Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK Most farmers usually try to plan based on following long terms trends. They aren’t fans of deviations from the norm. SPIN farmers like to change things up and experiment, and our scale of operation makes it low risk to do so....
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK We always get asked if SPIN can work in (name your location here). We always reply that  SPIN is not place-based. No matter what zone, or country you are in, as long as you are approaching growing as a business, SPIN...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK Now that the season is in full swing I’m hearing from beginning SPIN farmers who have their relays in play. One recently wrote: “For loose leaf lettuces and spinach, I know they will produce for a long while after they...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK Farmers spend so much time and effort on their crop plans that they sometimes fail to capitalize on the unexpected. For instance, I had a sub-segment of garden space slated for green garlic. Problem is I have some volunteer greens...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK Just did a first weeding at my peri-urban onion plot. Weeding seems to be a big challenge for farmers, but on SPIN-scale farms it is easily managed. I use a Gardena draw hoe which allows you to weed standing up....
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK I just put in a couple of segments of potatoes this week. Norland and Yukon Gold. I’ll probably plant 10 segments total, or about 10,000 square feet. That should give me  over 600 lbs. of potatoes. My potato cropping strategy...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK Want a crop that grows and sells itself? Onions come close. I call them a “fire and forget it” crop. Because it does not require much watering or weeding, it’s perfect for one of my peri-urban sites that I don’t visit very...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK There are many options for season extension, but if you are just starting out in farming keep it simple. Don’t bother with it. Take, for instance, Â this situation. I have 4 – 8×4 raised (18″ high) beds here at home...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK My beds will soon be resting, due to Saskatoon’s sub-zero winters, but if it were up to me I’d keep them going all year round. There is a widespread belief in “letting beds rest” after about 3 to 5 years...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK SPIN farmers are always looking ahead, so now that spring is coming, I’m thinking of winter squash plantings. I’ll use transplants, start them in mid – May, and put them into the ground in early June. Our short season here...
