Crops
Choose the buyer before you choose the crop
Cabbage, carrot, onion, and potato only pay when size, harvest week, and packing match a real channel. Planting first and hunting a market later turns a good stand into a cheap pile.
Choose the buyer before you choose the crop
Winter vegetables carry high seed, water, weeding, and harvest labour. A full bed that nobody ordered still costs. Confirm who will take the crop, what size they pay for, and when they want it — then pick the crop and planting date.
Match area to the labour you can hire at weed and harvest peaks, and to the crate, shade, and transport you actually have. A smaller staggered block that sells clean is worth more than one peak that floods a weak buyer.
If last season's grade was rejected, fix the channel and the spec before you expand the same crop.
In this series
- Choose the buyer before you choose the crop
- Secure water before the winter bed is sown
- Rotation is disease control, not a pretty calendar
- Uneven water cracks cabbage and forks carrots
- Weed and scout while the plants are still small
- Maturity and shade at harvest set the price