Four-Season Market Garden Workshop

Preparing for a Productive 2026 Growing Season

On the brink of the 2026 growing season, RAFI teamed up with Faithfull Farms to host an in-person Four-Season Market Garden Planning Workshop. Led by Howard Allen, the workshop aimed to equip farmers with essential planning techniques for the winter to spring transition time that ensure year-round productivity for profitable market offerings. Participants engaged in classroom training to explore strategies for transitioning between seasons and maximizing high-value crop production. In March, participants can return to Faithfull Farms for a hands-on training to apply what they learned last month

Background of the Workshop Series

Beginning in 2024, these intensive on-farm events were organized by Faithfull Farms in Chapel Hill, NC. Howard Allen, the founder and owner, has a rich history of mentoring novice farmers in both intensive vegetable production and local market access, all while managing his own farm. He often expresses, “I want to help beginning farmers avoid the same mistakes I made in the beginning.” The mentorship and hands-on technical assistance he provided became just as crucial to him as production itself.

Recognizing that more farmers could benefit from Allen’s practical expertise, RAFI invited him to join the Conservation Resources for Resilient Farms Project as a Technical Assistance (TA) provider and on-farm educator. From 2024 to 2026, Allen offered personalized TA to beginning farmers, particularly those of color, to enhance their production planning and cultivation techniques for urban or small-acreage farms, while also assisting them in accessing NRCS financial support when suitable.

With Allen’s individualized assistance and the on-farm event series, farmers gained clarity on site planning and constructing cost-effective caterpillar tunnels. They also improved their understanding of crop and resource management within these systems and felt more equipped to adopt practices like no-till or reduced-till vegetable bed management, crop rotation, microirrigation, compost incorporation, mulch application, row covers, crop trellising, and more. Following the latest event, one participant remarked, “This is a jumping-off point to learn everything I can.”

In this blog, we will share some practices and insights gained from the workshop.

Key Practices for Market Garden Preparation

One of the foremost priorities for your market garden is preparing beds for spring during the winter months. It is essential to clear any crop residue from fall or winter crops and amend the soil with compost or organic fertilizer to restore nutrients. To prevent nutrient leaching, cover the beds using silage tarps or compost mulch to suppress weeds and safeguard the soil. The final step in your winter preparations is to plan early plantings for crops such as carrots, spinach, and radishes.

Planning for succession crops is critical to maintaining bed productivity and profitability throughout the year. Understanding the days-to-maturity for each crop, combined with a calendar or spreadsheet that outlines your planting and harvest windows, is invaluable. Allen shared a useful tip: stagger plantings every 7–14 days to ensure consistent harvests. In a sample succession planting table, be sure to include:

• Season
• Crop
• Planting Date
• Days to Maturity
• Harvest Window
• Transition Strategy

For example, one greenhouse bed can evolve from protected late-winter greens to spring roots, transition to high-value summer fruiting crops (with trellising and pruning), and then revert to fall greens and overwintered spinach. Thoughtful planning and execution can enable your farm to achieve true four-season production. Without such planning, critical seed sowing windows can be missed, which can result in lost production and financial opportunity.  

Transitioning from Winter to Spring

As winter gives way to spring, you can fully maximize the potential of any cold-hardy holdover crops. Continue harvesting spinach, kale, mache, claytonia, and baby kale from your covered beds. Begin planting early-spring vegetables during this period; direct-sow carrots, radishes, and salad mix as soon as the soil is workable under the tunnels. For transplants, start seeds indoors in a controlled environment with proper temperature and light six–eight weeks before the last frost date, ensuring they are ready for transplanting once the soil has warmed sufficiently.

Starting seedlings indoors will give you a head start for spring planting. Utilizing grow lights and heated mats, you can begin crops like onions, leeks, kale, and other brassicas. If you lack the capacity for this, consider ordering seedlings from a reputable nursery to save time.

Shoulder Season Planning

Shoulder-season planting involves cultivating crops during the transitional periods of early spring and late fall, characterized by mild temperatures — neither extremely cold nor excessively hot. These seasons typically occur from March to April and October to November. During these times, you can combine cool-loving crops with quick cash crops to optimize early and late season opportunities. Utilizing low tunnels, row covers, and caterpillar tunnels is crucial for providing the extra protection needed during these weather transitions.

Supplementary and Quick Cash Crops

Here’s a list of crops for late winter harvests:

• Spinach
• Mâche
• Claytonia
• Baby kale

For early spring crops, consider:

• Carrots
• Radishes
• Salad mixes

Additionally, here are some fast-growing fillers:

• Arugula
• Mustard greens
• Baby lettuce mix

These crops are perfect for filling gaps and sustaining market supply during transitional periods.

Innovative Tools

Below is a list of tools to support efficient, scale-appropriate practices in intensive market garden systems.

• Paper Pot Transplanter: Speeds up transplanting of closely spaced crops like lettuce and onions. 
• Jang Seeder: Precision seeder for direct-sown crops like carrots, radishes, and arugula. Adjustable rollers allow for customized spacing. 
• Greens harvester: Quick and efficient harvesting of baby greens. Saves time and labor in large plantings. 
• Quick Plant Fabric: Pre-burned landscape fabric with standard spacing. Speeds up bed prep, suppresses weeds, and maintains uniformity.

Key Takeaways

• Prep winter beds early for spring success
• Use successions for steady harvests
• Combine covered and uncovered systems for flexibility
• Start seedlings in late winter using grow lights or heated mats
• Use quick crops to fill gaps and maximize revenue

The next and final event in the on-farm intensive series will be “Hands-on Small Tool Intensive and Demo” held at Faithfull Farms on March 23rd.  Registration is coming soon.  Email Jaimie McGirt jaimie@rafi.gameflow.design to be informed.

This story highlights work from the Conservation Resources for Resilient Farms Project, supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), under agreement number NR223A750003C066D.