Seed starting can be time consuming, messy, take up a lot of space, and have inconsistent results. Join three farmers with several decades of collective growing experience to learn about their best practices (and lessons learned) for seed starting at scale. Whether you want to increase your production space, or improve the efficiency of the space you have, you’ll find out about tools and techniques to germinate seeds faster, and grow healthier plants, and improve your bottom line.

Cassandra Madden from Nature Works Farm, Silvan Goddin from Grow Pittsburgh’s Garden Dreams Urban Nursery, and Megan Gallagher from be.wild.er farm share how each of their operations have fine tuned their seed starting systems to achieve results. We cover planting media, seeding techniques, watering, and greenhouse versus non-greenhouse-based production. Pasa’s Dan Dalton and Lisa Miskelly also share some great tips!

Recorded March 22, 2022

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The post Step Up Your Seed Starting to Grow More at Any Scale appeared first on Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.

Crop planning is essential for improving yields and making the best use of your space and time. It can also help you prevent and manage weeds, pests, and diseases. Join Farm Manager Nick Lubecki from Grow Pittsburgh’s Braddock Farms to learn how crop planning can help you increase production and efficiency on your operation.

We discuss goal-setting, creating a crop plan that fits your growing system, selecting appropriate varieties, building your first (and second) crop plan, and different approaches to crop placement.

Recorded March 8, 2022

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The design, construction, and siting of your hoop house can mean the difference between many successful growing seasons or many seasons of ongoing frustration and suboptimal yields.

During this webinar Dan Dalton, Pasa’s Three Rivers Hub Manager, discusses effective hoop house design and assembly and consider how to select the right structure for your farm. He also covers some common construction pitfalls to watch out for, reviews the pros and cons of different features, and discusses how these can impact your crop production.

Recorded August 24, 2021

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Urban soils can pose unique challenges for growers. Overcoming these challenges to get healthy, high-yield crops takes more than just applying fertilizer. Ideal timing, amount, and type of application can vary from plant to plant. And in order to provide optimal nutritional for your crops, first you have to understand the soil you’re working with.

Learn how to identify your soil’s quality and health issues and address them so you can grow healthy crops this year! We also discuss the opportunities when working with urban soils and how to make the most of your site.

Soil topics covered:

• physical degradation
• nutrient content
• fertilizers and amendments
• different soil tests

This session was part of a year-long series of workshops called “Growing to the Next Level,” held in partnership with Grow Pittsburgh.

Recorded April 13, 2021.

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Farmers and community gardeners share their first-hand experiences of finding and securing land to grow on. Learn about the opportunities and challenges of partnering with community programs for land access, navigating local municipalities, and working with private landowners. You’ll also hear from a lawyer who specializes in food and ag business law.

This session was part of a year-long series of workshops called “Growing to the Next Level” held in partnership with Grow Pittsburgh.

Speakers

Nick Lubecki, Braddock Farm Manager, Grow Pittsburgh
Marlene Van Nelson, owner, Trellis Legal, LLC
Dan Dalton, Three Rivers Hub Manager, Pasa

Recorded on March 16, 2021

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