Garden calendar on steroids... LOL!! Seriously, I need something...

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PopPopT

PopPopT

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Deer Lodge, Tennessee
Do any of you grow produce for market? Can't help but think maybe some of you do. I could use some insight or ideas.

Here's my problem. I tend to be way more reactive than proactive. I tend to be late planting stuff and wish I'd planted when it's too late in the season. I tent do have gardens that produce a LOT but do not have a good sense of spreading it around the seasons. (I know there are limitations, can't grow tomatoes in the winter here, for example.) But I think I could do much better.

I'm not good at being a leader or a boss. But I'm really good at following orders. I'm an excellent "helper".

So here's what I'm thinking. I need a written out "plan", in detail, something I can follow throughout the season. I want something where I can look at a calendar and know that today, I do "a, b, and c". Tomorrow, I will do "d, e, and f". The next day, I will do "g, h, and i". Etc. I don't want a lot of days when I don't know what I need to do and I don't want to have to try to figure this all out every day. And I know me, I will NOT remember. (I can barely remember what I had to eat yesterday. I envy those who remember every detail of their lives since 1978, including the weather.)

I'm not wanting to do a CSA at this point but I have something in mind that is more similar to that than not. But for that, I need consistent harvests, and that means PLANNING!

So if you have something that's worked for you, I'm definitely interested.

Thoughts I've been given so far, include keeping and following a journal such that I can look back and see what we did and how that worked, perhaps what we could do to improve. Another idea was a huge whiteboard that plans out every row of every garden bed for the whole year such that it's easy to see. (Would take a huge white board, but I know of a guy doing this that has one covering a wall in his home, a hallway, I think.)

The theory sounds super simple, almost a "duh" kind of thing. Actual practice isn't quite as simple, at least to me. So if you have thoughts or ideas, please share!

Thanks!!
 
Have you checked your local/state Extension Service website? Mine puts out a detailed calendar every year. It tell you when to start seeds ( either inside or outside), when to put the plants out, when to trim berry bushes and fruit trees, when to spray them, when to fetilize, etc.
 
WVDragonlady said:
Have you checked your local/state Extension Service website?
Click to expand...

Have spent some time with the local extension agent, even took the Master Gardener classes. But that wasn't quite what I needed. I have one of their calendars, which is good. They're made for "home gardeners", and that's great. I feel like I need something intended more for "commercial growers", and so far, I haven't seen such. So if it exists, it eludes me.
 
So you what Agriculture help? I mean if gardening isn't what you're looking for then it must be agriculture ( orchards,farm markets,etc)

See what they have here. I think they have what you're looking. Just check it all out:
https://utextension.tennessee.edu
 
WVDragonlady said:
Have you checked your local/state Extension Service website? Mine puts out a detailed calendar every year. It tell you when to start seeds ( either inside or outside), when to put the plants out, when to trim berry bushes and fruit trees, when to spray them, when to fetilize, etc.
Click to expand...
Such a duh moment - I need to do that for where we are now just to get the gist of things. After living in the same place for 20 years you figure it out. Then we moved.
Also, PPT, maybe @Peanut will have a suggestion. I think he's done market gardening. (I think it was him.) Also, I believe there is a book called Market Gardening but not sure that's what you're after either.
 
Well then I'm not understanding what you want. You say a garden calendar and I give you a link but thats not good enough. Then I give you a link for agriculture, but thats not good enough. Now you're talking about a csa.
So I give up
 
PopPopT said:
My apologies. Question for a moderator...

Can I just delete this thread??

I cannot articulate what I want well enough to ask for it so I'd just like this thread to be gone. I'm an idiot. I'm stupid. And I'm leaving. Signing off.

