Obviously, if things get sporty it will be important to squeeze the maximum amount of nutrition out of our gardens.
Walking around...a week before the longest day of the year...it is clear that way too much of the solar energy is hitting dirt and not plants making food. This time of year is a big deal. Not only are the days longest (approaching 16 hours at 43 North) but it is most intense since it is not slicing through as thick of a slice of the atmosphere (closer to perpendicular).
I thought it would be worthwhile to capture some photos looking down the rows of the various "crops" I have planted and giving them a percentage score.
In roughly three groups:
Best
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| Potatoes |
Potatoes: Does anybody argue with the potatoes intercepting 75% of the sunlight? Rows are running E/W.
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| The sprawling plant with yellow flowers is a turnip (canola) |
Canola: I don't normally think of canola as a garden crop but it does have the potential to make a but-load of easy-to-store calories. If stored as seeds, they can be used for sprouts in the dead of winter. The canopy at this time of year can easily be 99% for fall-planted canola.
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| Flour corn |
Flour corn: The corn in the foreground of the picture is flour corn. I guestimate the sunlight capture at about 20%
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Orchard/vineyard: I am guestimating 65% of the sunlight is intercepted. An issue with orchards is that you have to leave access to harvest because you cannot step over the trees nor do you rip them out of the ground to harvest.
For a frame-of-reference, a well cared-for orchard of dwarf apple-trees can produce 40,000 pounds of apples (13% soluble solids) year-after-year. A vineyard can produce 20,000 pounds of grapes (22% soluable solids) year-after-year.
Not so great:
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| Sunflowers |
Sunflowers: 10%
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| Cabbage |
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| Zinnias |
Zinnias: 2%
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| Green beans |
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| Onions |
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| Sweet corn demands warmer soil than flour corn to germinate. The seeds are smaller and they don't jump out of the ground as quickly as flour corn, either. |
Sweet corn: 2%
Dead last:
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| Cowpeas |
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| Carrots |
Carrots: Not planted yet
Not pictures: Cucumbers, squash. <1%
Discussion
It would be perfectly fair to point out that I could boost the percentage of canopy by moving my rows closer together. The rows (except for the orchard) are nominally 37" apart regardless of the size of the plants when mature.
It would also be perfectly fair to point out that my weed control is sub-optimal.
Those two observations are related. Trade-offs are involved. If I moved the rows closer together than I would have to hoe by hand rather than use my gasoline powered tiller. My percentage of crop intercepting sunlight might go up but it might go down as weeds over-took them.
Another interaction is that if things got sporty I would have more adult help in the garden. Labor to hand-hoe and weed might be less of a shortage.
Canola is a "sleeper" in terms of calorie production. It would be nice to find a non-brassica crop to follow it since it ripens so early. Maybe some super-early ripening dry-bean or dried pea that can be drilled into the stand before the crop starts to flop-over. Let the seedling beans smolder in the shade until the canola is hand-pulled, at which time it gets full sun? In my climate it would have to mature in 90 days if planted in mid-June.
Any thoughts?
Bonus image
The sharp-eyed readers probably noticed that I have a lot of volunteer potato plants popping up and are wondering "Why isn't ERJ pulling them out?"
Well, I am. I am using them as a half-@ss trap crop for potato beetles. I am pulling them out AFTER I see PB larvae on them. Then I am tossing them in the old, plastic-tubbed drawer to cook in the sun. If thrown on the ground the larger larvae might be mature enough to pupate and become adult, egg-laying beetles.
Woodchuck Ocho (or "Ouchie" as he probably said) this season.
I saw the freshly dug dirt and set the trap yesterday. He was patiently waiting for me this morning. The stakes were legs from a "soccer chair" that were repurposed. Waste not, want not. I still have not convinced Handsome Hombre to try some of the meat.
What about a biennial like sugar beet that can be harvest early for greens, late (if the growing season runs long) as beets, middling as substandard beets or let go for a year to turn into seeds? This might be the deer hunter in me, but a lot of uses (plus could be repurposed if transplanted into mounds 50 yards in front of a comfortable chair).
ReplyDeleteLol @ HH. Smart fellow it seems.
ReplyDeleteI experimented with cover crops between rows this year. Granted as a beekeeper my definition of success may be different, but what I did notice is the rows I scattered clover between have almost zero weeds growing. I believe in some cases the clover is encroaching the crop and having a negative impact (berries aren't spreading like previous years). Its easy enough to clear, so we'll see if that changes... maybe 6" clearance is necessary? However planting clover very thick has suppressed any weed growth fairly well. In your case I could see doing so only down the center of the row (stay back 6+ inches from plant to leave room to hoe), and grind it up when rototilling between. Buckwheat has grown and flowered well, but did not suppress weeds. Surely they are stealing moisture, but I also believe the thick carpet traps quite a bit. I would say a wash, possibly even net benefit for drier/sunnier places like I am in ETN. Cannot comment on signs of nitrogen production from the clover, I get pretty liberal with the triple-15 down in the pasture garden where I am experimenting. Soil us pretty poor so thats what it takes to get a harvest.
Food for thought!
What about intercropping? Plant beans between your rows of onions?
ReplyDeleteIt has been colder than normal here and everyone I talk to has said this is the worse garden year we have ever had. I don't expect much crop of anything . And due to a very warm May 8 thru 12 then colder than normal freeze damage was devastating to the grape vines. Not going to be good. ---ken
ReplyDeleteHere in Oklahoma, I have different growing conditions than you do, but I like to plant things like green beans, beets, etc. in a double row with two rows about 8-10 inches apart. I end up with more canopy and more production per area.
ReplyDeleteBlackeye peas are planted in blocks about 3-4 foot wide by either broadcasting or planting multiple rows. Onions are planted in beds about 30 inches wide with mulch to make it easier to mulch, weed and fertilize.
Sow winter wheat or rye the preceding late summer. Let it grow, go dormant in winter.
ReplyDeleteIn spring, wait for rye to get to pollination stage then mow just enough for a row of your earliest crop. Till the clipped rye in that strip and plant crop 5-7 days later.
After a couple weeks mow & till in strip between planted row.
The initial mow /plant incorporated enough green nitrogenous material to boost the young corn but without introducing more N that just feeds weeds. The delay for next mow/incorporation is to allow crop to grow big enough to more fully utilize newly incorporated material.
Notes: rye is pernicious regrower if mowed/incorporated prior to reproductive stage, but winter wheat can succumb at earlier growth stage.
Keeping something alive and growing (albeit slowly) in winter improves tilth and soil biota
A few thoughts, nutrition counts too, cabbage turned into sauerkraut has enough vitamin C to ward off scurvy and was used by some of the major world explorers. Plastic mulch works well to reduce weeds in crops that are transplantable like squash and cucumbers. Living in Copper Basin Alaska beans and squash work best in tunnels or hoop houses. I put the squash in a 30 inch bed with two strips of drip irrigation through ground cover. I roll the front foot back and plant spinach which will be eaten and pulled before the squash needs the whole bed. Another crop for you would be dry beans, the fix nitrogen and protein and a good addition to soups and stews. Some of your high fiber veggies can provide a way to fill a hungry stomach as well as vitamins and minerals. A full stomach might allow those who have excess fat to mine that resource less painfully!
ReplyDeleteMy last month paycheck was for 11000 dollars… for 3-4 hours/day 95 bucks every hour…..> https://www.pay.salary49.com
ReplyDelete