Look into drip irrigation and fertilizer injectors. Black plastic mulch is a commercial standard. If you can get a mulch-layer that you can pull behind your tractor, you can get a lot more done. They lay drip tape underneath the plastic, and most of them scoop up a raised ridge underneath the plastic. Make sure your tractor can pull one, though, before you buy one.

Good luck with everything. I think what you're doing is very neat. Good for you for getting the ordinance changed.

"At the market I will also be letting people know about my larger acreage and plans to sell there"

Do that, and start a Facebook account and post regularly on any local pages meant for small businesses. Let people know what's available now, what's coming in the next week or two, and accept some pre-orders for pickup.

WOW My thoughts, instead of working up the 3 acre plot you may want to work up areas maybe 50x100 and leave paths to get access to the whole plot. these could be wide enough to get maybe a riding mower and cart through. this could also be away to separate different varieties of squash. You could also plant some early season crops before you put in the squash radishes lettuce spinach scallions etc. all good sellers at farmers market. Good luck at keep us posted

Consider a hoop house or houses so you can keep winter greens growing and get a jump on the markets in spring - jrslick is a pro at it.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2861885/the-new-season-has-started

I like JNJFarm's idea of breaking it into plots and paths so you can get to the plants more easily for harvesting and weed control.

@cole_robbie: Thanks for the nice words. I have researched the plastic mulch and drip tape. I certainly see the advantage. Cost and infrastructure are the holdups right now.

@lazy_gardens: Great advice. I have read that 50% of this effort will be growing and the other 50% will be marketing. I blew up all of my personal social media accounts, but I think it would be a good idea to start one for the project.

@jnjfarm_gw: I like that idea and have considered it. A neighbor has been bailing hay on the property so I was trying to concentrate things in order to keep as much available for bailing. But the hay is not the best and it may be better to spread things out. I also thought by concentrating I may have less to mow. But in the case of things getting wet, it would be nice to move from plot to plot on grass vs. mud.

@lazy_gardens: jrslick is mandatory reading in my opinion. :) My site plan included with my permit application contained hoop houses. Cost and infrastructure, as with plastic and drip tape, are the holdups. As is the concern about vandalism. The property is unfenced, and I would like to keep it that way. This will be a learning year and if trespassing, theft, vandalism becomes an issue, then I may have to consider fences.

you may need a trailer for the ride.

@randy41_1: Agree. I have two Bikes at Work trailers, purchased used on craigslist--a vintage 64 model and a newer design 96. They are amazing. Green City Acres moves all tools and produce by bicycle.

Your work so far and plans for the future are inspiring. It sounds like you are planning well and working to learn what you need to know. Hope this year goes well for you. Keep us updated, please. Love your attitude and really like the bicycles :)

@naturegirl_2007: thanks!

I should note that in addition to this site, I have researched urban agriculture on other sites and have followed the efforts of Cultivate KC, The Urban Farming Guys, and others. I have also read several books on market gardening and urban agriculture and subscribe to Growing for Market. Of course, no amount of reading will beat getting out there and doing it! I attended the annual farmers and friends meeting hosted by Cultivate KC last month, and I attended the Mother Earth News Fair for the last two years (held in Topeka last year and again this year). Both were great educational / motivational experiences.

Sounds like you have a good hand on things to get started. I would second the idea of making plots and make them all the same size. That makes it easier to rotate things and I also agree with leaving grass walkways between the beds. It makes it much easier to get around, especially when it is wet.

HIGHLY recommend watering via drip tape. It doesn't have to be difficult. A simple screen filter, pressure reducer, thin wall or stay flat header lines, drip tape and fittings. Keeping all your plots the same size means you can easily interchange you drip tapes and headerlines.

Keep us updated and we always like pictures!

@jrslick: thanks for the recommendations! I always enjoy reading your posts. That we are so close in proximity means they are almost always on point.

