Step 3 - Making it all fit in your fields
Generally, it is always advisable to adjust plantings to fit some portion of a bed, either whole, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, whatever makes sense to your fields. That said, VeggieCropper will allow you to map more or less bed feet than a planting is for. So there can be some back and forth between mapping plantings and updating the bed feet of a planting.
Read more about the Fields page here and check out the video below for how to map a planting:
You can check your work by downloading your planting schedule which allows you to compare planned and mapped bed feet. Learn how to download your planting schedule in the next step.
Going back and forth a lot between fields and individual plantings? Check out this trick to simplify your mapping workflow.
But will all of your transplants fit in the greenhouse?
This is a good time to make sure all of your transplants fit in your greenhouse as well. There is a nice easy graph to see that shows the different sizes of flats that are in the greenhouse each week. Click here to learn more.
Next: Step 4 - Downloading your crop plan
Pro tips
Blocking crops to wrap up harvests in the field at the same time
Consider the length of time a crop will be in a field or block so that crops will finish their harvest at a similar time and the field can be cleared and cover cropped. This also helps with keeping the harvest organized. Longer rotations in cover crops allow for more flexible crop placements organizing blocks of crops along similar timelines (vs crop type) so that harvests all wrap up at a similar time and the field can be cleaned out and cover cropped. An alternative is to use a bed-by-bed cover crop system where you prep and cover crop individual beds.
Tarps
Consider how you can move tarps off of beds to plant them and then directly onto beds to hold them for a future planting.
Irrigation
what types of irrigation does each crop need (drip, overhead), and what makes sense for your current systems in terms of side-by-side locations.
Walking infrastructure
How can tarps walk across your field throughout the season minimizing efforts to move them (and the sandbags). How can irrigation systems be removed and re-installed on nearby plantings clearing beds to turn them over? Can you make your tunnels walk across a field by leaving one side in the ground and swinging the hoops 180 degrees to cover the next set of beds beside them?
Production Systems
Beds with multiple crops ideally share similar spacing and production systems to increase efficiency as tasks happen for that row like hoeing.
In-row cultivation & Irrigation
Where possible, consider grouping crops by weeding and irrigation strategies so it is easier to manage by a ‘block’ of crops and get them on the same weeding timeline.