I did it!

[mrcorn1]

Thats in the Finger lake area? What else do you grow? I do about 150 A of sweetcorn,30A of summer squash, 5-7A of tomatoes, and all the rest of the garden stuff. We lost alot this year. Rain disease and deer, big brown rats eat everything.

[mommagoose]

No we are not in the Finger Lakes region we are East of them. I am no where in your league. I only have 14 acres total and only 6 acres are tillable. I am trying to increase my sales volumn by erecting 4 greenhouses on some more marginable land. I am hoping for marketable product for at least 10 months out of the year.
I do not grow sweet corn because it takes up too much land. We grow beans beets cantaloup watermelon cucumbers, herbs tomatoes peppers eggplant onions leeks broccoli cauliflower cabbage pumpkins squash and okra. The most space is given to onions and pickling cucumbers. We pick 15-20 bushels a week of small pickles from July 1 until about Sept 1. I sell them for about $80 a bushel.
Linda

[mrcorn1]

WOW! 80 dollars/bu. that's great, I wish I could get that. Is that retail at your farmers market? It sounds like you have a nice operation going on low overhead. I have lots of overhead. Have you had any hard frost? I'm not sure if I will invest in any row cover, I had quite a bit of loss this season and I don't know if I want to invest in row cover for 3.5 A of flower.

[mommagoose]

That is retail. We had a lot of loss this year too. I lost 450 tomato plants to late blight and I only ended up with a couple bushel of winter squash from a 1/2 acre planting of pumpkins and squash. Over all yields were down on other items this year. The high point was my Japanese eggplant and my peppers which were outstanding.
If I had 3 .5 acres of cauliflower almost ready to go, I would find a way to nurse it through to harvest. My little cauliflower have grown a lot in the last 10 days. Just a little more and I am going to cut them. I am squeezing every dime out of the field this year. I am also cutting over grown broccoli raab for my chickens and they love it. I am getting 92 eggs a day from 102 hens and 30 of the hens are in full moult. We haven't turned on the extra lighting yet.
LInda

[mommagoose]

Mr Corn , how is your cauliflower doing? I cut three small heads yesterday for dinner. It is very sweet. I may cut everything for the last farmer's market on Saturday. The heads are about 4 inches across but snowy white and such a good flavor. The broccoli is small but my 2 year old grand daughter loves it and I think she and gramma are going to be able to eat most of it ourselves. My cabbage made loose heads and is not really marketable.
Linda

[bull]

Mr corn cut it, bag it, and sell it, $4.00 per pound it will sell !!!!!!!!!

[LeslieH]

Originally Posted by mommagoose

I have decided to start with new rather than put up the existing covers. The plastic on there now looks kind of brittle.
New question. Should I orient the greenhouses North -South or East West?
Linda

3 things -
Congratulations! Woo! I know that feeling of fear, excitement and hope all rolled into one. Great job!

If you end up wanting to sell the other 2 greenhouses, my SIL might want 1. I won't say anything to her about it so you won't have to worry about getting bugged. Just know there is most likely some interest out there for them.

Orientation - I think N/S with your ventilation in the directions of spring/autumn prevailing winds. That way you have less energy needs to ventilate when it gets too hot.

Sorry - 4 things - I've read that people use bubble wrap to help insulate and increase the solar efficiency of colder weather green houses. I've used it to try in the house and it made a huge difference. There's professional bubble wrap insulation out there that also has a reflective barrier, but you can get regular for free at most furniture stores. They throw it out by the truckload.

[LeslieH]

WOW - your hens are doing great! I know they should be coming out of moult around now, but to be getting that yield is incredible.
My cabbage did great - nice tight heads. Beets are beyond perfect. Beans would still be producing if I had covered them. Peppers, cukes, summer squash all did beautifully. Everything else was a loss.
May I suggest shallots? They seem to do incredibly well around here and I know a lot of people really like them. Plus, they don't take a lot of space.
Would love to discuss leeks. Do you start them from seed or buy the plants and separate each year?

[mommagoose]

Yes , this year I did grow shallots. I am going to try growing them from seed in the greenhouse this next year. I buy my leek and onion plants from Dixondale plant company in Texas. I used to grow all my onions from seed but it is so much easier to buy them already half grown from Dixondale every year. They are a wonderful company and very generous with their plant counts. I planted 9300 onions and 200 leeks from them last year. I usually share my order with my neighbors so they can get case price for their plants. Last year we ordered 83 bunches of onions and Dixondale sent us extras of everything we ordered. This year I am ordering extra cippolini and red candy apple. They were a hit at the farmer's market. Check them out at www.dixondalefarms.com
Linda

[LeslieH]

Momma,
I'd love to get you into a friend's house-attached green house.
He's been gardening for longer than I've been alive and the knowledge that man has is beyond astounding.
He saves much of his own seed, starts all of it himself and for most of his friends. Absolutely amazing. He plants his shallots in the fall, as he does with his garlic.
I may try both of them next year, but I don't use much of either, so am uncertain if it's worth the effort on my part. I know - plug them into the ground - how much effort can there be? Right now, a lot!
I will check out their site. It sounds great.
Hey - have you thought about your own website or blog?