Getting Started

Last night we met for the first of many garden planning sessions. We determined overall that we needed more information before any specific ideas were put in place.

We need to find out the following things:

• What kind of irrigation is best?
• Do we want raised beds and how can we do it?
• What sort of mulch should we use?
• Should we cover crop?
• How do we succession plant?
• Where will we focus most of our energy in each month? (May for planting; June for weed control and the rest of the months for harvest and continued planting as an example)
• What sort of soil do we need for a successful berry garden?
• Farm stand?
• Employees?
• Hours worked? (like early to mid-morning except on big work days for example)
• Farmer's markets? How do we even get started with that?
• Planning the layout of the gardens for the year

So we have a lot to research and go over. Luckily time is still on our side at this point. However, many things can be planted in the next month, so we need to get our act together and decide what we are going to do before then. The last thing we need is to be scrambling to catch up right from the start.

I have sent out some emails to folks already doing this sort of thing asking a host of questions. We'll see what that turns up. Next week: highs in the mid 60's. Sounds like pea planting weather to me!