2019-2020: A Look at the Differences

I’ve written about change before in previously blogs, mainly having to deal with my personal life or changes within the family. Now let’s look at the changes I plan to enact in 2020 that differ from 2019 from a garden standpoint. First, let me break down the goals that I had for 2019 and some explanations behind the choices that I made.

2019

The way that I planned my garden layout, what plants I decided to plant, and how I planted my garden probably stirred up some mixed emotions. Hopefully, thoughts that started out as, "What in the world is that kid doing?" ended in, "Well that turned out kind of neat." Even though I didn't hear any negative comments to my face, my imagination wouldn't have to be strained to think up a situation where someone thought that I would have to be crazy to plant a garden that way! Well, here's the truth. Technically, I didn't really plant a garden in 2019. Shocked? I may have fibbed a little to continue doing what I love and learn through experience. So now that the cat is out of the bag, allow me some time to explain what I really did last year.

So what did I do last year over two acres in Sparta? To be quite honest, it sounds quite a bit more lame. I planted a cover crop last year. It would've been much more difficult to get people on board and excited about planting a two-acre cover crop, but that's really what I did. Let me explain why I think of it like that. One could argue that I did indeed plant a garden because I had green beans, okra, corn, pumpkins, squash, cowpeas, and other vegetable varieties. I just knew that I had to throw those plant species in there to have the possibility of earning a little bit of money in the process, which seemed to work. Let me explain my goals for 2019 and hopefully that will make it a little easier to understand my thought process.

2019 Goals

To put it simply, my main goal for 2019 was to somehow start a regenerative, no-till agriculture system out of an unproductive, weedy hay field. If the word regenerative doesn't ring a bell, I wrote another blog a while ago explaining what that system entails. To start this system, I had three options for my first season of growing:

1: Tillage

The area I chose to plant had not been tilled in the past two decades at least. Tillage would allow me to have a "clean slate" in the spring after the existing grass was tilled under, exposing the soil. What it would also expose would have been the multitude of rocks lying under the soil surface as well as the millions of grass and weed seeds that had been left undisturbed in the soil for many years. That would have been a mess and not to mention the amount of work and equipment it would have required to make multiple tillage passes throughout the field.

2: Graze

This is an obviously impractical choice for me, and an option that I would have had the least confidence in. I have read and heard about farmers using a high stocking rate of livestock in order to "purposefully overgraze" the vegetation and follow up with planting a crop before the existing vegetation had a chance to recover. Even if it was practical for me, I would have been playing catch-up with the existing vegetation encroaching on my crops. It could be applicable in some cases, but not in mine!

3: Spray

Spraying is ultimately what I chose to do in order to start my garden, however it is not my ideal choice or one that I would want to rely on in the future. Spraying herbicides generally has a bad rap in society, but here's why I chose to utilize this method. I believe that tilling has more negative effects to the soil than spraying, and I would argue that tilling is less effective. Spraying was cheaper for me as well, and I am just a poor college student looking for a way to pinch my pennies. Many people have a negative association with chemicals because of the fear of over-use or irresponsible application. When I spray, I use a diluted mixture of chemical to water, and when spraying I very rarely, if ever, actually spray the soil surface. The chemical I used is a foliar spray, which means that it will not effect seeds in the ground, only the vegetation it comes in contact with - a post-emergent herbicide. I don't like using any synthetic additives because they cost me money! I tried to make every drop of spray hit where I wanted it to go, or it would have been wasted. When spraying, I also wear a long sleeve shirt, gloves, bandana to cover my mouth, sunglasses, and a hat. Some of that may be unnecessary as I hold the spray nozzle about 6 inches off the ground, but I do this to protect me as much as possible. Spraying also allowed the existing grass to create a layer of mulch over the soil surface after it was terminated, which tillage would not do. That created an inherent "cover crop" that prohibited the growth of weeds much longer and more effectively than I anticipated.

Now that I've explained how I chose to initiate my growing area, I''ll explain how I came up with the design (or lack thereof) for my garden.

