Sparta Farm

Here we are in June, and enjoying the fruits of our labor in the "Early Garden" - lettuce and kale are doing splendidly this year; we put on floating row covers at the very beginning of planting time and they have more than paid for themselves: no flea beetles, no cabbage worms, and no bunnies coming by for midday snacks.  This means less spraying and dusting - which is very welcome, since even organic pest control methods can be annoying and time-consuming.

The only crop to suffer at all was our first turnip planting: I didn't think to cover that - turnips are indomitable, right?Wrong! I had no idea that those annoying little root maggots that we saw a few of last year would be back in full force - nor did I know that they enter the root via eggs planted by a moth on the leaves.  At least I figured this out in time to cover our second planting.

 Our burgeoning cabbage plants are pretty epic - the difference between last year, before we'd made the switch to only-organic, and this year, with our richly prepared beds and compost heap, is astonishing. Also, we picked our first tender little beets yesterday, and found that they too had appreciated the generous applications of "manure tea" we gave them.  Even our four-year-old was gobbling the sweet little buttery slices up happily.  These beets are so good, I almost don't want to sell them, but want to keep them all for ourselves.

Interestingly enough, our garden last year that was so much less productive was also more time-consuming. My husband is working more hours at his regular job this year, and I am 8 months pregnant, so you'd think we'd be floundering helplessly in a sea of weeds - but in fact, our methods seem to be paying off in terms of time-efficiency, too.  

We put in 100 asparagus plants in the early spring, and several friends warned us that we'd need many, many more than 100 - but based on what my mother is harvesting from her little cottage garden (I think she has about four plants there) we should have more than enough for both ourselves and our customers, once they begin producing in earnest.

Our tomato plants (all heirloom this year) are nearly all in, as are our peppers. So far the tomato plants seem to be enjoying themselves in their new organic world - I had read that a healthy plant tends not to be attacked by pests, and I thought, "yeah, right," but in fact it seems to be working out; we've had far less trouble with flea beetles on our tomatoes since we set them out in such rich soil. And in fact I have since discovered that this theory has its basis in scientific fact: a plant which has a healthy balance of minerals and nutrients apparently produces its own natural insect-repellent (wish I could do that!). 

Green beans and corn are still going in... lots of manure, compost and blood meal for that corn! 

This lovely mild November day was custom-made for gardening - so the process of preparing beds for spring plantings was particularly enjoyable, in spite of the fact that our old tiller finally gave up the unequal struggle several months ago. Forced to confront the unpleasant fact of our dependence on technology, we spent weeks researching the ideal tiller for a small market-garden farm, while in the meantime I kept busy with the hefty Austrian vineyard hoe my father was given years ago...a vast, heavy and beautiful thing with a handle worn and softened and greyed by the years and the touch of strong hands. My friend Mary calls it "the axe."

Eventually, as the ground broke chocolatey and loamy beneath the hoe's edge, it dawned on us that maybe we don't NEED a tiller?  We've been in error: transporting back into a sustainable farming system an unsustainable method borrowed from huge conventional farms: tear up the soil, rake beds, plant rows, tear the whole thing down, start over, deplete the soil, spread the weeds around, swear and curse and use lots of gas, call a man with a tractor in twice a year, roaring noise and dripping oil and...no thanks!

Now, imagine Millet's "Angelus" except that we wear jeans and t-shirts instead of French peasant garb. With our trusty hoe, a shovel and a rake we have been meticulously turning over the soil, mounding it up, working in barrow-loads of magnificent black manure, and mulching it down with leaves and grass clippings.  Instead of being overwhelmed by huge tracts of land, we can deal with each bed individually - when the process is done we will number each bed and draw up a chart for rotation.

Our spring beds are heaped up with all sorts of organic goodness, ready and waiting for the first plantings of the new year - no more rush to prepare the garden as soon as the ground thaws! This way we will be able to plant on schedule and instead of furiously preparing beds will have time to attend to weeding, watering, laying out row covers...

I just have to keep reminding myself that the best-laid plans of mice, men and gardeners often go awry - but as long as everything proceeds according to plan, next year's garden ought to be spectacular!