Cowpie, I'm sure that we all have some less than perfect produce. In my case, I sort, sort and sort some more. I would guess that only 1/2 of what I grow actually gets seen by the customer. Yes, it's not profitable to throw so much away (I give mine to the animals), but overall keeping the customer is what counts. With so many people growing their own gardens, it will make it harder for us to make a living off of growing for people that don't grow or don't grow enough themselves.

I'm sorry that you've had a bad time, but you don't say how much 12-12-12 you put on per acre. A little doesn't go far, I add the animal manuare and at times 12-12-12, both. I've had to build my fields up from a very poor farmer and so far it's taken 12 years and still not what I want it to be. The animals are helping all they can, plus they are great lawn mowers.

If you decide to continue, good luck and hope you have a better year.

Marla

what do you grow?

randy, just the usuaal stuff. tomato,peppers carrot,onion and potato,green beens. my corn is ok but not like the amish

and which things did you get complaints about? what are your growing methods? you posted about your fertilizer application but how about weed control? irrigation?

Randy let me check with my son ,I just got back from a business trip. He has the brains to run this operation.

Build you soil and the best way to do that is to apply compost to your soils as well as grow green manures and plow them into the soil.

If you cannot afford $300 for 6 yards of compost maybe you should find another line of work as that is not much to pay in order to get your soils improved so your produce looks and more importantly tastes better. Plus you will get better yields and all of that translates into more profit for you.

You should start taking soil tests annually-yes they cost around $20 for a test that will tell you more than NPK and pH but very worth it. Obviously what you are doing is not doing your soil any good and your produce is showing that.

we plow all our weeds under to git free stuf in our dirt. our vegitables is small reely bad small and tastes bitter lettuce.
tomaters go to heck not 3 days after we pick. most of are taters got dem round bug holes. we try spray with a homemade bug spraye but it made with garlik and hot pepper.

Take the winter to learn about what different crops need. Even though it is technically 'easy' to grow veg, you do need a good base of knowledge about what the different veg needs to grow optimum veg. Plus, you have to care about the outcome. It sounds hokey but you need to put a bit of love in the mix.

We hauled just over 8 tons of municipal compost and horse manure over this past season to our lot in the back of our Subaru - 200 kg at a time. (And another 4 tons of sheep manure but that was with a utility trailer.) Not very environmentally friendly but it was an afforable way to get a base of fertility on our land.

A car load of compost cost $5, a car load of manure cost the gas to drive the 12 km to the farm and back (about $5). It probabaly cost $300 or so over the season but it was spread out.

Hauling in the back of a Subaru, reminds me of hauling in the back of a 80 Honda Civid, oh the memories....

Hubby suggests getting online and find the ID56 from Purdue, it has alot of knowledge packed into a less than $50 book. No there not alot of organic knowledge, but it does tell about which veggie needs what. You can order the book from Purdue, it is well worth it.

I don't know what you might have available, compost/manure wise, but I would definitely check it out. Maybe run a free ad asking for it. You might need to pay for delivery, but you would need to haul it yourself otherwise. Garbage bags, if need be. We just bought an old dump truck to haul ours, it needs lots of work, but hopefully by spring we'll have it running.

I have found that it will take about a year before you see a big difference in your produce from time of application.

Remember, this year was especially bad for produce, for everyone that I know. Hopefully next year will be better.

Good luck.

I will get my son to help he got one of them fancy high school eduacation diplomas. where dad (me) was a dropout.
I sell the vegetable operation to him soon maybe. we goin to librarie to look up veggy growin .

In my experience, vegetable quality is a function of soil quality more than any other variable. It takes a long time to really improve soil quality - it is, after all, a geological process. Conventional fertilizers will supply nutrients but do little to improve soil tilth and long-term nutrient levels, and often offer little in the way of micro-nutrients. It is also very important for market gardeners to understand their markets - every one wants the best quality they can get, but a processor of tomato sauce has a different criteria than a gourmet chef or a finicky mother. Very selective sorting is the first step, and finding appropriate markets is the second. Institutional buyers, smaller restaurants, and home-food processors will often buy what the high-end market won't accept, but the goal should always be to raise the product that gets the best return, and that means always working to improve the quality of your crop, which I interpret to mean improving the soil.

Winter reading is great, I agree. I read all the books I can in winter about small farm marketing etc. I just order from the library. There indeed is a lot besides growing the veg; picking, prepping, bunching, marketing, pricing, etc. Market and small farm books help with a lot of that.

Madroneb you are probably correct about that, but it has become a good conversation about soil building which is the most important thing to do on one's farm because if you don't have decent soil there is no way you can have decent crops.

and entertaining it is.

Cowpie, Mark/Nikk, your writing style has changed alot since last winter, I'm concerned.

Yes this might be entertaining to those of people that are not 'in the business', but those of us that are appreciate other's imput and advice. We try to help each other when we can. After awhile, this forum, and the regulars, become like close friends. Not just complete strangers. I know I've met 2 people that either post regularly now or before and it's been fun meeting face to face.

Marla