This web-based planner from a garden products company in the UK helps you draw and plan your landscaping including types of surfaces such as grass or paving, furniture or water features, and fences. It also gives the approximate mature size of plantings when placed in the grid, so you know what fits where. Garden Planner Online. Photo credit: Garden Planner Online. Visualize and plan where each seedling will go well before you plant with this free tool, which offers planting schemes, visions for future growth patterns, and planting schedules so your garden has the best advantage. Square Foot Gardening (commonly referred to as SFG) is a planting method that was developed by American author and TV presenter Mel Bartholomew in the 1970s. It's a simple way to create easy-to-manage gardens with raised beds that need a minimum of time spent maintaining them. SFG rapidly gained popularity during the 1980s through Mel's first book and television series and since then has.
More and more people are leaving the cities and buying small rural properties.
How do you make best use of a small holding? Can you actually make a living on 5 acres?
Here's a 5 acre farm plan to help them (and maybe YOU) manage a micro-farm to create a sustainable, profitable business. Statusduck 0 82.
To start, let's set some basic assumptions in place:
Assumption 1. The farm will be 'natural': We will use organic and sustainable methods to the degree feasible. If you live where you work, you don't want to introduce toxic substances into the environment.
Assumption 2. Integrated production of livestock and vegetable crops: Livestock animals are beneficial on a small farm, provided you raise them properly. This means raising them outdoors and not in confinement. And the livestock will add another valuable income stream to your micro-farm.
Assumption 3. This is a business, not a hobby: No business starts up without some idea of where customers will come from, or how much revenue is needed, or who will do the work needed on your 5 acre farm.
Assumption 1. The farm will be 'natural': We will use organic and sustainable methods to the degree feasible. If you live where you work, you don't want to introduce toxic substances into the environment.
Assumption 2. Integrated production of livestock and vegetable crops: Livestock animals are beneficial on a small farm, provided you raise them properly. This means raising them outdoors and not in confinement. And the livestock will add another valuable income stream to your micro-farm.
Assumption 3. This is a business, not a hobby: No business starts up without some idea of where customers will come from, or how much revenue is needed, or who will do the work needed on your 5 acre farm.
This means we need to think about planning, marketing, and management as well as production. Your first step should be to build your Success Plan for your business
OK, with these basic assumptions in place, let's look at the plan.
OK, with these basic assumptions in place, let's look at the plan.
Looking south from our main garden, a key part of our farm plan. We also rotate small livestock through this area
Here are the pieces of your 5 acre farm:
- Two garden plots comprise about half the space available for your CSA market garden (see graphic below)
- One-and-a quarter-acre cover cropping area
- One-and-a quarter-acre for raising meat chickens, turkeys and pigs
- 4000 square feet in hoop houses for starting transplants and growing early crops. The hoop houses will reside at the north end of the property, to avoid shading crops and also to help provide a windbreak from northerly winds.
- 20 beehives to help with garden pollination and to produce a cash crop of honey. The bee yard can be on the perimeter of the garden.
- Assorted fruit trees on the west perimeter of the property.
Equipment needed for your 5 acre farm
Here's a list of the minimum basic equipment needed to efficiently manage your mini-farm:
- Diesel tractor and loader in the 40-45 hp range
- Spader with power harrow
- Bed shaper and drip tape/plastic layer
- Transplanter
- Rotary Mower (Bush Hog)
- Rear-time tiller (Troy-Bilt or BCS), 8-11 hp range
Bed shaper can also lay plastic mulch - We contract this work out to neighbour
- Pickup truck
- Walk-in cooler or refrigerated room
We built this room insulated to r40. A 10,000 BTU A/C and electronic thermostat can maintain temperature 38-40F
- Plant starting light room or small heated greenhouse
- Electric mesh fencing and charger
- Feeders, waterers, and portable housing for pigs and chickens
- Honey processing equipment - cap knife, extractor, filters etc
This is the first greenhouse we built, we use it for transplants in the spring.
Electric mesh fencing and row cover help to protect our garden
Portable shelters and electric mesh make it easy to raise pigs on pasture
You can see the irrigation hoses and row cover in this pic
Movable hoop house planted out and with trays ready for transplant
We built a veggie processing shed off the end our our small barn, located between the two main gardens
Putting it all together
Here's how it all goes together:
- You grow your market garden on two sections of your farm.
- The garden area rotates with the animal grazing plot and the cover crop area.
- The animal grazing area can be planted to forage crops to help with feed costs.
- The cover crop should be some deep-rooted, nitrogen fixing crop like alfalfa or tillage radish
- The electric mesh fencing protects your animals and your garden from predators
- Your large greenhouse will start crops several weeks earlier than the outside garden, and can hold flats of transplants from the small heated greenhouse until they are ready to be planted out.
