We were given the opportunity to tell our story to the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) Regional West Coast Conference. We offered a slide show and talk on the methods and ideas we are using to regenerate our soil into a healthy medium for growing our flowers. We shared various techniques and ideas of no-till farming and how it can be done with flowers.
We have loaded up our slide show to our YouTube channel and here is a link to it.
ASCFG Presentation on No Till Flower Farming
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Until next time….
I am just beginning to try to implement some of techniques you have shared. I follow you on Instagram and devour all the tidbits you share. I’m so appreciative!
I have one question, how do you start new ground for planting without tilling, or do you initially till?
Thank you!
Hi There; for a new area that is currently under pasture. The first thing we do is get a soil text done to see where fertility lies. We size any new area roughly with a spacing of 66 ft by 100Ft. This allows 16 beds of 2.5′ wide 1.5′ pathways with each row being 4′ O.C. This equates to 4000 sq ft of growing space. I would recommend getting silage tarp material from The Farmer’s Friend LLC as they sell tarps in this length at varying widths. I would get a tarp that is 40′ x 100′. This will allow occultation on one half the growing space. Apply lime if needed then thoroughly irrigate the first area to be covered. Cover it for 4-6 weeks. Depending on the time of year the time covered increases or decreases. The warmer the soil is the faster it will move. When finished remove the tarp and repeat the same process for second half. Note: mowing pasture grasses down before applying lime and tarping is recommended. Leave mowing residue evenly spread over the area. Once the first area is opened mark out your rows and broadfork the rows. rake smooth any undecomposed residues into the pathways between the beds. By top dress apply any minerals then apply at a 1 inch layer of compost on top of the bed. don’t work this in. Then irrigate thoroughly over 2-3 days letting the compost settle and minerals a chance to filter down. You should be able to plant at this time. All this being said if you are in crunch for time the trade off is to do a initial tillage thus skipping the whole section on tarping. However, I would definitely follow this with the other steps outlined above.