When we summarize our planting plans for two beds of corn, two beds of tomatoes, a bed of broccoli, a bed of lettuce and a bed of potatoes, we find that the following seeds are required:
Beans - 48 X 4 X 2 = 384 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $10.29 = $20.58
Broccoli - 48 X 3 X 2 = 288 @ 100 seeds/pack = 3 packs X $3.95 = $11.85
Carrots - (96 X 12 X 2 = 2304) + (96 X 4 X 3 = 1152) + (48 X 10 X 3 = 1440) = 4896 @ 5000 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $10.50 = $10.50
Celery - 48 X 3 X 2 = 288 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $3.95 = $7.90
Corn - 96 X 4 X 2 = 768 @ 1000 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $13.00 = $13.00
Lettuce - 24 X 6 X 3 = 432 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $4.95 = $9.90
Lettuce (Butterball) - 24 X 6 X 3 = 432 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $4.95 = $9.90
Onion - 96 X 2 X 1 = 192 @ 1000 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $5.60 = $5.60
Potato - 48 X 1 X 1 X 0.5 lbs = 24 lbs @ 25 lbs/pack = 1 pack X $19.50 = $19.50
Soybeans - 48 X 4 X 2 = 384 @ 500 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $10.29 = $10.29
Spinach - 96 X 18 X 3 = 8640 @ 10000 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $11.80 = $11.80
Tomato - 96 X 1 X 1 = 96 @ 100 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $27.80 = $27.80
Adding smaller packet totals together and upsizing to a larger pack saves money so be sure to keep that in mind. Sometimes, if you need 300 and they come in packs of 50, it's cheaper to just get a pack of 500 rather than 6 packs of 50.
Needless to say, seeds have been ordered and now we are just awaiting their arrival. Next step is to get the vermiculite, peat moss and compost delivered so we can fill the beds upon their construction completion.
Showing posts with label Carrots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carrots. Show all posts
Monday, March 3, 2014
Friday, February 14, 2014
Lettuce Companion Planting Plan
We previously completed our Corn Companion Planting Plan, our Tomato Companion Planting Plan and our Broccoli Companion Planting Plan. That accounts for 5 of our 7 soil beds. Now we need to complete our Planting Plan for our lettuce. As always, we'll reference the Purdue University Agricultural Extension Service's Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar for determining our dates. Lettuce is supposed to be planted at 10" intervals. Our intent is going to be to simply pick the outer leaves of the heads as they mature, thus keeping the overcrowding down. The allies for lettuce are beet, cabbage, carrots, onion, radish and strawberry. We don't eat beets, cabbage or radishes so per our Golden Rules, we won't be planting those. That leaves carrots and strawberries. Since strawberries are perennial, they'll be having a patch of their own and won't be in our annual beds. Looks like it will be lettuce and carrots in this soil bed. That led to the following Planting Plan for our lettuce squares:
The green circles represent lettuce while the orange triangles represent carrots. Each little square in the background grid represents 1/2". Using this plan we should get the following yield from our garden:
Lettuce, Romaine, 57 days to maturity, row planted at 10" intervals, yield 50 lbs / 100' row. With our layout above and the intended continuous harvest, there would be 6 plants per square foot. The 57 DTM on our chosen variety provides us the ability to yield three crops in the 180 day season. Lettuce doesn't like to grow in hot weather so we'll plan on allowing the second crop some extra time, bumping the first and last crops out to the extremes of our planting dates. Thus:
3 crops X 6 plants per square ft X 0.5 lbs/ft X 24 square feet = 216 lbs of lettuce.
Since my wife loves Boston Butterhead lettuce, we'll split 50/50 in this bed for that variety as well.
Lettuce, Butterball, 52 days to maturity, row planted at 10" intervals, yield 50 lbs / 100' row. With our layout above and the intended continuous harvest, there would be 6 plants per square foot. The 52 DTM on our chosen variety provides us the ability to yield three crops in the 180 day season. Lettuce doesn't like to grow in hot weather so we'll plan on allowing the second crop some extra time, bumping the first and last crops out to the extremes of our planting dates. Thus:
3 crops X 6 plants per square ft X 0.5 lbs/ft X 24 square feet = 216 lbs of lettuce.
