Covered up

Our new field has been disced twice, seeded with two types of legume covercrops, soybeans and cowpeas. I decided to do half and half to see which one worked better. So far the cowpeas are out growing the soybeans. We have had perfect weather for our seedlings that are coming up, two inches of rain right after sowing. The test plot has about run its course except for the pumpkins which are still growing and producing more fruit. I am amazed about how much area and fruit they are producing. We have harvested 64 pounds of tropical pumpkins or calabasa so far. I bet there is about another 50 pounds still growing on the vines. The topdressing of the basil worked out well and allowed me to harvest again. I disced one half of the test plots and will disc the other parts when I get tired of looking at pumpkins. I am busy planning which crops to grow commercially and which to trial in our test plots. We are nearing year two of the necessary three years for organic certification. I hope to start planting around September for our Fall/Winter crop.

Missing Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures that I have been wanting to post.

This is a picture of the other side of the garden plot where I have planted a row of citrus trees. The vine you see growing is a tropical pumpkin or calabasa squash. From this end to the orange tree in the foreground is 75 feet which is the length of the vines.

Here is a picture of a harvested topical pumpkin. It weighs about 10 pounds. We have picked five fruit already from just three plants. I included a picture with a Valencia orange for scale. We have probably harvested about 50 pounds of squash so far with a bunch more on the vines.

This is the new ground for the next plot that has been cleared of citrus trees.

New Plot

I have finally cleared our next growing area for our organic vegetables. It was pretty difficult pushing up trees with my Massey Ferguson frontloader tractor. It is a great work tractor and is only two years old. There were two models that I was considering at the time of purchase. One had an automatic type of transmission and the other was a standard. The standard is the one I went with mainly because the loader was able to lift a ton. The other one could only lift ¾ tons. I probably should have bought the shuttle drive, which has a pedal on the floor that works as an accelerator and gear changer in one. It would have been much easier ramming trees without constantly changing gears. If tractor abuse was a crime, I would be extremely guilty. No Trial necessary. I wouldn’t even try to plead my way out. My tractor is not made for doing this kind of work but my options are limited. I am hoping next year to be able to borrow real machinery to push up the trees. I spent the last few evenings picking up roots and branches in the new plot before I bring in the disc to even out the field and plow in the weeds that have been growing there. I think that I will disc it again after about a week to allow the weed seeds to germinate. Then I hope to plant a legume covercrop to add some organic matter to the soil and raise the nitrogen levels.
The trial plot has about run its course. Only eggplant, basil, tropical pumpkins, and red onions are left. I cut the basil back hard last week and it is growing back. Some of the older plants have died, but the majority is growing back nicely. I wasn't sure if it would survive. The corn was not so great due to over crowding, and the beans were sub par due to insect damage. The tropical pumpkins are ripening nicely and are looking great. I believe that we will harvest about 50 to 70 lbs of pumpkins from only 3 plants.
The pumpkins are teaching me something about growing in Florida. We get the majority of our rain in the summer months from June until August. We grow most of our crops in the spring and fall. These crops don’t seem adapted to the heat, humidity, insect, disease pressures we face in the months with the highest rainfall. Logically, the summer should be the time when I could water the least and it would be the best time to grow an environmentally friendly crop. I will start looking for some crops that grow extremely well in the tropics; crops that tolerate insects, diseases, heavy rains, and high humidity. If you could suggest some I would be very interested to know.