Revenue from your 5 acre farm
![Garden Garden](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KVDQ_Fv3Vl4/maxresdefault.jpg)
Let's assume you are following the Community Supported Agriculture model for your small farm. Here's a quick breakdown of the revenue possible from the above plan.
CAUTION: this is an example only, actual income will depend on your market, your model, and your skill as a grower. Expenses will probably go up as you add enterprises as well.
- Sales of 100 CSA full shares @ $900/share = $90,000
- Sales of 500 meat chickens = $9,000
- Sales of 12 pastured piggies = $7,000
- Sales of 1,000 lbs of honey = $5,000
- Sales from your greenhouse and mini-orchard = $4,000
Total sales = $115,000
This is not the limit; you could add bedding plants for the spring, or a fall planting of garlic, or value-added products for the winter to the mix.
This is not the limit; you could add bedding plants for the spring, or a fall planting of garlic, or value-added products for the winter to the mix.
You could have laying hens in an 'egg-mobile' in the summer, and house them in the greenhouse in the winter. You could raise bunnies on pasture in movable rabbit pens, like Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm.
Lots of possibilities, limited only by your ability to manage.
More Small Farm Articles
If you are considering a move to the country and plan to buy a farm, this article has some information that can help you through the process. Read it here
So, what else do you need to consider when you buy a hobby farm?
It seems that income declines or remains stagnant while expenses continue to rise. Can a small operator take steps to increase his/her income? Definitely yes!
Creating a farm business plan is the first (and most important) step you should take when starting your own Bootstrap Market Garden. This is time well invested in the success of your business. Read more here
Here are a few farm hurdles to think about before making the leap to your own piece of paradise.
Best Farm Investments for the Small Farmer
![Plan Plan](https://macdownload.org/wp-content/uploads/screenshot/Garden-Planner-3.4.35s-700x500.jpg)
A backyard nursery can be a profitable home business for the new grower or would-be small farmer. You can take advantage of this fact by growing and selling plants for money.
How do you choose which jobs and tasks to tackle on your small farm, and how do you get the work done? That is part of farm living.
A good farm plan does more than just aid decision-making and priority-setting. It should also inspire and motivate the farmer to pursue the goals that are important to her.
Farm risk management is important even to the small commercial grower. This article examines the types of risks that small farmers may be exposed to, and identify some risk avoidance and risk mitigation strategies to avoid serious harm to the farm.
You have some land, now how best to make use of it?
Does this describe you?
You want to improve your business focus..
You want to set a vision for future success..
You want to grow your farm business and profits to their full potential. . .
You are committed to building a successful business on your small property, on your own terms..
If so, my Bootstrap Bootcamp Success Plan course might be just what you need to make that happen.
And the best part is, you can test-drive it for free!
After choosing a garden site, the next step is to plan the arrangement of crops in the garden. First consider each of the points listed below. Then sketch a map of your garden area showing the location of each vegetable, the spacing between rows, and the approximate dates for each planting. Two sample garden plans are shown on the following pages.
World at war free. download full version. Size of garden. The size of your garden depends on the space available, the quantity of vegetables you will need, and the amount of work and time you desire to spend. Make the garden just large enough so that it will be interesting and fun for the whole family. Don't make it become a burden.
Kinds of vegetables. Choose vegetables that you and your family enjoy. Make sure, though, that they can be grown successfully in your area.
Some crops utilize space better than others. These vegetables can be produced efficiently in a small garden:
Some crops utilize space better than others. These vegetables can be produced efficiently in a small garden:
Snap beans | Leaf lettuce | Spinach |
Beets | Onions | Swiss chard |
Broccoli | Peas (followed by other crops) | Tomatoes |
Cabbage | Turnips | Carrots |
Radishes |
Another consideration in selecting crops is whether they taste noticeably better when they are fresh from the garden. Sweet corn is an outstanding example of this. Adobe acrobat pro dc free download for windows 7. Although it requires more space than the vegetables listed above, it is often chosen because of its high quality when fresh from the garden. Other highly perishable crops that taste best immediately after harvest are peas and asparagus.
Growing seasons and growth characteristics. Group the various vegetables according to their growing seasons and growth characteristics. Perennial crops, such as asparagus, rhubarb, and berries, which will be in one location for more than one season, should be planted along one side of your garden. Arrange early plantings on one side, probably near the perennials. Group early- or quick-maturing vegetables together so that after harvesting the space may be used for later plantings. To avoid shading, plant tall crops to the north or west of shorter crops.
Spacing between rows. Proper spacing between rows is important to allow for growth of plants, ease of cultivation, and efficient use of space. Recommended spacings are given in Table 1. If you have farm equipment and plenty of space, make your rows long and wide enough apart so that you can use your farm tractor and cultivator, thus avoiding much hand-weeding.
