ways not to farm: part II, potatoes

I promised a post on Ways Not To Plant Potatoes, so here it is:
We dug a little trench, placed our seed potatoes at appropriate intervals, and covered them with soil. We planted these guys four inches deep, per the instructions from Seeds of Change. So far, so good, right?
Well, I guess it’s good [...]

ways not to farm: part I, general design

I think it might be useful to start a list of lessons I’ve learned by doing things the wrong way. I know I’ll remember these lessons the next time around, and hopefully if you hear my story, you will too.
Lesson #1: Don’t plant things haphazardly.
Emmett and I were desperate. It was June, [...]

heirloom failures

So by now you know that Emmett and I handily killed $300 worth of seeds. (Well, it was really Emmett’s doing, but solidarity, you know.) When I arrived on scene, I suggested that we plant more tomatoes — even though it was getting quite late in the season. (By that time, it [...]

the amazing maize technique

A man named Enrique taught us this trick for planting corn. Previously, we’d just planted it, covered it with dirt, and then watered it every day — which led to highly irregular sprouting, and some unfortunate kernel-rotting, too. (Our soil has a fair bit of clay, so it crusts over easily, and I [...]