Carrots, 56 days to maturity. Unlike the corn, we'll produce 3 crops for the season. Considering a 2.5 ounce average weight for the carrots, yield would be thus:
3 crops X 10 plants per square ft X 2.5 ounces (0.15625 lbs) X 48 square feet = 225 lbs of carrots.
Seeds required for the two beds:
Lettuce - 24 X 6 X 3 = 432 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $4.95 = $9.90
Lettuce (Butterball) - 24 X 6 X 3 = 432 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $4.95 = $9.90
Carrots - 48 X 10 X 3 = 1440 @ 250 seeds/pack = 6 packs X $3.95 = $23.70
Now we need to determine the planting dates for these. The earliest we can plant our lettuce is April 1st. This is some two weeks before the last spring frost, but lettuce is super hardy so it's OK to plan at this time. Given the the 57 DTM we'll have our first harvest on May 28th.
The carrots has an earliest sowing date of April 10th. With their 56 DTM we'll have first harvest on June 5th.
Lettuce, Romaine, 57 days to maturity, row planted at 10" intervals, yield 50 lbs / 100' row. With our layout above and the intended continuous harvest, there would be 6 plants per square foot. The 57 DTM on our chosen variety provides us the ability to yield three crops in the 180 day season. Lettuce doesn't like to grow in hot weather so we'll plan on allowing the second crop some extra time, bumping the first and last crops out to the extremes of our planting dates. Thus:
3 crops X 6 plants per square ft X 0.5 lbs/ft X 24 square feet = 216 lbs of lettuce.
Since my wife loves Boston Butterhead lettuce, we'll split 50/50 in this bed for that variety as well.
Lettuce, Butterball, 52 days to maturity, row planted at 10" intervals, yield 50 lbs / 100' row. With our layout above and the intended continuous harvest, there would be 6 plants per square foot. The 52 DTM on our chosen variety provides us the ability to yield three crops in the 180 day season. Lettuce doesn't like to grow in hot weather so we'll plan on allowing the second crop some extra time, bumping the first and last crops out to the extremes of our planting dates. Thus:
3 crops X 6 plants per square ft X 0.5 lbs/ft X 24 square feet = 216 lbs of lettuce.
Carrots, 56 days to maturity. Unlike the corn, we'll produce 3 crops for the season. Considering a 2.5 ounce average weight for the carrots, yield would be thus:
3 crops X 10 plants per square ft X 2.5 ounces (0.15625 lbs) X 48 square feet = 225 lbs of carrots.
Seeds required for the two beds:
Lettuce - 24 X 6 X 3 = 432 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $4.95 = $9.90
Lettuce (Butterball) - 24 X 6 X 3 = 432 @ 250 seeds/pack = 2 packs X $4.95 = $9.90
Carrots - 48 X 10 X 3 = 1440 @ 250 seeds/pack = 6 packs X $3.95 = $23.70
The carrots has an earliest sowing date of April 10th. With their 56 DTM we'll have first harvest on June 5th.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Tomato Companion Planting Plan
We previously completed our Corn Companion Planting Plan. That accounts for 2 of our 7 soil beds. Now we need to complete our Planting Plan for our tomatoes. Almost every home garden sports tomatoes. It's the most common vegetable people grow. One of the nice things about tomatoes is that they vine and as such we can leverage trellising to take advantage of vertical growth in order to maximize yield. Research has indicated that asparagus, carrots, celery, cucumbers, onions, parsley and peppers are all good companions to tomatoes. Since asparagus is a perennial crop (it doesn't have to be replanted every year), it would be relatively fixed in location. As such, it's not a target for our crop rotation beds so we'll scratch it off the list. Remember I mentioned carrots go well with most crops. We'll include carrots with the tomatoes. The kids love their celery sticks, but I have a plan for celery with the broccoli bed so we'll skip celery with the tomatoes. Given that cucumbers tend to vine as well, we'll skip them so we only have to deal with the tomato vines in these beds. Onions is always welcome so we'll include them in the tomato plans. Garlic repels spider mites from tomatoes so we'll plan on planting some of those around our tomato beds as well. These choices led to the following Planting Plan for our tomato squares:
The red circle is of course the tomato plant. Orange triangles at NE, SE, SW and NW are carrots. White triangles on the west and east are onions while the green pentagon clusters at the north and south are spinach. Each little square in the background grid represents 1/2". We decided to go with cherry tomatoes since they make wonderful snacks in their small size.Using this plan we should get the following yield from our garden.
