Vegetable Production

The foothills are home to an array of vegetable crops and many are direct to consumer sale at farmers markets. 

• Organic Certification, Farm Planning, Management, and Marketing, UC ANR Publication 7247
• Postharvest Handling of Fruits and Vegetables, Appropriate production practices, careful harvesting, and proper packaging, storage, and transport all contribute to good produce quality. This publication covers postharvest practices suitable for small-scale operations, and points out the importance of production and harvesting techniques for improving quality and storability. Various methods for cooling fresh produce are discussed, and resources are listed for further information, equipment, and supplies. ATTRA
• Resource Guide to Organic and Sustainable Vegetable Production, Farmers making a transition to sustainable or organic farming need information on a wide variety of topics such as soil management and non-chemical weed and pest management. This guide provides a summary of some of the best in-print and online sources around. ATTRA
• Sample Costs to Produce Mixed Vegetables: Tomatoes, Winter Squash, Melons, Sample costs to produce mixed vegetables in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Placer and Nevada Counties are
  presented in this study. UCCE
• Vegetable Characteristics, UCCE Placer/Nevada County

Harvest Calculators

• This is a good resource for Estimating Crop Yields.
• The Seed Quantity Calculator figures the number of seeds or plants you need for a given amount of space. It is available in two options.
• The Seed-Starting Date Calculator figures the dates when it’s safe to plant outside, based on the frost-free date that you specify.

Pest Management

University of California's official guidelines for pest monitoring techniques, pesticides, and nonpesticide alternatives for managing pests in agriculture. 

• IPM Pest Management Guidelines for Agricultural Crops, Information about managing pests, including University of California's official IPM guidelines for agricultural crops.
• Vegetable Diseases Caused by Soil-Borne Pathogens, UC ANR
• Managing Blossom-end Rot. UCCE Placer/Nevada County
• Flame Weeding for Vegetable Crops, Flame weeding, a thermal weed control, is a non-chemical weed control technique commonly used for row crops that is becoming more popular, especially among organic farmers, for crops including vegetables. ATTRA

University of California Web Resources

• Current Cost and Return Studies, UC Davis
• Training a New Generation of California Vegetable Producers, YouTube Video Series, UC ANR
• Vegetable Research and Information Center (VRIC), UC Davis

Vegetable UC ANR Publications

• Cover Cropping for Vegetable Production, UC ANR Publication 3517
• Pests of the Garden and Small Farms, UC ANR Publication 3332
• Small Farm Handbook, 2nd Edition, UC ANR Publication 3526

Please use Promo Code PRTUM55 if ordering online. This will insure that your funds stay within the UCCE Central Sierra.