Market Gardener

On Monday, April 23, 2018 both Sustainable Agriculture classes watched Chapter 3 to Chapter 5 of The Market Gardener.

Chapter 3 demonstrated how Jean-Martin Fortier prepares his 30 inch wide by 100 foot long raised beds.  Fortier first removes the black tarp used to kill weeds and increase the rate of decomposition of left over waste from previously grown vegetables.  A walking tractor is used to minimize the CO2 emissions that is able to have many attachments to be of multiple use on their farm.  The soil is turned using an attachment for the tractor, aerated with a broad fork/u-bar, 5 or 6 wheelbarrows of vermicompost and local chicken manure, then another attachment is used to mix all amendments.

Chapter 4 mentions green manures and the importance of rhizobium that causes beneficial root nodules on crops.  First, this chapter of the movie explains to never leave soil bare and that cover crops should be planted a few weeks before the current crops are harvested so that they all mature by the time the crop is pulled.  Next, those cover crops are then chopped and left on top of the soil to create the green manure.

Chapter 5 is about how Fortier transplants his seedlings into the raised beds on his farm.  To plan where each seedling will be placed a rake is used to space each row in the bed by used rubber caps to create the rows when the rake is run along the length.  The same technique is used along the width of the bed to create a grid in the soil where the seedlings will be placed at the intersections.  His technique is to plant intensively but also keeping in mind that when the crop is 75% to full growth he wants to leaves to be touching to create a canopy that avoids the growth of weeds and maintain moisture in the soil. --CN