So I bought some plastic for the garden. I've done this before. I once ordered 5000' of black plastic weed barrier. Decided it would be worth the labor savings. And it was in certain applications. But I didn't like working with it and didn't like its disposable nature and decided I wouldn't do it again after I used that roll. That was easy to say considering I had 2-4 years supply at the time.
Fast forward to 2018 and I'm jumping back into market gardening. I had a big roll of black plastic waiting around and decided the garden would be a good place to use it. As I mentioned before, this plastic was someone's surplus that somehow I ended up with in my second hand business. That's the kind of stuff I used to squirrel away instead of selling. Using this plastic was different from buying it new because 1) it was, no doubt, far cheaper and 2) it did not create new demand for the product. If I buy a new one from a store they put another one out and eventually order more which tells the factory to produce more. I'm trying to avoid that.
Um, I mean I was? Am? Will be?
I've been feeling way behind if I am to shoulder my way into the local produce market. We live in an area where everyone... and his brother... and his sister seems to grow for market. Without season extenders I imagine I won't have much to offer in May when the markets start. This led me to a renewed desire for row covers and a greenhouse. I'm also recently reconnecting online so I now have a wealth of research and information and products at my fingertips.
So, I took the plunge and bought a roll of plastic from Yoder's ($26). No, not the good greenhouse stuff, just 4 mil plastic sheeting, 12' x 100'. If I were to wait until the good stuff was in the budget I might have to wait until Fall. I now have 100 wire row cover hoops from Garden Supply ($108 with shipping). The hoops arrived too late to cover before this snow and with the high winds forecast I didn't want to lay too much plastic out anyway especially since I wouldn't be there to keep an eye on it. So now the best I can do is go out after it lets up and cover the rows. The temps will rise this week and melt the snow under covers sooner and then warm the beds. This will be new for me and I'll have to watch it closely to avoid overheating. I have a plethora of sheets and blankets and other cloth to use for heavier frost blankets plus I'm considering ordering some of that too.
I also decided to drive about 90 miles round trip to one of the big box stores to get some 20' PVC, rebar, nylon rope and maybe even more plastic for a hoophouse greenhouse. That would also provide protection for me. Gonna give them a chance to get the roads cleared first.
So what's come over me? When I started market gardening I wanted to demonstrate bootstrap gardening, making due with what I had. But as I studied the likes of Masanobu Fukuoka and Edward Faulkner I started thinking more about natural agriculture. Sustainable agriculture was becoming a buzzword and I found it interesting but instantly became critical of those claiming it.
My whole take on "sustainable" is gonna take a while and I'm not sure I want to get going on it right now. For now I'll say, at worst, "sustainable agriculture" may be an oxymoron but, at the least, it can't include petroleum powered equipment and supplies. The plastic I'm using is not sustainable in the long run and neither is the van I use to get supplies and get produce to market. And there are about a dozen other examples of my method that are not sustainable. I accept that I am going to continue to use them for now but I'm not going to make the claim of being sustainable when I do.
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