Also keep in mind the grass or hay from the pathways maybe used as mulch in your beds. You also said you have a fire hydrant for a water supply. If you are on a tight budget getting started, you may want to use hoses and an overhead sprinkler to start off. I just spent several hundred dollars on drip tape and fittings for considerably less land than you have. I took a tall shepard hook, cut of the top hook fastened a 3/4 inch pvc pipe up it with a sprinkler head. it is about 5' tall and can be moved around to different plots. I may have $25 in it. It will cover a 50' circle at a time.

I stopped over to see my friend, another urban grower, who is putting in a 1/2 acre vegetable plot. He is growing on former river bottom. Sandy soil. He was able to have it rototilled today. I thought it would be way too wet, but everything looked good, i.e., no clods. I went out to my place to check the soil moisture thinking there might be a chance that I may be turning the ground sooner than later. My soil was considerably wetter.

I dropped this mud ball and it maintained its shape after hitting with a thud. I don't think I'll be plowing anytime soon. Today I read that a bad job plowing in the fall is better than a good job plowing in the spring. Oh, well. Last fall wasn't an option.

I used my soil ripper and tore up the ground where I am planting onions in 2 weeks. I also tore up two of my movable building spots. The ground was almost perfect. I will till them tomorrow and make raised beds and I will be ready to plant. I always rip before I till because it makes tilling much easier on the tractor.

Soil ripper?

This is a tool I built out of a four row cultivator I bought. It has cultivator shoes on it in this picture, but I have ripper single points on it now. It helps loosen the soil and makes it easier to till.

@jrslick: assuming your onion plot was in production previously, are things that much drier out west or does cultivated ground dry out faster? I assume it's a bit of both.

edit: that's an impressive ripper!

Yes it was in production and it also is much drier out here. Also this area was under a low tunnel. I never took the tunnel down after we finished digging the carrots, I never took it down.

Interesting. I'm not that familiar with parts of Kansas west of Topeka. I'm a Minnesota transplant in Kansas (set some roots, but haven't grown any taller). I have had some pretty incredible luck growing in Kansas. My Minnesota gardens were never that impressive. I joke that I'm a terrible Minnesota gardener, but a pretty decent Kansas grower. I'm sure it has something to do with the longer growing season and the fact that I stay on top of my garden these days compared to neglecting it as I did up north. I grew a lot of thistle in Minnesota. But it's pretty hard to take too much credit for anything when this past year I had volunteer tomatoes producing baskets of fruit and watermelon seeds were sprouting in the back yard from where I had spit them out.

We've had as much as 14 inches of snow on the ground for over two weeks. It's melting now, but we'll have deep mud for at least a month. We had another hard winter that I'm afraid took care of this year's blackberries. Peaches might be ok tho'????

I actually got everything tilled and raised beds made for the onions coming this week and next week. I also got one tunnel emptied and tilled. Ran out if time to make raised beds in it.

Raised beds, shot from the opposite end.

Tonight was the annual farmer's market meeting. I submitted my application and dues. I am happy with the tentative booth location. This is the main market in Topeka. It dates back to the 1930s and is well attended. It is not a producer-only market. Pros and cons to that model. Plenty of local growers too. One quipped tonight: nothing says local like a shipped in pineapple with sticker.

Busy weekend building beds and planting.

Forgot that grass took over a few of my beds last year. Had to rake out a bunch of trash (grass, sticks, etc., not actual garbage.

Pretty happy with the end result.

On the south lots I used a Hoss wheel hoe and plow attachments to mark some beds.

It worked fairly well until I hit a big hunk of concrete. That stopped me and the Hoss dead in our tracks. Seemed like a good place to stop for the day.

I finished up the bed marking this morning.

After marking the beds, i returned to the north lots and planted. I used an Earthway for the first time. Pretty slick. Radishes, turnips, spinach, carrots, kale, beets, and chard.

After planting, I went back to the south lots. With a hoe I pulled dirt from each furrow onto the adjacent bed. That built up the beds and made my path. I only had time to do two beds. Twenty some more to go.

Also participated in the St. Patrick's Day parade. You can see the box bike in the back.

I was wearing green shoes...

I need to get a farm logo so I can put it on the bike.

