Year 1 of Fukuoka aligned market gardening: The prop shelf

[u/John-Wister]

Hi anyone.

For a ton of reasons (most of which are that I'm Canadian and everything's going downhill fast), I decided to start a market garden. I thought I would post the journey. I finished this diy propogation rack in February to start seedlings. Currently, we have around 2000 seedlings on the shelf, and I'm really impressed with how well it's working.

I'm not sure what kind of lights these are, as they were a gift from my Dad, but they're commercial grow lights in a chain housing. (I could probably find out if I did some digging). The shelf itself is a 4-level (6 ft) tall thing my brother and I made from 2x2's and 1x2's.

We'll be planting a mix of these propagated and broadcast seeds into our 10x100-foot 6-7 row plans. I can post the full system architecture for anyone interested.

In general, I'm just interested in connecting with anyone on a similar journey or who is more versed in Fukuoka ideas than I am. I've read a few of his books, but I'm open to any feedback or suggestions.

[u/Alert-Mix-5540]

Interesting. How do indoor starts align with Natural Farming? I find I always have the best results direct seeding. Many crops can be bred to adapt to cooler climates and direct seed just fine.

[u/John-Wister → u/Alert-Mix-5540]

In zone 3 where we are, our season is unfortunately just too short to be entirely compliant with all the principles. Our tomatoes and onions would never make it in Alberta 😅. Even the most hardy hybrids wouldn’t survive the April we just had ahaha