Tomatoes (cherry), 55 days to maturity, row planted at 18" intervals, yield 600 lbs / 100' row. At 12" intervals, there would be 1 plant per feet of row. Since we are using intensive gardening techniques, we actually have 1 plant per square foot rather than 2 per 3 feet. Our chosen variety of tomato is different from something like corn that ripens and then must be replanted. Sakura is reputed to keep producing all season long. That being the case, we'll just plan a single crop. We will see how this works out. If the plants do not continue to produce, depending on time, we can always pull them up and replant new ones. Thus:
1 crop X 1 rows per square ft X 6 lbs/ft X 96 square feet = 576 lbs of tomatoes.
Onions, 110 days to maturity, row planted at 4" intervals, yield 10 ounce bulbs. Thus:
1 crops X 2 plants per square ft X 96 square feet = 120 lbs of onions.
Spinach, 39 days to maturity. I don't actually have crop yield numbers so we'll just capture those number this year as we go. Suffice it to say, spinach is excellent in fresh salads. With such a short DTM we'll just keep on replanting spinach as we harvest and employ some season extension techniques at the end of the growing season to help bring the fifth and final harvest to maturity. Thus:
5 crops X 18 plants per square ft X 96 square feet = 8640 plants.
Carrots, 56 days to maturity. Unlike the corn, we'll produce 3 crops for the season. Considering a 2.5 ounce average weight for the carrots, yield would be thus:
3 crops X 4 plants per square ft X 2.5 ounces (0.15625 lbs) X 96 square feet = 180 lbs of carrots.
Seeds required for the two beds:
Tomato - 96 X 1 X 1 = 96 @ 100 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $27.80 = $27.80
Onion - 96 X 2 X 1 = 192 @ 1000 seeds/pack = 1 packs X $5.60 = $5.60
Spinach - 96 X 18 X 3 = 8640 @ 1000 seeds/pack = 9 packs X $3.95 = $35.55
Carrots - 96 X 4 X 3 = 1152 @ 250 seeds/pack = 5 packs X $3.95 = $19.75
Now we need to determine the planting dates for these. According to the Purdue University Agricultural Extension Service's Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar, the earliest we can plant our tomatoes outside is May 5th, two weeks after last frost. The reason for such a late planting date is the tenderness of tomato plants. Frost is a killer for tomatoes so in order to avoid frost, the planting data is pushed back. If we're going to use the 50% Last Frost Date of April 18th, our plants will need some protection. This is where season extension comes into play. There is a lot of information out there about starting tomato seedlings indoors. The Old Farmer's Almanac recommends starting the tomato seedlings indoors late February to early March and then transplanting them late April to early May. Given the 55 days to maturity of our variety, either the Johnny's site is wrong or the Old Farmer's Almanac is referencing another variety of tomato. This is where we're going to have to got with a gut feel. I no expect a plant to grow more than half it's life inside so I'd say starting seedlings indoors 4 weeks before transplant of this variety, should be the goal.
Using the Purdue date and counting back 4 weeks, we should start our seedlings on April 7th indoors. In order to stagger the transplanting effort, we'll stagger the seedling starts as well in the same manner we did for the corn. This will result in our seedlings being planted indoors over a 24 day period. The seedlings will germinate in 65F soil but would much rather prefer 85F soil temperatures.
After we harvest the tomatoes, we'll keep an eye on them and see how they keep producing. There may not be a set schedule after the first harvest so it may just be a daily thing of walking through the garden and harvesting any ripe tomatoes we find.
The onions is only going to deliver one crop for the season. According to Purdue we have a range of March 15th through April 15th to plant the onion seeds. That's a 32 day range so we'll shave evenly off either side and start seeding on March 19th. Given the 110 DTM, our first harvest of onions will start on July 7th.
