We have grown vegetables in this field since 1999. Over the years they have wandered a little. Now is the time to straighten them out and lay out the beds for our permaculture tree crops. The field will be subdivided into three sections with fruit trees, herbs and lavender. We will ask our good friend Matt Cooley to bring his real farmer caterpillar tractor guided by GPS to mark out new vegetable beds accurately to within a half of an inch or so over 600 feet.
First we have to cultivate deeply to remove any compaction from the previous beds and the tractor pathways in the field. Both Roberto and I were very pleased how easy this was. In the past he would pull up large chunks of compacted soil, not this time. I summize that all the diverse cover crops and soil life created has loosened the soil. He completed this job way faster than we expected. He travels in diagonals across the field 15 degrees off the direction of the beds for the best shattering effect.
The last time we did this we did see that it took a few months for the soil life to recover so we hope to be able to plant a very diverse cover crop. We will then start planting vegetable crops in the late winter or spring. We have trees and herbs ready to plant in this field this fall.