Farm Notes

We are moving into winter planning mode here. We’ll be seeding some fields with cover crops before the expected rain this weekend at our home farm, and utilizing this rain to prepare our Lewis Road soil (which needs a bit more moisture to plant into) for sowing cover crop seeds next week. Our winter cover crop is typically a mixture of bell beans, vetch, oats, and peas. These crops are allowed to grow through the winter before we mow them down and disc them under in the spring. They add organic matter, nitrogen, and other nutrients to the soil as they break down. Healthy soils will lead to healthy crops for next year.

We’re transitioning some of our hoop houses at Lewis Road into winter crops. This is our third season using the hoop houses and they are really proving their worth. A hoop house differs from a greenhouse in that crops are planted directly into the soil instead of in trays or pots on benches, and the ends open wide to allow tractors to pass through. Basically we can treat the fields in the hoop houses just like any other field by rolling up the ends to perform tractor operations like working up beds, cultivating and planting. We installed a water-efficient irrigation system with low-flow, semi-circle sprinklers along the inside edges of the hoop houses, so we don’t need to move pipe around or lay down drip tape.

Over the summer the hoop houses were stuffed with tomatoes, peppers, and basil. Now they will move out of pizza mode into season extension mode. During the winter, the hoop houses can increase the soil and air temperature enough to help the winter crops grow a little faster and stay healthier. The challenge of winter growing is that the shorter day length and cooler temperatures make plants grow much more slowly. This leaves them more susceptible to disease and pest pressures. So the hoop houses can give our winter crops just a little edge over crops grown fully outside, as well as protecting them from frosts on the coldest days.

There is a nice article in the California Climate and Agriculture Network newsletter. today about the state legislators climate tour to our farm last month.