redlevel
Gold Member
Jim: do you have a hoe? a mattock? a rake?
I have grown turnips, collards, cabbage, and most other truck crops that can be grown in the Southeast for most of my life. It doesn't take much ground to grow enough of these crops, especially turnips and collards, to feed dozens, if not hundreds of people. I have seen turnips growing profusely where some of my employees spilled some seed and tried to cover up the evidence by scattering a little dirt over them. With the hand tools I mentioned above and a little work you could plant One-eighth to 0ne-quarter of an acre between now and frost. I don't know exactly where Westminster is, but here in middle GA we plant these crops right up to Nov. 1, and sometimes later.
If I were in your shoes, I would pick out a small piece of ground and pull a string to mark off a row. I would get a bag or two of 5-10-15 fertilizer and broadcast it fairly liberally, centered over the string and about 6 inches on either side of it. I would take a hoe or a mattock and try to break up the ground about two blade widths on either side of the string, mixing the fertilizer in about the top 6 inches of soil Then, I would broadcast some seed on this little prepared row. Then, lightly rake in the seed. They don't need to be covered much over one-quarter inch. It doesn't take much seed. Planting with precision planters, it takes about one pound of collard seed or one-half pound of turnip seed per acre in 36" rows. It will take more just broadcasting by hand. You don't want to get them too thick. It would be eaiser if you had one of the little garden push planters like a Planet Jr. or an Earthway, but it can be done by hand. You need to leave about two feet between the rows. That makes it easier to get between them to fertilize later with Nitrogen.
You don't want to plant it all at once, either, especially the turnips. If you could plant four rows of turnips, say 100 feet long, each week for the next six weeks, you would produce a whole lot of greens for yourself and the families you want to help. It would probably be good to plant the collards as soon as possible, though, because they take longer to grow. I would recommend the Vates Collard variety and Purple Top Turnips. The Vates are very frost-resistant and will keep on growing through January down here if you get a few warm days every now and then.
To summarize: lower your sights from 1 1/2 acres to 1/8 to 1/4 acre.
Don't plant too thick. Don't skimp on fertilizer, especially on the collards, as they are heavy feeders. If you can afford it, get a couple of bags of lime and scatter it just as you do the fertilizer. After the initial application of complete fertilizer, come back with some Ammonium Nitrate. Not too much at once, but a light application every 10 days or so on the collards. One application might do it on turnips. Do not skimp on the Nitrogen. If you do, your results will be unsatisfactory.
Of course, you can just go scatter some seed and fertilizer, lightly rake it in, and make some produce. Turnips will do better this way than collards.
I hope this helps some, and I applaud you for your efforts. I have been in a similar situation.
I have grown turnips, collards, cabbage, and most other truck crops that can be grown in the Southeast for most of my life. It doesn't take much ground to grow enough of these crops, especially turnips and collards, to feed dozens, if not hundreds of people. I have seen turnips growing profusely where some of my employees spilled some seed and tried to cover up the evidence by scattering a little dirt over them. With the hand tools I mentioned above and a little work you could plant One-eighth to 0ne-quarter of an acre between now and frost. I don't know exactly where Westminster is, but here in middle GA we plant these crops right up to Nov. 1, and sometimes later.
If I were in your shoes, I would pick out a small piece of ground and pull a string to mark off a row. I would get a bag or two of 5-10-15 fertilizer and broadcast it fairly liberally, centered over the string and about 6 inches on either side of it. I would take a hoe or a mattock and try to break up the ground about two blade widths on either side of the string, mixing the fertilizer in about the top 6 inches of soil Then, I would broadcast some seed on this little prepared row. Then, lightly rake in the seed. They don't need to be covered much over one-quarter inch. It doesn't take much seed. Planting with precision planters, it takes about one pound of collard seed or one-half pound of turnip seed per acre in 36" rows. It will take more just broadcasting by hand. You don't want to get them too thick. It would be eaiser if you had one of the little garden push planters like a Planet Jr. or an Earthway, but it can be done by hand. You need to leave about two feet between the rows. That makes it easier to get between them to fertilize later with Nitrogen.
You don't want to plant it all at once, either, especially the turnips. If you could plant four rows of turnips, say 100 feet long, each week for the next six weeks, you would produce a whole lot of greens for yourself and the families you want to help. It would probably be good to plant the collards as soon as possible, though, because they take longer to grow. I would recommend the Vates Collard variety and Purple Top Turnips. The Vates are very frost-resistant and will keep on growing through January down here if you get a few warm days every now and then.
To summarize: lower your sights from 1 1/2 acres to 1/8 to 1/4 acre.
Don't plant too thick. Don't skimp on fertilizer, especially on the collards, as they are heavy feeders. If you can afford it, get a couple of bags of lime and scatter it just as you do the fertilizer. After the initial application of complete fertilizer, come back with some Ammonium Nitrate. Not too much at once, but a light application every 10 days or so on the collards. One application might do it on turnips. Do not skimp on the Nitrogen. If you do, your results will be unsatisfactory.
Of course, you can just go scatter some seed and fertilizer, lightly rake it in, and make some produce. Turnips will do better this way than collards.
I hope this helps some, and I applaud you for your efforts. I have been in a similar situation.