I got a bunch planted today too. Yesterday and today I worked up lots
of ground and made my double raised beds. Got them seeded today and
tomorrow I will add the drip tape and put up low tunnels over
everything. I also seeded half my biggest high tunnel. I also prepped
my other big tunnel for transplanting tomatoes later this week. I still
need to get drip and mulch down I there first.

In big high tunnel, raised beds made, ready for drip and plastic mulch.

Outside beds planted

Double raised beds. They will get covered by a 6 foot wide low tunnel.

Keep us posted

Three weeks later and the ground remains too wet to work. We are supposed to get some rain tonight. I want to turn things over and then give it a few weeks before planting. Hopefully that will happen. My two bottom plow was dropped off last week. I ran it for a few feet for laughs.

I have about 1500 row feet of peas above. Mostly I was just testing out the earthway. There's no reason for the tractor to be there other than a fenced gate and it was an easy place for unloading implements. I'll drive it all east when it's time to plow.

The above plot is my tomato plot. It has easier water access than the acreage out east. Tomatoes as of this weekend:

We are suppose to get rain here in ky today. Hope to get peas in next week strange weather here

today was the first day of market. not much produce, lots of crafts and plants. i didn't have any produce. my planting schedule was right; it was my watering schedule that was off. counted on rain and it never came. radishes and greens next week probably. i did sell a bunch of last years seed that i had purchased at clearance in september for 2¢, marked up to a dime. i told everyone it was last years seed. sold more than 100 seed packs. cleared $2.00/hour. feeling rich. it was mostly just a chance to test out my route and morning routine and visit with people at market. the bike was a huge hit. clipboard was for signing folks up for the email list.

i believe the box on your bike is begging for promotional advertising graphics.

totally agree. i bought some light stain and sealer for the panels. then time for some decals.

this week was kale and chard. $3/bag, 2 for $5. it's been wet wet wet. radishes were a muddy mess so didn't deal with them. people gave me nice compliments about the radishes from last week. good to hear. sold out an hour before market close. packed up and rode home.

Good to hear it's going good. We are hoping for rain now. Hoping to save my tomatoes and cukes not going to market but have people at work waiting for anything to get ready.

Repeat customers from last week! I had more selection this week, but made a touch less than last week. The weather probably kept several people home. We got hit mid-market with a torrential downpour. Storm moved off after about 10 minutes.

not much to report in the last three months. spring planting, harvest, and sales were good. but i came down with mono and that pretty much knocked me out. talk about an energy drain. i had just enough energy to put in 200 of the tomatoes that i started, but not enough energy to stake and keep weeded. the grass took over... and that was on my plot next to my house. currently swimming in tomatoes, just none for market. my spring crop bed became my sweet potato bed (a few hundred slips), but those are for me and not for market.

i had some problems with the plow not digging in properly and a wet spring / early summer meant that i never turned over the amount of ground that i had hoped to on my urban farm plot. thus no winter squash this year. but i doubt i would have had any anyway based on the weed emergence i experienced on the test ground that i did turn over out there.

i got a violation notice from the city about grass height. it was well over 3' tall. in the past, a neighbor had coordinated someone to bale it, but that wasn't an option this year. i had 7 days to knock it all down. so i was out there with the tractor and a brush hog. i went over every inch of that property for the first time. i have a new appreciation for the size of the property. it took a whole weekend to finish. i ended up buying a rake and a small square baler so that i can bale it myself from now on. it won't be the prettiest stuff, but i've got very low dollars invested in it. even if just for compost, holiday display, etc. it will be better than just cutting it w/ brush hog and leaving it on field. i talked with the code compliance officer and he is more comfortable with things now that i will be taking care of the grass. as long as it's cut twice a year, everything will be good.

i bought a couple adjacent lots, so closing in on having a rectangle. four lots remain. i'm in conversations with an owner of three of the lots. hope to reach an agreement to purchase those soon. the fourth will probably be offered at tax sale because of delinquent taxes in the next year or so.

a great learning year so far.

sorry to here about your health problems. But I love your optimism of buying more lots to expand. as a fellow Urban Farmer my 2 biggest worries are my health and getting hit by a hail storm.