If you were to plant vegetables/crops on 1 - 2 acres on a hobby farm, what would you plant?

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by elkfriend

wow- that is just awesome! Great ideas, thank you! The property is just 5 min south of the calgary city limits, close to a potential customer base. I have about 5 acres to play with, but I think starting out with 1-2 acres is plenty to learn the ropes!

I had looked at ginseng and shiitake mushrooms too, but both need shade, I do not have trees yet.

But keep the ideas coming, there is some really good stuff coming out that I had not thought about at all.

Ginseng also costs about 75K$ per acre to grow for the 4 years to mature.
And the return is about 150K. Not really an Alberta hardy plant either.

You could go to some of the tree nurseries like Hole's and see what their prices are for a variety of landscaping plants. It would give you an idea of what to grow.

[I-Love-Eyes]

Originally Posted by elkfriend

Hi, great input! The ground has never been broken, so that will be my project in late march/early april...I was planning to just plow the grass under and then harrow it.

Keep your input coming. It will be interesting to see how this project develops...it is for the long term.

You are going to have to more than just plow once and harrow, or you are going to have huge sods to deal with.

We did this 2 years ago (virgin ground) and had to plow it up 3 or 4 times and then cultivate or disc a couple of times. we did plant potatoes there the first year, but the ground was still very soddy. We had nice potatoes, but because it was virgin ground, the roots of the grasses were trying to re-establish by seeking the potato for moisture. Kind of weird to see a potato with a grass root sticking out of it. Because of this, the potatoes didn't keep as well either--the grass root rots, and then so does the potato.

[357xp]

I would highly recommend waiting till next year for seeding. Just fallow it this summer, you will get way better results with your first crops, if you don't, you will be fighting that grass all summer.
As for crops, strawberries are easy sellers, downside is, u need lots of water. Strawberries are something I've been considering, we just don't get near enough rain up here and I don't have a water source.
Potatoes on the other hand get by with way less water and pretty maintenance free.
I would think you guys can grow a lot more varietys of fruit trees down there too.
Do you have a 3pth tiller for the tractor?

[Red Bullets]

look into the price of different medical herbs. Even the lowly dandelion root is worth 3.50 a pound.

[I-Love-Eyes]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Ginseng also costs about 75K$ per acre to grow for the 4 years to mature.
And the return is about 150K. Not really an Alberta hardy plant either.

You could go to some of the tree nurseries like Hole's and see what their prices are for a variety of landscaping plants. It would give you an idea of what to grow.

You forgot to add that once ginseng has been grown on a piece of land, you cannot grow it there again.

[billycap]

Well if it was me i would shoot for some more long term crops. Id go with a couple rows of plums and chums (very hardy) then a couple rows of tart cherrys then rows of assorted berrys (rasberry, gooseberry, hakusp. Then id put in several rows of sugar maple planted in very tight rows. Throw in some apple and pear trees and a smaller garden area. You wont have to work ground nearly as much to plant trees and after about half a decade you will receive great crops that require way less effort. Plus the first time you make a batch of maple syrup after 7 or 8 years you will know what real gold is. Good luck

[Sledhead71]

I cringe when I hear someone wants to remove native grasslands from the landscape in order to put into production... Personally I would leave it untouched and enjoy the beauty of what is already there..

Your little area will have input costs worth more than the value of the output IMO...

Couple lawn chairs and view of the city worth millions in memories...

[rocketron]

Originally Posted by Weedy1

Pot of course. Will produce many a vegetable.

x2

[Kim473]

If you have lots of room, plant your rows wide enough apart to alow your self enough room to run the rototiller between rows a few times a year. This makes it easier to keep weeds under control. Rather than bending and pulling by hand.

[cdmc]

Put some grazers on it first if there is lots of dead grass. Don't bother turning all the biomass back under. Have the critters fertilize the soil and eat all the years of forage away first. Eat it right as close to soil as possible.
Then disc/chisel plow it or use whatever tiller you have.

Garunteed your soil will be very acidic.

[Bourbon Outdoorsman]

potatoes & tobacco

[slingshot]

Tomatoes and cucumbers .we had a market garden called kozubs there cucs were wonderful but unfortunately it was there last year due to city expansion. I have not seen tomatoes but sure would pay premium for some garden grown

[sharpstick]

Having grown a few gardens in NW Calgary, keep in mind the frequent frosts we usually get before the crops are ready to pick. I would plant root veggies for the most part. At least stay away from long growth items like pumpkins, corn etc. ours froze last fall long before they were due to pick and we started the pumpkins in the house. If you are serious about this as a profitable business, I would look at putting up a good sized greenhouse. You basically eliminate the weather which as most know that live in Calgary, know it is so unpredictable. I would also look at renting a commercial sized rotortiller and till it VS spending several trips over the ground with plows/discs and or cultivators.

Good luck to you.

SS

[David Henry]

Asparagus because it comes in early and Brussel sprouts as they are mature late. We have had a bit of a hard time getting our asparagus established but its off and running now and will last almost forever. Brussels do great if the fall stays open and the frosts don't hit hard until mid October they are quite vulnerable to moths and maggot types so you got to stay on top of these pests. D.H.

[josey]

Asparagus takes 3+ years to establish but is a great perennial for ~30 years or so. One thing is totally expensive, if you even get it here: White asparagus. Every European at least is going nuts if you offer that.

I would also suggest garlic as it grows fairly easily (plant in fall, harvest in summer) and is 99% from China in supermarkets (1% from US or Ontario). At farmers markets maybe from Alberta but expensive.

Edit: Brussel sprouts not with heavy deer pressure. They LOVE brussel sprouts.

[rocket100]

You should spray the sod with roundup first thing in the spring, wait 10 days then rototill or plough if you want. Unless you kill the grass with chemical you will be fighting it all summer. I grow about a lineal mile of potatoes each year for my family and friends. I have a 7x14 dump trailer and fill it twice at harvest not counting what we eat all summer. The only manual labor is hoeing them once when they first emerge and picking the potatoes up at harvest.