Let’s run some numbers.
Beets are a great crop to plant in this configuration as are most root crops.
The length of the garden is 132 feet.
All crops will run north to south with the exception of the corn which will run east
to west and will be planted on the south end of the garden.
The north end of the garden will be a 3 foot walkway.
There will also be a 2 foot walkway in the center and a two foot walkway at the end of
the row crops leaving space between the beds and the corn.
It’s vital to think about how you will get in and out of the garden, especially when
harvest time comes and totes of veggies are being hauled out.
All of the beds will be 30 inches wide with 15 inch walkways in between.
3 rows of beets can be planted in the 30 inch bed.
This gives plenty of spacing between rows and allows the crop room to grow but the tops
at maturity will get large enough to almost touch each other.
Beets are one of our best sellers at market.
People love to eat them fresh and many purchases are made each summer of bulk beets for canning.
We will run the beets the on both sides of the center walk way.
109 linear feet of beets times 3 rows of beets means we need enough seed to plant 327 feet
of beets.
Now this is where seed packets or descriptions on websites comes in handy.
We are ordering the perfected Detroit beet.
On the seed count description, it says that 1 ounce of beet seed will plant 100 feet.
We need 327 feet but it’s always nice to have just a little bit extra so 4 ounces or
a quarter of a pound of seed will be ordered from gurney’s.
The same method will be used for carrots and koli rabi.
They are huge sellers for us at market.
But when it comes to crops like purple carrots, they’re not as popular.
They’re catching on and some people love the purple color but for many visitors to
market they’ve never seen a purple carrot and are still hesitant to eat one.
We don’t need to plant as long of a bed.
So for purple carrots they will be planted on the 47 foot bed length side of the garden.
Still in a 30 inch bed and 3 rows per bed.
Just the length is changing.
So for purple carrots we need 141 feet.
Using a seed quantity calculator from Johnny’s seeds it says that I need 4230 seeds.
With extra I want 5000 seeds.
Carrot seeds are ordered from territorial seed company.
They are ordered by the 1000.
So 5M of seeds are added to the cart.
Every seed company that you order from has a different way of telling you how many seeds
you need to order.
You will see quantities measured in ounces, grams, thousands or just the number of seeds
per packet.
The seed quantity calculator from Johnny’s is a super useful tool to help insure that
we have enough seed when it comes time to plant.
All of the order forms from last year are printed out and it’s just a matter of going
through everything and deciding what worked, what didn’t work and what needs to be changed
and why.
Last year we ran out of golden beets so more will be planted this year.
But green beans were an epic failure for the last 3 years and it’s time to throw in the
towel and say no more.
A few new crops will be added this year like a red and white stripped beet from Johnny’s.
Also new to the high tunnel will be different colors of cherry tomatoes from Totally Tomatoes.
We are ordering artisan bumble bee cherry tomatoes in pink, purple and sunrise orange.
They will be mixed with a red sakura cherry and a sungold yellow cherry and sold together
as a cherry tomato mix.
They will be bright, colorful and snackable and will hopefully keep people coming back
week after week.
Kids should also be drawn to the colors and the small size is easy for them to eat.
Hopefully the cherry tomato blend will be a parent approved snack that kids love!
For the first time ever we will also be growing flowers in the garden.
Zinnia’s and sunflowers will be planted for pollinators.
Plus they will look beautiful during our farm to table dinner.
Nasturtium is also on the list to be ordered.
It’s an edible flower that will be used during our farm to table dinner.
How cool will that be, fresh local produce and edible flowers!!
Every year it’s a guessing game of what will work and what won’t.
When we switch to a new variety or crop we usually give it at least 2 years before we
make a final decision on it.
Sometimes things like purple carrots just take a little time to catch on but as long
as they grow well we can be patient with building a customer base.
One things that we commonly look for when choosing new varieties is if it’s recommended
for market gardeners.
The description on the bumble bee tomatoes says market growers will love the new colors.
This is exactly the type of info we looking for.
Market growers like myself are always trying new things and pushing the limits of our crops.
We need them to produce high quantities, look amazing and taste great too.
When sorting through all the different types of lettuce we want something that has a long
harvest window and handles heat well so it can be pushed later in the season.
These same standards can be used in a home garden.
You might only plant 2 cherry tomato plants but you want them to produce consistently
and have it be worth your time and energy.
You can also plant in your home garden the same way our market garden is being planted.
Planting in beds instead of rows can make your life a lot easier when it comes time
to weed and harvest.
Just scale things back.
You can easily make your beds 10 or 15 feet long instead of 109 feet.
If we don’t take the time to do this prep work there’s no way we will have a successful
harvest this summer to sell to our customers at market.
It’s a lot of work and a lot of thought goes into each crop that we order.
If things are miscalculated now it’s pretty much guaranteed that we can’t just run down
to the local store and find exactly the same crop that we wanted.
A substitute could most likely be found but it might not work out to it’s fullest potential.
Over the years we have found that not one seed company can supply everything that we
need.
Typically we order from 5 or 6 companies.
This year we have ordered from Territorial, Johnny’s, Gurney’s, Dixondale Farms, NeSeed
and Totally Tomatoes.
With the seed orders complete and a plan for the garden laid out we know that soon the
snow will melt and it’ll be time to get to work.
Tomatoes will be started in the basement soon and the new high tunnel will be delivered
to the ranch in about 2 weeks.
As soon as the cold weather breaks construction will begin.
The new high tunnel will become home for our tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
There’s lots of work to be done and our target planting date is May 15th.
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Calving season starts in a few short weeks and with all the garden work and construction
to be done things are about to get insanely busy on the ranch.
Mike and I love this time of year and can’t wait for the chaos to begin.
Make sure you’re along for the ride and explore the ranch life with us and escape
the ordinary on Our Wyoming Life.