Table 1 : Planting Chart - SpacingVegetable | Spacing in row | |||
Seed to sow per foot | Distance between plants when thinned or transplanted | Distance between rows | Planting depth | |
inches | inches | inches | ||
Asparagus | …. | 12-18 | 36-60 | 6-8 |
Bean, bush, lima | 3-4 | Do not thin | 18-30 | 1-2 |
Bean, bush, snap | 6 | Do not thin | 18-24 | 1-2 |
Beet | 10 | 2-4 | 12-18 | ½-1 |
Broccoli | ... | 18-24 | 30-36 | (d) |
Cabbage | …. | 9-18 | 18-30 | (d) |
Carrot | 15-20 | 1-3 | 12-18 | ½ |
Cauliflower | …. | 18-24 | 24-36 | (d) |
Chard | 8-10 | 4-8 | 18-24 | ½-1 |
Corn, sweet | 1-2 in row 4-6 per hill | 9-12, single plants 36, hills (3 plants per hill) | 24-48 | 1-2 |
Cucumber | 3 in row 4-5 per hill | 12, single plants 36, hills (3 plants per hill) | 48-72 | 1 |
Eggplant | …. | 18-24 | 30-36 | (d) |
Endive | 4-6 | 9-12 | 18-24 | ½ |
Garlic, from cloves | …. | 3 | 12-18 | 1½ |
Kale | 4-6 | 8-12 | 18-24 | ½ |
Kohlrabi | 6-8 | 3-6 | 18-24 | ½ |
Lettuce, leaf | 10 | 2-4 | 12-18 | ½ |
Muskmelon | 3 in row 4-5 per hill | 12,single plants 36, hills (3 plants per hill) | 48-72 | 1 |
Mustard | 20 | 1-2 | 12-18 | ½ |
New Zealand spinach | 4-6 | 12 | 24-30 | 1 |
Okra | 3 | 12-15 | 36 | 1 |
Onion, from seed | 10-15 | 2-4 | 12-18 | ½-1 |
Onion, from plants or sets | …. | 1-4 | 12-18 | 1-4 |
Parsley | 10-15 | 4-6 | 12-18 | ½ |
Peas | 10-12 | Do not thin | 18-24 | 2 |
Pepper | …. | 18-24 | 18-24 | (d) |
Potato | 1 | 10-12 | 24-36 | 4 |
Pumpkin | 1-2 in row 4-5 per hill | 24-36, single plants 72, hills (3 plants per hill) | 84-120 | 1 |
Radish, spring | 10-15 | 1 | 12-18 | ½ |
Radish, winter | 10-15 | 2-4 | 12-18 | ½ |
Rhubarb | …. | 24-36 | 36-48 | (d) |
Rutabaga | 4-6 | 6-8 | 18-24 | ½ |
Spinach | 12-15 | 2-4 | 12-18 | ½ |
Squash, summer | 2-3 in row 4-5 per hill | 18-24, single plants 48, hills (3 plants per hill) | 36-48 | 1 |
Squash, winter | 1-2 in row 4-5 per hill | 24-36, single plants 72, hills (3 plants per hill) | 84-120 | 1 |
Sweet potato | …. | 12-18 | 36-48 | (d) |
Tomato | …. | 18-36 | 36-60 | (d) |
Turnips | 6-8 15-20 (greens) | 2-4 | 12-18 | ½ |
Watermelons | 1-2 in row 4-5 per hill | 24-36, single plants 72, hills (3 plants per hill) | 84-120 | 1 |
Successive plantings are desirable if you wish to have a continuous fresh supply of certain vegetables. Don't plant too much of a crop at anyone time. Two or three small plantings of leaf lettuce and radishes may be made a week to 10 days apart in early spring, with an additional one made in the fall. Onion sets for green onions may be planted every two weeks until you have used up all your sets. At least two plantings of carrots, beets, and cabbage should be made - one early in the spring for summer use, another later on for fall storage. Several plantings of sweet corn and snap beans should be made throughout the season.
Certain later crops can be planted in the same spot in the garden from which earlier ones have been harvested. Any of the early-harvested crops, such as leaf lettuce, spinach, radishes, green onions, and peas, can be followed by beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, sweet corn, late spinach, late leaf lettuce, and turnips.
Interplanting. To intensify production in a small garden, early maturing crops can be planted between rows of later or long-season crops Peas, radishes, green onions, spinach, or lettuce may be planted between rows where tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, or corn is to be grown.
Garden Planner 3 6 35 – Plan Your Garden Layout
Rotating crops from year to year is necessary to prevent diseases that overwinter in the soil. Do not grow the same vegetable or related vegetables in or near the same location more often than once in three years. Rotate crops from one side of the garden to the other.
Erosion. If your garden is on a hill, plant the rows across the slope rather than up and down.
Choose a Step
Garden Planner 3 6 35 – Plan Your Garden App
- Step 2 - Plan Your Garden Layout