Projecting future yields for veggie Micro Eco-Farming
Many people think all micro eco-farms are those that grow vegetables for sale. They’re actually as far-ranging as micro goat dairies, micro rare-breed fleece ranches, small acreage lavender farms, mixed herb farms, children’s pony farms, boutique vineyards and wineries, u-pick berry patches, backyard cut-flower farms, autumn harvest farms, those that concentrate on a specialty such as rare pepper farms or heirloom tomato farms, and the list goes on and on.
However, mixed vegetable market gardening is an important and major type of micro eco-farm, whether selling via u-pick, agritourism and on-farm store, farmers’ market, roadside stand, CSA, online, to chefs, to schools, or made into value-added food products to sell that way.
Many are using the no-till wide bed method, which rebuilds topsoil at superior speed because it’s never disturbed or crushed, reduces work because there’s no plowing or tilling every year, and increases yields because of the spacing of the plants and the vigor of the soil that passes health onto the crops.
For those in the planning stage and want at least some ballpark figure on how to project future yields, here’s a quick method.
Determine the number of square feet you’ll have for your market garden. For example, say you’re starting with a 10 foot long bed that’s 4 feet wide. That’s 40 square feet. If you’ll have 10 of them, that’s 400 square feet.
Determine what you want to plant, or what you might want to plant.
Determine the plant spacing suggested for each crop you want to grow either by looking at the spacing suggestion on the seed packet, or spacing suggestion in the seed catalog. Find spacing online if you no longer have the original packet or catalog.
If the spacing suggests 12 to 24 inches apart, you’ll plant one for every four square feet. 12 inches apart, you’ll plant 1 plant per square foot. 6-inch spacing means 4 per square foot. When 4-inch spacing is recommended, plant 9 per square foot, and if 3-inch spacing is suggested, plant 16 per square foot. Now do the math to determine the amount of heads of lettuce, purple cauliflower, carrots, or other crops that produce one edible crop per plant. For crops such as tomatoes or baby squash which yield multiple fruits per plant, either check online or the seed packet or catalogue to get an average yield, then continue the math from there.
Your math will further continue if you plan to plant in succession. For example, let’s say you’ll get four heads of a gourmet miniature baby lettuce per square foot, but as soon as one is harvested, you’ll add new compost and plant another, possibly getting four plantings from spring through fall, yielding 16 heads by season’s end.
The above method is for those who think in a linear fashion. Others might prefer instead to learn to project yields in a more intuitive way by growing for the home and as a hobby for a few seasons. Grow a variety of crops you might want to sell in the future. You’ll get a feel for what you can produce and though you’ll still do some math, it will be less, and come from a wiser foundation. Especially since your own garden will no doubt yield differently than the “average” amount. You may be in a colder climate and can expect a few less tomatoes, but your cabbages will be superior. Or, you may learn to trellis your baby squashes and melons up vertically and therefore produce double the amount in less space than those that sprawl across the ground.
(c) 2008 www.MicoEcoFarming.com
