Market Farm Q&As

Learn a simple, effective crop rotation strategy for your small-scale market farm. Understand beneficial vs. detrimental crop families and how to rotate for healthier soil year-round.

Learn how to select, plant, and terminate cover crops on your small-scale market garden. Proven seed mixes, planting methods, and termination strategies from nearly three decades of commercial growing.

Learn how to control cabbage worms, army worms, and aphids on your fall crops organically. BT and spinosad rotation, wetting agents, aphid prevention tips, and sprayer recommendations from an established, long-running farm.

Discover the best cold-hardy crops and specific varieties for winter market farming. Carrots, spinach, kale, lettuce — with planting tips from decades of hands-on experience.

Learn cultural practices and organic treatments for fungal diseases on your market farm. Drip irrigation, plant spacing, soil health, and organic spray options from extensive real-world farming experience.

Learn how to start winter vegetable production on your market farm. Planting timing, cold-hardy crop selection, row cover protection, and ventilation tips from 22 years of year-round growing experience.

Learn how to avoid the most common mistakes that keep new market gardens from making money. Crop selection, smart investments, and practical advice from decades of trials and refinement.

Learn how to manage extreme summer heat on your market farm — work schedules, shade cloth, irrigation, and crop selection tips from decades of farming in Tennessee summers.

Learn what to look for when buying a high tunnel for your market garden. Steel gauge, tunnel shape, trusses, construction materials, and kit evaluation tips from years of practical, on-farm experience.

Learn how to control squash bugs organically using succession planting, row covers, and life cycle disruption. Practical management strategies from a long-running commercial farm.

Learn how standardizing bed lengths, field sizes, and supplies eliminated waste and boosted efficiency on a 27-year small-scale farm. Practical tips for designing your farm layout from the start.

Practical strategies for managing overwhelm on a new small-scale farm. Build systems, eliminate waste, standardize processes, and focus on work that actually makes money — from proven methods honed over the years.

Compare organic mulches, plastic mulch, and landscape fabric for your small-scale farm. Honest pros and cons from over two decades in the field, plus practical advice on when each type makes sense.

Learn the difference between weeding and cultivating, and how weekly cultivation with a colinear hoe or stirrup hoe keeps weeds from ever establishing on your market farm. Tools, timing, and techniques from seasoned market gardening experts.

Learn the stale seedbed technique and how to use silage tarps to eliminate weeds before planting. Practical bed prep strategies for market farmers and gardeners.

Learn how to break up compacted clay soil, add organic matter, and prevent compaction from returning. Practical strategies from a farm that started on heavy Tennessee clay.

Feeling overwhelmed about starting a small-scale farm? Here are the three essential books, best online courses, and practical first steps recommended by experienced commercial growers.

Learn proper greens harvester technique, which crops work best for second cuts, and how to maintain your blade. Practical tips from the team that invented the Quick-Cut Greens Harvester.

Learn how to choose between wobbler and Meganet sprinklers, space them for even coverage, and set up a simple overhead irrigation system on your market garden. Detailed breakdown from decades of organic growing experience.

Learn the differences between row cover, shade cloth, and insect netting for your small-scale farm. When to use each, whether they're interchangeable, and which to buy first — from extensive hands-on trials.

Learn why most high tunnels don't need heating for winter growing, how the two-layer system works, and how to irrigate non-standard bed layouts. Practical Q&A from experienced market farmers.

Learn how to approach soil testing as a market farmer — which results to trust, which books to read, and why standard soil tests don't always tell the full story. Practical advice from years of commercial crop production.

Practical advice for recovering from a devastating growing season — weatherproofing with tunnels, leveraging customer loyalty, and building resilience for your market garden.

Struggling to turn a profit on your small farm? Practical advice on building efficient systems, choosing profitable crops, and reducing wasted labor — from nearly thirty years of refinement.

Struggling with poor sandy soil and overwhelming weeds? Learn how to add organic matter, address nitrogen deficiency, knock down your weed seed bank, and prevent weeds from coming back.