I M still in the development phase of my property, so the planting areas keep changing. I struggle with getting the sunflower and corn in the ground early enough. Going forward I am going to try to get some of these crops started earlier, but an exact game plan is eluding me. I am probably over thinking it. I am wanting to limit prepping areas with tarps due to vole pressure. Being a Mediterranean climate though it’s wet until it isn’t. This limits mechanical cultivation due to the wet ground. So, aside from tarp terminating cover crops or tilling what process has worked for others to help get crops in early in the season?
I am thinking of trying two methods. One is rolling out the tarp late winter mid February or so. Then getting a patch planted and moving it over a block to limit vole habitat. The second thing I was going to try is to implement relay cropping in the lower block. Corn on 5’ center rows on contour with wheat ( or other overwintered grain) will be planted between late summer, then again to corn, sunflower, or bean the next summer. In an attempt to mimic large scale no-till without the combine. (Ala Jason Mauck or Russell Hendricks or Dave Brandt Roy Pfaltzgraff)
Sunflowers are easy if you let them be. They aren’t easy if you plant them in tilled ground in rows, one seed at a time. But if you scatter sunflower seeds in large quantities, they are very easy. I had sunflower seeds germinate on ground that i had tarped but not tilled. I didn’t even water them, and furthermore it was during an extended period with no rain. But apparently the tarp had retained enough water in the ground, that after i removed the tarp there was sufficient dew at night to germinate the sunflower seeds.
Those seeds were surface-scattered. I began in February, in zone 6a. It doesn’t matter when, though, really. If the time’s not right the seeds will wait to germinate.
The birds ate what they wanted, but i scattered a lot of seed and there was plenty to share with the birds. I also scattered the seeds in succession, day by day. They grew as they pleased. I worked around them as i planted the rest of my crops.
I would focus on planting when conditions are good for planting, and ahead of the rainy season. Then seeds will germinate as conditions are correct for them. Cover crops are a very good strategy. Some can provide food, even. Focusing on the crops that can prosper with your seasons, that will be most sustainable for you. Crops that can’t, probably aren’t worth your time except maybe as a side project.
Crops that require fussing or irrigation or other special attention have no future unless they can be made to adapt and not be fussy anymore. Crops that already grow without fuss, however, should probably occupy at least 80% of your attention.
To be sustainable, you need to be getting more calories from your crops than you expend to grow them. That rule only bent when petroleum made it possible to import vastly more energy into growing crops than the crops would yield. In the process our thinking was fundamentally warped as far as we think about our relationship with crops, water and the land.