The spinach has an earliest sowing date of March 20th. With it's short 39 DTM, and a latest sowing date of September 10th, we'll be counting on at least four crops over the course of the season and if we use season extension and protect our plants, we could even get a 5th crop in October/November.
The carrots has an earliest sowing date of April 10th. Due to our staggering out the planting over 24 days, our third crop of the season won't fully be in the ground by the last planting date of August 1st. Given that the carrots are in the same beds as the spinach which we'll give some season extension protection, we'll be able to complete the harvest in good time, even before the final spinach harvest.
Tomatoes (cherry), 55 days to maturity, row planted at 18" intervals, yield 600 lbs / 100' row. At 12" intervals, there would be 1 plant per feet of row. Since we are using intensive gardening techniques, we actually have 1 plant per square foot rather than 2 per 3 feet. Our chosen variety of tomato is different from something like corn that ripens and then must be replanted. Sakura is reputed to keep producing all season long. That being the case, we'll just plan a single crop. We will see how this works out. If the plants do not continue to produce, depending on time, we can always pull them up and replant new ones. Thus:
1 crop X 1 rows per square ft X 6 lbs/ft X 96 square feet = 576 lbs of tomatoes.
Onions, 110 days to maturity, row planted at 4" intervals, yield 10 ounce bulbs. Thus:
1 crops X 2 plants per square ft X 96 square feet = 120 lbs of onions.
Spinach, 39 days to maturity. I don't actually have crop yield numbers so we'll just capture those number this year as we go. Suffice it to say, spinach is excellent in fresh salads. With such a short DTM we'll just keep on replanting spinach as we harvest and employ some season extension techniques at the end of the growing season to help bring the fifth and final harvest to maturity. Thus:
5 crops X 18 plants per square ft X 96 square feet = 8640 plants.
Carrots, 56 days to maturity. Unlike the corn, we'll produce 3 crops for the season. Considering a 2.5 ounce average weight for the carrots, yield would be thus:
3 crops X 4 plants per square ft X 2.5 ounces (0.15625 lbs) X 96 square feet = 180 lbs of carrots.
Seeds required for the two beds:
Tomato - 96 X 1 X 1 = 96 @ 100 seeds/pack = 1 pack X $27.80 = $27.80
Onion - 96 X 2 X 1 = 192 @ 1000 seeds/pack = 1 packs X $5.60 = $5.60
Spinach - 96 X 18 X 3 = 8640 @ 1000 seeds/pack = 9 packs X $3.95 = $35.55
Carrots - 96 X 4 X 3 = 1152 @ 250 seeds/pack = 5 packs X $3.95 = $19.75
Now we need to determine the planting dates for these. According to the Purdue University Agricultural Extension Service's Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar, the earliest we can plant our tomatoes outside is May 5th, two weeks after last frost. The reason for such a late planting date is the tenderness of tomato plants. Frost is a killer for tomatoes so in order to avoid frost, the planting data is pushed back. If we're going to use the 50% Last Frost Date of April 18th, our plants will need some protection. This is where season extension comes into play. There is a lot of information out there about starting tomato seedlings indoors. The Old Farmer's Almanac recommends starting the tomato seedlings indoors late February to early March and then transplanting them late April to early May. Given the 55 days to maturity of our variety, either the Johnny's site is wrong or the Old Farmer's Almanac is referencing another variety of tomato. This is where we're going to have to got with a gut feel. I no expect a plant to grow more than half it's life inside so I'd say starting seedlings indoors 4 weeks before transplant of this variety, should be the goal.
Using the Purdue date and counting back 4 weeks, we should start our seedlings on April 7th indoors. In order to stagger the transplanting effort, we'll stagger the seedling starts as well in the same manner we did for the corn. This will result in our seedlings being planted indoors over a 24 day period. The seedlings will germinate in 65F soil but would much rather prefer 85F soil temperatures.
After we harvest the tomatoes, we'll keep an eye on them and see how they keep producing. There may not be a set schedule after the first harvest so it may just be a daily thing of walking through the garden and harvesting any ripe tomatoes we find.
The onions is only going to deliver one crop for the season. According to Purdue we have a range of March 15th through April 15th to plant the onion seeds. That's a 32 day range so we'll shave evenly off either side and start seeding on March 19th. Given the 110 DTM, our first harvest of onions will start on July 7th.