Good bye.
Click to expand...
You are not an idiot or stupid! Sometimes it's difficult to state plainly what you are after because you are uncertain of what the solution is. That is a normal brain thing. Not to get too side-tracked, but when Hubby and I were first dating, he asked me what I wanted. I said, "Like for dinner or what?" No, in a relationship. I could not answer him immediately. A few weeks later, I said, "I know what I want." He was like For dinner or??? (haha) The point is sometimes by knowing and eliminating what it is you don't need or want, it can help you identify what it is you do want.
If it's staggered food production so you are moving from peas in spring, to tomatoes in summer and pumpkins in fall so that you are not trying to plant all crops at once, water & weed all at once and harvest all at once, a horticulturist might be of some assistance. If that's not what you have in mind, just general crop rotation or succession gardening via online or library might be resources. Please don't give up. It sounds like you've got the steps to the dance figured out now it might just be a matter of timing.
PS Sometimes it's just finding the right search terms.
 
I’m not sure what you’re asking for either. As someone who has grown and sold veggies/fruit commercially... The goal is to present the most beautiful/yummy basket of fruit/veggies each time you arrive at the market. If most farmers will have corn for sale on the 4th of July yours better be ready a week or 10 days sooner, look better and be better priced.

For starters… a yummy basket of veggies and a daily schedule are a contradiction in terms. You have to fly by the seat of you pants from the very start. Japanese Beatles/Deer or a 3 week drought don’t appear on scheduled times. You have to pay attention to everything thing you are growing, every single day and be ready to adapt to changing conditions in a blink. AND there will be changes!!!

Next… although the best quality fruit is the goal the only real money is in quantity. Maybe I misunderstood but you seem to be indicating... for example… sell a few containers of okra each week for the entire summer was you goal? I’ve seen farmers do that BUT they lose money every year. To them selling $10 or $20 each week at the market isn’t about money, its a social event, most were retired. Hanging out at the farmers market was the goal, not provide great veggies and making money. They enjoyed themselves, not knocking them, just making the distinction between a social hobby and real growers.

You will also need a cold house… Mine is an 8x10ft metal building (purchased) that I heavily insulated. I then installed a large window unit air conditioner a friend adjusted so it’d keep the temp around 40 degrees.

If you intend to actually make money at this you will have an acre of peas or 50 fruit trees be ready for market at the same time. You can’t harvest, weigh, sort and be ready to sell at daylight unless you harvest the afternoon before and have a “cold house” to keep everything in over night. Without a cold house you’ll appear at the market with wilting leaves or drying fruit and you won’t sell anything.

Again, the real money at the market is the best looking fruit and large truck loads of it. Most small markets don’t have the customer base for you to sell 1-3 acres of peas or tomatoes the same week. So… you are going to need someone else and another truck. So they can take loads to another market for you. Dad and I sold at 3 markets, one large and two smaller markets. The changing weather and crops dictated which market and when, usually decided at last minute, sometimes all 3 in the same day.

Then there are standing orders from regular/trusted customers. When they tell you in the fall they are going to need 15 bushels of peas or 40 baskets of peaches on June 20th… You make that happen. Regular customers are a whole other level of complexity on top of supplying 3 markets. But regular customers are the backbone of you business. Trusted is the most important word here and a trusted customer is rare, 9 out of 10 customers who say they’ll be at the market next week and want you to provide X… aren’t even going to show up. Or if they do will have a list of excuses a mile long as to why they can't take what they ordered. So you better have a "plan B" before you leave home. It takes a few years to establish a regular customer base. We routed most here to the farm and dealt with them separately from the market.

Then there is the “other” market. Before the growing season ever starts you need to make arrangements with a business owner in town. A place/parking lot where you can park with an excess load of veggies. A place in view of a major street with lots of traffic when you can set up and sell over flow fruit etc. Example, a closed gas station/out of business, real estate companies can be easy to work with especially if they have several vacant building, a basket of fruit or veggies go a long way with the secretary. There will be excess loads from time to time… maybe the market was slow and you didn’t sell out. It happens despite the best laid plans. If it’s 3pm, sunny/98 degrees and you have half a load of fruit spoiling in the heat... that’s not the time to find a new place to sell. You better have all that worked out ahead of time.

And most important… all of the above depends on the weather, which doesn’t know or care about your schedule. To be successful you have to fly by the seat of you pants every single day of the growing season...
 
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