Soil Health

  1. 2023 Catalog Theme - The Future: Let's Plan(t) It Part 3

    Return to part 2 of our 2023 catalog series- the future: let's plan(t) it Nivek Anderson-Brown Leaf and Bean Farm in Lawrenceville, Virginia Nivek Anderson-Brown and her family realized in 2018 that they no longer wanted to live in the city. They purchased land in Lawrenceville, Virginia and a homestead was born. “We went all in, packed up everything, relocated...
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  2. Beneficials That Help You Grow

    When it comes to growing crops, it is easy to look around at all of the living creatures in and around your growing space with suspicion and worry. While it's true, there are many organisms that become pests on farms and in the garden, there are multitudes of other beings that naturally occur in our bioregions that bring many benefits...
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  3. Believe The Hype: No Till Growing Methods for Small Farms

    No Till Farming When it comes to farming, there are endless examples of people who have turned their craft into a livelihood through innovations and techniques honed over time to create a system that is truly unique.  Often when someone in the farming community really taps into something special, the practices seep into the collective mind of farmers all over...
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  4. What’s Up With Your Soil?

    How well do you know the soil that grows your food? Do you know whether your soil is “healthy” or “unhealthy” (or somewhere in between)? Even the most advanced growers will admit that there is always more to learn about the soil and how to nurture nutrients, biota, microorganisms and soil structure. Every year brings new opportunity to learn more...
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  5. Fall Cover Crops: How to Plan, Establish and Incorporate

    Why Plant Fall Cover Crops? A cover crop of winter rye emerging in early fall. Fall is the most common, and arguably the most important, time to sow cover crops. When the window for getting new cash crops in the ground closes, the window for sowing overwintering or winterkill cover crops begins. For some regions this can be as early...
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  6. 5 Water Retention Methods for Organic Growers

    Even if you don’t live in a drought-prone area, water retention is advantageous for any growing space. Vegetables require copious amounts of water to grow to their ideal eating size, and even in humid climates where moisture is plentiful farms must use surprising amounts of water for irrigation to achieve ideal results. No matter where you live and grow, there...
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  7. Creating a Stale Seed Bed with Solarization

    Stale seed beds are beds in which weed seeds have been allowed to germinate, and then are killed before direct-seeding or transplanting your crop. Creating stale seed beds can save you time cultivating by getting rid of the weeds before you direct-seed or transplant your crop, and at Good Heart Farmstead this is one of our main weed control practices...
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  8. Summer-Sown Cover Crops: How to Plan, Establish and Incorporate

    Why Summer-Sown? Buckwheat (left) and BMR Sorghum-Sudangrass F1 (right). When the summer is your prime harvesting season (as it is for growers in the north), or your short rest before another growing season (as it is for growers in the south), it can be easy to marginalize anything other than cash crops in favor of the things that need your...
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  9. No Bare Ground: Planning Your Cover Crops to Maximize Their Benefits

    The healthy-sized nodules on the roots of these field peas indicate that the plant has been fixing nitrogen in the soil. (Photo credit: Becky Maden.) I can tell you all the reasons why it is best for my body to eat well, sleep well, and exercise, but many days, my task-oriented brain takes over and I shove self-care to the...
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  10. Soil Test in the Fall for Next Year's Fertility

    Each September morning is a little darker, a little cooler, and a little dewier as the earth wraps its way towards another autumn. Although you may be tired, ragged and bleary-eyed from a hot, dry season, autumn is the ideal time to turn your remaining energy towards next year's soil fertility plan. The first step towards a soil fertility plan...
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