How to Micro-Farm like a Samurai.

How to Micro-Farm like a Samurai means having a clear focus and making decisions with your garden. But most amateur gardeners get very little yield out of their gardens when they grow a little of everything. Instead, recognise what you like to eat and plan your crops accordingly. Grow what you like to eat—schedule your crops. I would rather grow a lot of one thing that I love and get a good a yield because I am focused on one thing, rather than grow a bit of everything.

Urban Gardeners and Micro Farmers must be intentional.

Ask yourself what vegetables do I like to eat? And schedule your crops accordingly. Instead of having a bit of everything, try focusing on what crop at a time at first. Based on your resources you have, you should be intentional about what you grow. The resources you have is the time you have to invest in your urban garden or micro farm and the land you have available to work with and the money that you have for supplies.

My Personal Crop Schedule on a limited space, urban garden/ micro farm.

When I was dealing with limited space in South Texas when I was living in a garage apartment and before I had made financial gains, this is what I grew:

• Cucumbers and Greens, during Spring—Summer.
• Okra and Greens and Peppers, during the Summer—Fall.
• Beets and Greens and Garlic and Onions and Potatos, during the Winter.

I grew the crops I loved to eat primarily. I would pickle the cucumbers, Okra and Beets. And because I started a healthy eating lifestyle that focused on low carbs, high fat and moderate protein, I needed to add greens to my diet. We froze the extra greens and juices them daily and made salads with the greens too, so there was little waste at all.

Scheduling your crops.

You must have the temperament of a samurai when micro farming. Because nothing should take up space in your garden that is not being productive. Think about this: what is the life span of my plants? Depending on the variety of the species of cucumber, I had to accept the reality that eventually my cucumber plants would be done producing cucumbers in abundance and only have a few cucumbers added. And the hot Texas summer sun would burn up the plants and they would die.

Limited space requires good timing, preparation, and planning.

As I was harvesting my cucumber crop, and especially when it was in full harvest mode, I was thinking about my next principal crop, Okra. Many things had to be done between harvesting the cucumbers and the okra. For one, the cucumber plants would have to be uprooted, and the soil turned and replenished and next the okra seeds would have to be planted and watered. But what if there was a better way, a more productive way and cost effective way?

Start seeds in 4″ pots or smaller containers.

Since you are scheduling your crops, you know what is coming next on your rotation of crops. Because you already know what is coming up, you can start your seeds before your current main crop is done producing. I find that 4″ pots work the best for me. I set these small pots on trays and which can easily accommodate 90 seeds in 30 4″ pots.

The beauty of using these small pots for your seeds is that you can plant more seeds than you are going to use; knowing that some will not make it. Some seeds will not germinate, some will get eaten by snails or other pest. But we can plant the seedlings that grow strong in your main above ground beds or larger planting containers. For me I gro from 4″ pots to 7 gallon fabric containers.

Being a Gardening Samurai.

What I mean by being a gardening Samurai is that you have to be willing to cut away what does no longer serve you. Samurai would use their swords with such precision to cut their enemies and even themselves rather than suffer dis-honor. Seppuka or Hara-kiri refers to ritual suicide by the Samurai, which involved disembowelment. We love our plants so much that it is easy for us to let them take up places in our garden long after they have fallen from their peak production. Instead, I propose that you be hard like the samurai when it comes to your micro-farm.

I like to smoke Factory Smokes when I am working in my Urban Garden or Micro Farm.

Read my blog about what is the best value cigar and watch my review of Factory Smokes Churchill Maduro Cigars, CLICK HERE.

Compost your old plants.

I do my best to waste nothing. With the world in turmoil and supply chains, disrupted, and inflation making feeding your family more expensive, I want more bang for my buck. I do not want to spend hundreds of dollars on Miracle Grow Potting Soil every time I plant a new crop. So I compost as much as I can. The cucumber plants after they have served their main purpose will be going onto the compost pile.

When do I uproot a crop?

I uproot a crop when I am almost ready to plant the semi-mature growing seedlings and ready to turn the soil and add soil additives. You can mix your old soil and rejuvenate it in one day and plant the seedlings in your larger pots on the same day, but it is work. Just to be clear, you start growing your seedlings a few weeks before you intend to uproot your current crop and turn the soil. You let the seeds grow in the 4″ pots until they have just about outgrown the small pots.

Plant seeds in mostly sterile soil.

With seeds in 4″ pots, you do not want them to be competing with another organism in the soil to grow. For instance, you wouldn’t want to plant your seedlings in compost rich soil. Because your home-grown compost has many living organisms, you want your seedling to be strong before you add this plant nutrient rich soil to the mix.

What I typically use for soil with seeds in 4″ pots.

I will make a mix of perlite and Peat Moss and a plant food such as 10-10-10. I mix it in a wheelbarrow and add it to the small pots and add my seeds to the 4″ pots at the appropriate depth and water.

Depending on your climate, you can keep your 4″ seed pots inside or outside.

Interestingly, plants like okra are very hardy when they are mature plants, but when they are first sprouting as seedlings, they are very fragile. Strong winds or an animal stepping on the seedlings can kill the plant before it grows strong enough to be resilient. Sometimes growing the seeds in doors is a good idea if you have a strong lighting and a warm area you can dedicate to the fresh seedlings. Or use a portable greenhouse that you can purchase online.

Summary.

I tried to give you some ideas about how to grow what you like to eat and scheduling your crops. But the main point is to be proactive. Grow what you like to eat. Know what your next crop is going to be and prepare for it.Survival gardening is about becoming less dependent on the grocery store and more self sufficient. I know many people who grow greens but do not eat them and they just waste them and let them grow till they dry up. Don’t grow greens unless you have a plan for them. Know what you can freeze and what you can literally can. We use greens in our diet daily so it makes sense to grow them. Also, I grow dill because we do a lot of pickling. This already assumes that you know what will thrive in your local climate.

What is Survival Gardening?

Survival Gardening is what most of our great – great grandparents did when times were tough. They grew and canned their own food for hard times. Many places in the world are being threatened with food shortages. But what if you knew how to grow your own food supply? It could be the difference of life or death in hard times. Click this link to read my blog about Survival Gardening.