The Market Garden Begins
Starting a brand new market garden in 2020 was always going to be hard BUT the silverlining is that beginning in autumn has allowed me to run trial beds.
I was first inspired by the prospect of starting a market garden by Jean-Martin Fortier many years ago. I experimented with crops in our small back garden over the past couple of years. Now we’re at the farm and have plenty of space, however, it’s time to put all those hours pouring over his books and videos into practice.
Starting the Garden
Though following many of Fortier’s methods, at Brimwood Farm I’m not going to till or turnover the soil. Instead, I’m using the no-dig method used and made increasingly popular by Charles Dowding. I’ve been super lucky in that I now have lots of large, flattish fields which have only grown hay or fodder beat. It means I can lay down cardboard, smother it in the heaps of the organic mushroom compost I acquired, and get to work.
The garden begins with a quick strim and then laying cardboard and feed bags to block out the light and smother the weeds.
Crop Planting
With the pandemic rearing it’s head, my plans were delayed rather and I didn’t manage to move and, therefore, begin the garden until August; the end of the growing season. However, not to be dissuaded from planting at least something, I’ve decided to use the autumn/winter season as a test before spring arrives and life goes rather mental.
A few weeks of growing seedlings under grow lamps and I have four rows of kale (about 300), one row of winter lettuces, two rows of spinach (about 15 plants) and 1.5 rows of chard. Though not a lot of growing will happen over the winter, when the warmer notes of spring start to be felt, they should burst into life and give me some early crops I can begin to harvest and sell.
Autumn crops include kale, spinach, chard and winter lettuce
Plans for 2021
Of course, when next year arrives, the market garden will really take off. My current list of potential crops includes:
Kale
Radish
Beets
Carrots
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Salad mix - red mustard, spinach, mizuna, lettuce
Peppers
Aubergine
Summer squashes
And also a multitude of herbs. And don’t forget the flower farm!!
After all this planning, things are finally coming together. I’m excited!