In the offseason, gardeners' work moves inside: Planning for next year

Like many kids, Mark Risso resented having to weed and clear his parents' garden of rocks. He even disliked picking beans. "Made my hands itch," he says.

But here he is at age 30, earning a - mostly - joyful living among those once-detested weeds, rocks, and beans. They call him "Farmer Mark" at the Longview Center for Agriculture near Collegeville, formerly Willow Creek Orchards, where he helps manage a 90-acre certified organic farm.

"It's a pretty sweet gig," he says.

Beginning in January, Risso will share what he knows in a yearlong Homestead Series of workshops at the center, which is run by the nonprofit Greener Partners. Topics range from composting, seed-starting, and garden layout to building a bat box, pruning fruit trees, and keeping bees and chickens.

What could be better?

"You're teaching people who want to learn," he says, noting that the center works with food hobbyists and students, would-be farmers and home gardeners. The latter comprises "both newbies looking to incorporate more sustainability into their lives, and people with more experience wanting to get to the next level."

Bottom line for everyone: This may be the official offseason for growing food - die-hards are still harvesting arugula, parsley, and kale - but it's no time to be a slug. The work continues.

When he's not repairing tool handles, whacking weeds in the orchard, or checking on the onions, chard, lettuce, and kale in 70-degree high tunnels or hoop houses, Risso is scrutinizing online seed catalogs and planning the farm's second season.

Planning is critically important, he says, which makes most gardeners crazy the same way "get a soil test" does. Nag, nag, nag.

Unfortunately, the experts agree: Planning and record-keeping make a huge difference. Sorry!

"It enables us to time things better. Our crop rotations will be predetermined and really well laid out," says Risso, whose debut season was a sprint from April to autumn.

"We were in triage mode all the time, go, go, go. It was always frantic, but we made it work," he says, grateful that he has plenty of time to organize 2012.

In creating a plan, Risso suggests we think about what worked, what didn't in 2011. A journal is useful for this, especially an online version. "When you get busy, journals are one of the first things to go, but you can be very efficient about it. Just sit down and do it every night," Risso says, "and keep it simple."