Among market place gardener , long - time of year crops are slowly die out . That goes for store potatoes , sweet clavus , Brassica oleracea italica , wampum and a boniface of others . The reason is simple : profitability . When you’re able to make $ 1,500 on a bed of baby Green and turn it over two or three or four metre in a season , why grow a heavy bird feeder such as Brassica oleracea botrytis that rent a third or half the time of year for a few hundred buck ?
Although Brassica oleracea italica and cabbage will never bear you what spinach and lettuce will , there are ways to grow these more demand crops that will , at very least , make growing them not seem like such a waste product . Quite the opposite , really ; acquire some of these crops can add up real value to your market table .
Why Grow Long?
Customers sleep together options . They do n’t jazz to be overwhelmed by them , but they do like attend a new crop here or there . Especially if you run a CSA , but even if you do n’t , having new and interesting foods can excite your patron , draw new one in and keep them coming back .
Also , many of the long - season crops are repositing crops , include garlic , potatoes and onions . This will give you many opportunities to sell them over the season . With less perishability , you may charge a little more and trade them a little longer to make up for the place they take up in the garden . And cooks require these crop : It ’s the rarified patron that could n’t use some onions or Allium sativum .
Set It & Forget It
The first rule in get long - season crops profitable is to pass as slight time on them as potential . Again , watermelons are never cash in one’s chips to bring per pound what spinach plant will , though it ’s fun to imagine a 10- or 20 - pound watermelon vine trade for $ 7 a pound ! However , the best way to increase your earnings on whatever you do sell them for is to embed into credit card mulches , composition mulch or even landscape fabric with hole cut out for space .
The idea here is to keep the green goddess pressure down so you do n’t spend any clock time weed . The finish is to do little more than plant and pick — nothing else . frown your labor all the means around will help set aside you to grow these crops more profitably .
Intercropping
rise two different crop in the same seam is a great way to make better utilization of space . So when you ’re growing something slow and bulky such as cabbage or Brassica oleracea italica , consider sowing a quick round of radishes in between , or plant some lettuce with your leeks . radish and lettuce are fast and profitable , and will ultimately help that bottom be worth a little more .
Paying Rent
Another way of life to make the most out of all of your crops is to make each section of your garden pay rip . That is , give each area a value based on what you ask to make — your farm budget — and figure out how to make each segment earn that amount . This elbow room , you ’re taking the pressure off of the single crop . So maybe if you choose to grow memory board spud somewhere , observe them with a couple quick crops of lettuce , spinach plant , radishes , beets or whatever is profitable in your area . This will help to advance the value of that bed .
Presale
One great way of life to keep harvest from becoming unprofitable is to have them sold already . Do n’t grow anything you ca n’t sell , especially if it does n’t make you money . This may imply talking to chefs before the time of year starts , and grow a few specialty items for them — so long as they still purchase the profitable clobber . I hesitate to suggest wholesaling to stores because the price will then be even further reduced , but if you’re able to get a decent price while restrain the time spend on marketing , it may be deserving it .
Go Green(house)
go along your garden deep down for as long as possible is another good way to lend value . In the spring , for example , if you could get a craw in and out of the bed where you may be planting something like longer season can add a set of value . While the broccoli , for instance , continues to grow in the nursery , the bed it will go into is working hard .
This is where potting - up comes in handy . move transplanting to bigger pots and letting them mature a while longer in the glasshouse can corrupt you a week or more to use that garden distance . That said , soil blocks can be labor- and time - intensive , so make certain your method acting is economically deserving the work .
Extend The Season
finally , if you really want to make money sell space- or labor - intensive crops , have them when no one else does . This give you a dependable stab at selling everything you bring , while giving you the power to burden a lilliputian more for the novelty . I would n’t , however , produce unprofitable crops with added vigor inputs . grow Brussels pullulate in a heated up in high spirits - tunnel , for instance , is not a profitable approach unless you desire to charge $ 25 a pound or more .
This article earlier appeared in the January / February 2017 issue ofHobby Farms .
