Field guides
Guides
Field guides with real numbers for ¼–3 acre market farms. Every rate, interval, and set point below is written to be used at the bed, not admired from the porch.
Bed prep
30-Inch Bed Prep: Broadfork, Compost Rates, and a Stale Seedbed
How to prep a 30-inch market bed — broadfork depth, compost pounds per bed-foot, and a stale seedbed timeline that actually cuts weeds.
Succession
Planting Salad Greens in Succession: Sowing Intervals for a Weekly Harvest
Sowing intervals for lettuce, spinach, and baby mix on 30-inch beds — so you harvest weekly instead of drowning in one glut.
Irrigation
Drip Irrigation Layout for a Quarter Acre: Zones, Flow, and Emitter Spacing
Zone counts, gallons per hour, and emitter spacing for drip on 30-inch beds across a quarter-acre market garden.
Nursery
Soil Blocking for Transplants: Mix Ratios and Block Sizes That Work
A working soil-block mix by volume, block sizes by crop, and the watering rhythm that keeps 1.5-inch and 2-inch blocks from collapsing.
Postharvest
Walk-In Cooler Management: Temperature, Humidity, and Ethylene
Set points for a farm walk-in — 34°F greens, 50°F tomatoes, humidity targets, and which crops can't share a wall.
Cover crops
Cover Cropping on Small Acreage: Species, Timing, and No-Tractor Kill
Which cover crops fit 30-inch beds, when to sow them, and how to terminate with a scythe, tarp, or crimp — no tractor required.
Succession
Succession Planting Schedule: Relay Intervals from Holding Windows
One sowing is one harvest. Set the next sow date from days to maturity plus the holding window — the relay-interval math, worked on real cultivar sheets.
Planning
Days to Maturity Chart: When to Plant for Fall Harvest
A days to maturity chart is a countdown, not a start date. Pick the harvest, then count back — with fall's short days already in the math.
Nursery
Microgreens Seed Density Chart: Grams per 1020 Tray
Grams of seed per 1020 tray for 31 cultivars, soak rules, and the 7–14 day cut cycle — density is the profit line.
Pasture
Rotational Grazing Rest Period for Pasture Chickens
Rest days are the whole game: 24 days in spring, 36 in summer for poultry — paddock sizing from dry matter, net in 164-foot rolls.
Irrigation
Drip Irrigation Run Time: Turning Gallons into Timer Hours
Emitter flow times emitters per foot times hours is the gallons you applied. Read the inches and the gallons per hour off the cultivar — then divide.
Planting
Direct Sow vs Transplant Chart: What Vegetables to Transplant
Some crops resent a tray. Some never finish if you wait to direct sow. The method, the cell, and the nursery lead — per cultivar.
Succession
Cut Flower Succession Planting: Count Back from the Bouquet
Cut flower succession planting counted back from the bouquet date. Sunflowers, zinnias, and celosia relay. Single-cut crops do not.
Pasture
How Often to Move a Chicken Tractor
How often to move a chicken tractor: the move is the feed. Broiler pulls versus layer stays, and what a late move does to the grass.
Planting
Vegetable Spacing Chart for 30-Inch Beds
Vegetable spacing chart for 30-inch beds. In-row spacing times row count is a yield decision, not a suggestion on the seed packet.
Postharvest
Post Harvest Handling for a Small Farm
Post harvest handling for a small farm starts at field heat. Wash water, the cooler, and what has to cure first.
Soil
How to Read a Soil Test
How to read a soil test: pH, organic matter, NPK, and CEC. Which numbers change this season, and the misread that wastes the bag.
Pasture
Rotating Laying Hens on Pasture
Rotating laying hens on pasture: paddock size, rest, and what the eggs say about the grass. Slower moves than a broiler tractor.