The spinach has an earliest sowing date of March 20th. With it's short 39 DTM, and a latest sowing date of September 10th, we'll be counting on at least four crops over the course of the season and if we use season extension and protect our plants, we could even get a 5th crop in October/November.
The carrots has an earliest sowing date of April 10th. Due to our staggering out the planting over 24 days, our third crop of the season won't fully be in the ground by the last planting date of August 1st. Given that the carrots are in the same beds as the spinach which we'll give some season extension protection, we'll be able to complete the harvest in good time, even before the final spinach harvest.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Corn Companion Planting Plan
At this point, we have a general layout for our garden per our Planting Plan. Having determined our core crops, we can take a look at Companion Planting techniques in order to bolster yield and health of our crops.
The first core crop we identified, was corn. Who doesn't love some sweet corn on the cob?! Even though corn can be hard to grow effectively, we are going to do so in our garden. Incidentally, Companion Planting dates back thousands of years with the Three Sisters method employed by the Native American tribes, being the most famous example of all.
As I mentioned earlier, we are going to substitute squash in our plan because my family aren't squash eaters and one of our Golden Rules state that we only plant what we eat. For this reason, we sought an alternative to squash and settled on carrots. Carrots go well with many crops. For that reason, we will be employing them throughout our garden as a secondary crop rather than dedicating a soil bed to them as a primary crop. The recommended minimum separation between corn stalks is stated as 12". In our SFG type setup, that means that we'll be able to grow 48 corn plants per soil bed. Considering a growing season of 180 days in Indianapolis, and a Days to Maturity (DTM) value of 75 days for our chosen variety, we should be able to get two crops in a season. On average, you'll get about 1.3 ears of corn per plant, but for simplicity sake, it's safe to assume one ear per plant. That's not a great yield for the area employed. Our chosen variety states that you can sow 2 seeds per foot. If take a closer look at the Wampanoag Three Sisters Corn and Bean Mound, we also notice that the spread between the 4 seeds is 6". Keeping that in mind, I designed our plan as follows:
The yellow triangles are corn. The green circles are pole beans while the orange triangles are carrots. Each little square in the background grid represents 1/2". If we place the corn on the north, east, south and west axis with it's 6" separation between north and south as well as east and west, then the pole beans would will out the corners of that square. Given the little space (2") needed by carrots, we stagger them around the outside of the square foot, offset between the beans and the corn.
As the corn grows, it's roots should fill out the center area while it is kept strong on the outside of the circle by the pole beans as they vine up the corn stalks. The carrots provide the ground cover with it's greenery shading out weeds.
Using this plan we should get the following yield from our garden.
Pole beans, 65 days to maturity, row planted at 6" intervals, yield 60 lbs / 100' row. At 6" intervals, there would be 2 plants per feet of row. Since we are using intensive gardening techniques, we actually have 4 plants per square foot. We are also calculating two crops for the season in alignment with the corn crops. Thus:
2 crops X 2 rows per square ft X 0.6 lbs/ft X 96 square feet = 230.4 lbs of beans.
Sweet Corn, 75 days to maturity, row planted at 12" intervals, yield 130 ears / 100' row. Using the Wampanoag method, we can plant 4 plants per square foot thus:
2 crops X 4 plants per square ft X 1.3 ears/ft X 96 square feet = 998.4 ears of corn.
Though that may sound like a lot, it's the most optimistic outcome. This is also the entire year's crop total. Yield may be far less than expected, but if it isn't, we'll have plenty to share with family, friends and neighbors. :-)
Carrots, 56 days to maturity, could potentially yield 3 crops in our 180 growing season, but because we are planting them in support of the corn and beans, we'll only do 2 crops in sync with the other two. Considering a 2.5 ounce average weight for the carrots, yield would be thus:
2 crops X 12 plants per square ft X 2.5 ounces (0.15625 lbs) X 96 square feet = 360 lbs of carrots.