Species Selection

For those that have followed me throughout last year, it's no secret that I planted several different varieties of vegetables, flowers, and field crops. I planted 23 different species of plants over my two acres. When adding in different varieties of species, that number jumps to 32. Some may think that was crazy and. . . well yes it is. The reason I chose to plant so many different plants was for diversity. Hinting back at my previous blog again, diversity is a key factor in making a regenerative agriculture system work. And what did I say earlier? I didn't plant a "garden", I planted a cover crop! The more diversity a seed mix has, the better - almost always. I'm trying to replicate how the plant ecosystems work together in the Great Plains. Natural habitats have no tillage or consist of only one species of plant. It's a balanced hodgepodge of all plant shapes, sizes, and heights. The biggest problem most people had with this planting method was species competition, so let me step up on my soap box for a second. It has been a long-time gardening rule that you cannot plant things close to each other, or mix plants in a single row because they would compete for the water and nutrients. The result is rows of the exact same species of plant. This means the same plant height, same plant width, same leaf shape, same root spread, same root depth, same nutrient requirements, same water requirements, and the list goes on. Planting the same thing in rows means everything will be exactly the same! For me, I was trying to plant in a way that plants of all shapes and sizes would be next to each other, varying root depths would be together, and varying plant heights so that no plant would be competing at the same level. If a plant has a shallow root system, it will use up water and nutrients from that level. If I planted a species with a long taproot right next to it, then both plants wouldn't even know they were there because they wouldn't be fighting over the same resources. The same goes for solar energy capture by different leaf shapes, sizes, and heights, but I'll step off of my soap box and leave it at that. Will I ever plant monoculture rows? You'll have to keep reading to find out.

Planting and Harvesting

This aspect was the most difficult to plan and to find a way to be efficient. Planting was a breeze, taking only about two hours to plant thousands of seeds over two acres, but also meant that if everything was planted at one time, everything would need to be harvested at one time. Like I said, I had to think of this as a way to jumpstart a system, not focus solely on a garden for one season. Since planting was so easy, I'll stick to the harvesting. Two acres is a lot to hike over and look for veggies that needed to be picked. I knew this going into it, but my goal was not to pick everything clean, but to pick some and let some plants mature and then decay, starting a nutrient cycle. I certainly left a lot of produce out there that I unintentionally missed! Allowing the plants to mature and go to seed allowed for something I talked about in a recent blog, which was a free cover crop. But, like with everything, I learn as each year progresses and changes will be made for this aspect as well!

2020 Goals

Now let me talk about what I learned from last year and what I plan to do this year.

Field Prep:

Unfortunately, in order to keep this system rolling, I will be using another herbicide application to control the current weeds/plants that are currently growing. However, I will be making changes to the application process in an attempt to save money by using less herbicide and for the simple fact of wanting to use less on the land. I will dive more into my species and planting changes in a little bit, but for now, I want to talk about a process called banding. Banding is something I tried this year that reduces the overall amount of herbicide applied on the field using an even more precise application method. Simply put, I only sprayed narrow bands across the field to create small strips of terminated vegetation. I will then run my planter to seed into these dead strips in order to reduce competition for my crops. This means there will still be growing vegetation between the rows that I will control by mowing. This will be much simpler than walking two acres with a backpack sprayer killing everything in the field! I will end up with a much more precise row that I know will give my crops the advantage.

Species Selection:

Upon results from last year, I have decided to take a slightly different turn for what I will plant. Some of the plants that had the highest demand were not originally planted for sale! I am talking about sunflowers, millet, buckwheat, or species that could be used by florists. I initially had no intention of marketing or entering the flower business, but I quickly realized that the demand was higher than I could produce. This year I am trying to shift my focus to "less perishable" crops like flowers, pumpkins, or varieties that don't need to be picked every few days. I still will plant all the garden favorites, but increasing production of "less needy" crops will definitely help me manage my time more efficiently! I hope to add more varieties of sunflowers, other flowering plants, pumpkins, and gourds.

Planting Method:

As you may have read or seen, I have acquired a one-row planter that will allow me to take complete control of what, when, and where I plant. This planter will allow the efficient seeding of various species by cutting, dropping seed, then covering the furrow all simultaneously while rolling along with the tractor. As I hinted above, I will be mainly focusing on monoculture rows this year. This will allow me to more efficiently harvest and manage each row. Some rows consist of various pumpkin varieties are mixed with gourd varieties, but all relate to the same plant type or family.

2020 has definitely consisted of several changes, both relating to the garden and overall way of life, but just like every year, I learn and tweak my production model constantly. It has been slightly more difficult to balance personal garden with my school projects, and it seems that school has rightfully taken a larger amount of my time the past couple months, and I foresee that continuing for the season. That being said, it is still unknown how this season will progress and unfold through the next few months, so stay tuned to social media pages in order to see what I have going on and where to purchase what I have available!