Book Review: The New Organic Grower

So, here's what I gleaned and want to remember from Eliot Coleman's, The New Organic Grower

Chapter 7, Crop Rotation.

Potatoes follow sweet corn because research has shown corn to be one of the preceding crops that most benefit yield of potatoes
Corn to follow Cabbage
Cabbage to follow Peas because the pea crop is finished and the ground cleared by August 1, allowing a vigorous winter green manure crop to be established.
Peas follow Tomatoes because they need an early seedbed and tomatoes can be undersown to a non-winter-hardy green manure crop that provides soil protection with no decomposition adn regrowth problems in the spring.
Tomatoes follow beans because this places them 4 years away from their cousin, potato
Beans follow root crops because they are not known to be subject to the detrimental effect that certain root crops such as carrots and beets may exert in the following year.
Root crops follow squash and potatoes because they are both good "cleaning crops" (easy to keep weed-free. also, squash has been shown as a beneficial preceding crop for roots.
Squash is grown after potatoes in order to have the two "cleaning crops back to prior to the root crops thus reducing weed problems in the root crops.

p. 66 (great illustrations)

bed 1: bean, cabbage, kale, radish (compost) - undersow clover pre, and winter vetch post harvest (for tomatoes)
bed 2: carrot beet, chard, onion, celery
bed 3: greens
bed 4: potato - undersow vetch after potatoes are harvested
bed 5: cornundersow soybeans to get rid of potato scab!bed 6: peas - sow clover after peas are cleared
bed 7: broccoli, cauliflower
bed 8: winter squash, summer squash, cucumber - clover
bed 9: tomato, pepper - undersow oats?

Rotation goes up, 10 becomes 9, 9 becomes 8, etc.

p. 78-81 (great illustrations)

Chapter 10 - soil amendments. Won't be spending money on it this year, but keep it in mind for the future.

P. 110, "Nitrogen is not a purchased input [in a sustainable farming approach] because it is supplied by symbiotic and non-symbiotic processes."

This quote was most shocking to me after watching the documentary "dirt," in which the visual of what excess nitrogen in the soil is doing to the water sources in the U.S. and far South of the U.S. was so depressing. To know that it doesn't need to be that way is really. really. sad.

Ch. 14. Soil Blocks. I'm convinced. I'm doing it. - see previous post for recipe and instructions.

Multi Plant Blocks:
beet - 4 seeds, 6 inches apart, rows 16 inches apart (2 rows per bed)
broccoli, 4 seeds, 24 inches apart, rows 30 inches apart (1 row per bed)
cabbage - 3, 24, 30 (1 row per bed)
corn - 4, 30, 30 (1 row per bed)
cucumber - 3, 30, 30 (1 row per bed)
leek - 4, 8, 16 (2 rows per bed)
Melon - (3, 24, 60)
Onion, Bulb - 5, 12, 12
Onion, Scallion - 12, 6, 12
Peas - 3, 6, 30
Spinach - 4, 6, 12
Turnip - 4, 6, 12
                             p. 149 (copy page 152 for soil block and potting on recommendations

Ch. 17. Pests (should be titled, inspiration for the biologically sustainable farmer).
My favorite chapter.

Ch. 18. Book Recommendation, "The Organic Gardener's Handbook. Natural Insect and Disease Control by Barbara Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley


Ch. 19, "The optimal 'organic' farming system, toward which my farming techniques are progressing, is one that participates as fully as possible in the application of biological systems of the natural world."

The goal is not "organic." The goal is "biological." (biologically in balance) I appreciate that he makes this distinction. Many friends who don't want to buy organic say that the organic farms are the big names too, and they're just as bad. Well, maybe they are. The point isn't what company is being supported. The point is that the earth is being treated in a biologically sustainable way. Some organic farms may not do this. My goal would be to buy from those who do and to follow the practices which do in my own growing. The goal is not "organic." The goal is "biological."

Another favorite part, when discussing getting information from libraries,
          "Sometimes the staff do things for me because, since I'm older than the students, they assume I must be faculty. I have sometimes worn a coat and tie to reinforce that possibility. Other times, just looking helpless or smiling sweetly can overcome barriers. If I recieve a bureaucratic "no" to my request, I will often come back after the shift changes to see if I have better luck with the next person."

…oh Eliot :)

Notes on Specific Crops:
Onion, 5 seeds per 2" block 5 to 6 weeks before transplant
Lettuce - give a 12x12 space when planting it outdoors
Melon and Cucumbers like sandy soil because it gets hotter
Zucchini - favorite types "Zucchini Elite, Seneca Prolific, Ronde de Nice"
Peppers and Onions don't like high nitrogen (green manure)
Larger seedlings in blocks should be planted with a mesh bottom so air can reach every side and roots won't start growing out of the block, reading for air (corn, cucumber, melon, etc.)
financial return on sweet corn is low
Mulch potatoes with straw immediately after they emerge to reduce beetle problem
start pumpkin/squash 1 week early in greenhouse seed block
seed radishes in rows 4" apart and only 1" apart in the row. sow in succession every few days,
start rutabaga from direct seed 18" rows 1 every 4"where overwintered clover was prior
Spinach likes clay not sandy soil 4-5 seeds per block, transplant 3 wk old seedlings every 6 inches, rows 12 inches apart. Sow fall crop and overwinter it. Favorite types, "Tyee" and "Steadfast"
To sow in succesion: Kale, Carrot, Spinach, Brassicas, Lettuce, Radishes

Next to Read:
Urban Farm by Sarah C Rich (great pictures)
The good Food Revolution, Will Allen
How to Grow More Vegetables by Jeavons
The Winter Harvest Handbook, Coleman

Words to look up:
Nostrums
Bucolic
Panacea