Courtesy of Jennfier L., Â Central PA There is nothing wrong with anti-tillage beliefs; there are a lot of others that feel the same in this industry. Rototilling creates a hardpan, it destroys your soil structure, and burns up your organic matter. Plus, every time you use it, you expose more...
Courtesy of John S. Â Blue Ribbon Eggs, Franklin, NC Ramps are a wild leek native to these mountains and have a flavor somewhat akin to a warm, sweaty gym sock that has laid around for about a week. The only reason I can figure that the old timers lov’m is...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK This is the first year in a while that we did not have to buy seed potatoes. We will be using the ones we kept all winter in the cooler that have had greening. It’s a good way to get use...
Courtesy of Kevin G. Quarter Branch Farm, Lovettsville, VA I started my 2 acre farm in the fall of 2009. I have grown most of the crops recommended in the SPIN guides. They have all been very popular at my farmers markets in the DC suburbs. The salads were not...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK Our spring was way behind schedule this year – still shoveling snow at the end of March and freezing temperatures throughout April. So I’ve had to  rev up indoor production. I built some grow tables in the basement and and...
Courtesy of James K. ,Virtually Green, San Francisco, CA In 2007 I had a project establishing a small SPIN farm pilot project on about 4,000 sq ft of land in a suburban mobile home park. The plot of land was a ground squirrel city. There were literally burrow entrances every...
Courtesy of John Y. John’s Backyard Garden, Missoula MT Wally’s garlic experiment sounds like our carrot experiment. When I looked at last year’s overall sales I saw the best opportunity appeared to be more carrot sales earlier in the season. So I planted seeds in 128-cell trays a few weeks...
Courtesy of Bob G., Gardiner’s Gardens, Â Fox Valley, SK I have been researching “black garlic”, which is garlic fermented at medium temp for 40 days. The product is exotic, has a high retail price, and if you can find a way to prepare it, Â it just might be both a...
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK We didn’t have a chance to plant our hardneck garlic in the fall time, so we overwintered it  inside in cool/dark conditions in the basement. We did something ” crazy ” today and cracked it, and planted into jiffy pots. The...
Courtesy of Barb McK. , Mountain View Meadows Farm, Elbert CO I use my 5 gallon bucket every day for sprouting barley fodder. Works great, keeps it off my (tiny space kitchen) counter until I put it in trays to sprout. If any of you are keeping small animals such...