Seeds required for the two beds:
Corn - 96 X 4 X 2 = 768 @ 150 seeds/pack = 5 packs X $3.95 = $19.75
Beans - 48 X 4 X 2 = 384 @ 50 seeds/pack = 8 packs X $3.95 = $31.60
Soybeans - 48 X 4 X 2 = 384 @ 100 seeds/pack = 4 packs X $3.95 = $15.80
Carrots - 96 X 12 X 2 = 2304 @ 250 seeds/pack = 10 packs X $3.95 = $39.50
Now we need to determine the planting dates for these. The corn seed needs to be sown when the soil is 65F at 1 1/2". Carrots can be sown when soil is 56F at 1/2". Since we're sowing the carrots with the corn, the more shallow soil temperature will be much higher than the minimum. Soybeans and beans can be sown when the soil is 65F at 1". Again, when sowing with the corn, the shallower soil will be warmer than the minimum. Planting dates now have to be determined. Given that the DTM for our variety of corn is 75 days and considering that we have a 180 day growing season, we can easily fit two full crop cycles into our growing season. If your growing season is shorter, something like 140 days, you might consider starting the corn seedlings inside. Seedling starting and transplanting of corn is generally not recommended, but it can be done with a little care. Since we don't have to worry about seed starting for the corn, we'll simply plan the planting times for the other seeds in our soil bed.
We start by determining the optimal time to plant our corn. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac Planting Dates by Zip Code page, my best time for planting corn is April 17th through May 1st. Just enter your zip code on that page and click "Search" to find your dates. Looking at the calendar, April 17th falls on a Thursday. At this point you may be tempted to plan on planting all the corn on that Saturday, the 19th. I would not recommend that. One of the key components of sustainability is... well... a sustained crop yield over time. Remember, we're not commercial farmers who want all the corn to ripen at the same time. On the contrary, we want it to ripen in phases so that we can eat it over time.
Given my growing season, and the corn's DTM, I have 30 days leeway to play with so we'll spread our planting out over 30 days. Since we have 96 squares to plant, I can do 3 squares per day, however, seeing as the dimensions of the beds are 12' x 4' it makes most sense to just do an entire column (the 4' slice) per day. That way, we'll have 4 squares ready for harvest each day once they mature. We'll continue to harvest and immediately replant the square for the second crop, for a period of 24 days. We can continue to eat corn kept in storage during the 51 days between the final picking of the first crop and the first picking of the second crop. I have found the best way to plan this kind of activity is simply to add it to my calendar. Once you've completed the corn schedule, do the same for beans and carrots, adding the difference in DTM to the corn square's plant date to get the plant date for the other two. For example, since the first row is planted on April 17th, we know that there's a 10 day difference in DTM (75-65) between the corn and the beans. We add 10 days to the date and we know that we have to plant that row with beans on April 27th. In the same way, we know there's 9 days difference between the beans and the carrots' DTM so by adding 9 days to April 27th, we know we need to plant the carrots for that row on May 6th. Fill out the calendar accordingly to complete your planting schedule.
By planning a staggering of the planting dates between the different crops, we have a single harvest date for the entire square. It also allows the corn some time for a head start before the beans start to vine up the stalks. I'm not sure if it would be better to stagger the harvest date instead. It certainly would allow more soil space for the other crops as some are harvested, but we'll try it this way this year and see how it goes.
The yellow triangles are corn. The green circles are pole beans while the orange triangles are carrots. Each little square in the background grid represents 1/2". If we place the corn on the north, east, south and west axis with it's 6" separation between north and south as well as east and west, then the pole beans would will out the corners of that square. Given the little space (2") needed by carrots, we stagger them around the outside of the square foot, offset between the beans and the corn.
As the corn grows, it's roots should fill out the center area while it is kept strong on the outside of the circle by the pole beans as they vine up the corn stalks. The carrots provide the ground cover with it's greenery shading out weeds.
Using this plan we should get the following yield from our garden.
Pole beans, 65 days to maturity, row planted at 6" intervals, yield 60 lbs / 100' row. At 6" intervals, there would be 2 plants per feet of row. Since we are using intensive gardening techniques, we actually have 4 plants per square foot. We are also calculating two crops for the season in alignment with the corn crops. Thus:
2 crops X 2 rows per square ft X 0.6 lbs/ft X 96 square feet = 230.4 lbs of beans.
