While most of us think that farming is seasonal, they are only correct to a degree. The final product may be seasonal here in New Jersey, but the farmer is working 12 months with an end sight into that product.
An example of this is the soil tests. One of the things you come to realize is that when they say we are connected to the Earth, they really mean we are connected. A soil test is the farm's once a year physical check up. And like the human body, it tells us what we need to know in terms of not only health of the soil but the potential for the plant's needs this upcoming season.
Any one who farms in Southern New Jersey knows that the chances of the soil being acidic are very good since a lot of it is sandy loam. My grandfather knew that and his solution was to spread lime every once in a while to keep the PH in balance or what he thought was the correct balance. Then again, Grandpop's major crop was tomatoes, which are acid-loving plants. So if he didn't balance the PH (between 6 and 8), it probably didn't matter as much because the plants were adaptable.
However, I don't think Grandpop thought much about micronutrients and organic matter of the soil. His contribution was to spread a lot of chicken manure from his egg operation. That made for the soil getting a lot of nitrogen. I, on the other hand, have thought about boron, manganese, etc. We grow such a diversity of vegetables on the farm today, and like people, each one needs to be attended to differently.
Dad sent off our latest soil samples this week and in about 10 days we should get the results. I could almost tell you right now that we are going to need lime and the organic matter is going to be low. We finally moved to address that last concern by having the township drop off leaves this fall. It is the first time we have used municipal leaf compost and I will be curious to see how it works. I am hesitant in some ways and hopeful in others. The benefit is obviously the decomposed leaves will enrich the soil. However, leaves are a "brown" source which means carbon. In my opinion, a good compost is mixing of dead "brown" matter with "green" matter such as fresh cut grass clippings. My concern is that people today use so many chemicals on their yard that they overuse them (especially nitrogren) which translates into a problem. So I am against using commercial grass clippings for that very problem.
We made the decision to use a balanced fertilizer this year which would be 10-10-10. A decision like that at this time goes against what I just said about taking a soil test but based on past performance of the last few years, I feel more comfortable knowing I covered my bases with the plant's nutrient needs by doing it this way. When I get the soil sample back I can always adjust this by adding supplements based on the crop.
Another way we are working in the "off-season" is to look at our record keeping  Johnny's Selected Seeds of Maine is a company we rely on not only for seed stock but also for advice. They cater to a small farm like ours. Last month they introduced us to a program known as AgSquared. This web-based software allows us to track our crops and use of our ground. I had been doing this by notebook for the past few seasons but will use the computer model to help me with my decisions this year. Like everything else we do on our farm, we trial first to see how it flies then decide on the long-term use.
When the soil samples come back, I will share them with you on this blog and talk about our decisions on what we will do.