Category Archives: Equipment

Tarps for killing cover crops: mid-project update

UPDATE 8/24/16: Please see follow-up post on this experiment. Initially, the title of this post was “The answer is clear: solarization is outperforming occultation for killing cover crops.” At the time I originally wrote it, clear tarps were killing cover crops … Continue reading

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Trading tillage for tarps: an effective way to kill weeds and cover crops?

It’s been so long! I apologize for my hiatus from this blog. I’m going to skip the chit chat and get right to the topic though: TARPS. I know a lot of small-scale growers have been using tarps as a … Continue reading

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No-till transplanted onions in New England

I met Annalisa Wild Miller at the Maine Agricultural Trade show, but I was rushed with other things on my mind so I didn’t get to talk with her much. I took note that she mentioned something about an article her … Continue reading

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Trying high-residue no-till on a budget

Update 4/1/15: Since writing this post originally, I have received feedback from a few people that this system has been hard to implement effectively. It takes a lot of weight to crimp the cover crops, there can be a good … Continue reading

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Mark your calendars and get ready for an information deluge from Germany

Back in 2013, Ray and I got an inquiry from “a farmer in Germany” who was preparing a seminar on soil health and reduced tillage and wanted more information on what we were doing. He did not send a picture … Continue reading

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Can garlic planting get any better? Yes.

I think most vegetable farmers will agree that planting garlic is one of the most satisfying farm chores. There’s something about the end of the season also being the beginning of the next. It’s also one of the most common crops … Continue reading

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Getting cover crop seeds (in a quantity you can use) and putting them in the ground

This morning, I received a timely question from a a farmer in New Jersey: “Is the ‘Tillage Radish’  that is protected / copyrighted a better product than say, Forage Radish from Fedco seeds?” Good question, and I had just been … Continue reading

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