Sweet Corn, 75 days to maturity, row planted at 12" intervals, yield 130 ears / 100' row. Using the Wampanoag method, we can plant 4 plants per square foot thus:
2 crops X 4 plants per square ft X 1.3 ears/ft X 96 square feet = 998.4 ears of corn.
Though that may sound like a lot, it's the most optimistic outcome. This is also the entire year's crop total. Yield may be far less than expected, but if it isn't, we'll have plenty to share with family, friends and neighbors. :-)
Carrots, 56 days to maturity, could potentially yield 3 crops in our 180 growing season, but because we are planting them in support of the corn and beans, we'll only do 2 crops in sync with the other two. Considering a 2.5 ounce average weight for the carrots, yield would be thus:
2 crops X 12 plants per square ft X 2.5 ounces (0.15625 lbs) X 96 square feet = 360 lbs of carrots.
Seeds required for the two beds:
Corn - 96 X 4 X 2 = 768 @ 150 seeds/pack = 5 packs X $3.95 = $19.75
Beans - 48 X 4 X 2 = 384 @ 50 seeds/pack = 8 packs X $3.95 = $31.60
Soybeans - 48 X 4 X 2 = 384 @ 100 seeds/pack = 4 packs X $3.95 = $15.80
Carrots - 96 X 12 X 2 = 2304 @ 250 seeds/pack = 10 packs X $3.95 = $39.50
Now we need to determine the planting dates for these. The corn seed needs to be sown when the soil is 65F at 1 1/2". Carrots can be sown when soil is 56F at 1/2". Since we're sowing the carrots with the corn, the more shallow soil temperature will be much higher than the minimum. Soybeans and beans can be sown when the soil is 65F at 1". Again, when sowing with the corn, the shallower soil will be warmer than the minimum. Planting dates now have to be determined. Given that the DTM for our variety of corn is 75 days and considering that we have a 180 day growing season, we can easily fit two full crop cycles into our growing season. If your growing season is shorter, something like 140 days, you might consider starting the corn seedlings inside. Seedling starting and transplanting of corn is generally not recommended, but it can be done with a little care. Since we don't have to worry about seed starting for the corn, we'll simply plan the planting times for the other seeds in our soil bed.
We start by determining the optimal time to plant our corn. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac Planting Dates by Zip Code page, my best time for planting corn is April 17th through May 1st. Just enter your zip code on that page and click "Search" to find your dates. Looking at the calendar, April 17th falls on a Thursday. At this point you may be tempted to plan on planting all the corn on that Saturday, the 19th. I would not recommend that. One of the key components of sustainability is... well... a sustained crop yield over time. Remember, we're not commercial farmers who want all the corn to ripen at the same time. On the contrary, we want it to ripen in phases so that we can eat it over time.
Given my growing season, and the corn's DTM, I have 30 days leeway to play with so we'll spread our planting out over 30 days. Since we have 96 squares to plant, I can do 3 squares per day, however, seeing as the dimensions of the beds are 12' x 4' it makes most sense to just do an entire column (the 4' slice) per day. That way, we'll have 4 squares ready for harvest each day once they mature. We'll continue to harvest and immediately replant the square for the second crop, for a period of 24 days. We can continue to eat corn kept in storage during the 51 days between the final picking of the first crop and the first picking of the second crop. I have found the best way to plan this kind of activity is simply to add it to my calendar. Once you've completed the corn schedule, do the same for beans and carrots, adding the difference in DTM to the corn square's plant date to get the plant date for the other two. For example, since the first row is planted on April 17th, we know that there's a 10 day difference in DTM (75-65) between the corn and the beans. We add 10 days to the date and we know that we have to plant that row with beans on April 27th. In the same way, we know there's 9 days difference between the beans and the carrots' DTM so by adding 9 days to April 27th, we know we need to plant the carrots for that row on May 6th. Fill out the calendar accordingly to complete your planting schedule.
By planning a staggering of the planting dates between the different crops, we have a single harvest date for the entire square. It also allows the corn some time for a head start before the beans start to vine up the stalks. I'm not sure if it would be better to stagger the harvest date instead. It certainly would allow more soil space for the other crops as some are harvested, but we'll try it this way this year and see how it goes.
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