Things are going well this season so far. The veggies are looking better than they have in the past. Our beans and broccoli are some of the best we have grown. The weather has been warm but good to grow in despite the lack of rain. We just planted in beets, more collards, cabbage, red mizuna, and a variety of herbs. I would also like to thank my globe trotting, techie cousin Gavin from Ireland who made a guest appearance at Steed Farms and helped to plant a row of broccoli with my brother Pat. Out of all the things he could have wanted to do in Central Florida, working for a day at the farm was up on his list. I wasn't able to make it to see him work as I have had a crazy busy end of the year with my day job and being on leave with the newborn as well as tending to a sick wife but I very much appreciate the time he gave in planting the crop. We will keep you updated with the broccoli. I'll even call it Gavin and Pat's row. Thanks for your help guys.
I am trying to pot the herbs into pots this year to see if I can get a multiple year harvest off them. I transferred the mint into three gallon pots to better find it year after year from the weeds that grow in the fields. Once I mow the mint and the surrounding area down after the fall it takes me hours to extract weeds from the mint and control it again to be able to harvest. So I figured that maybe growing it in pots might help with the annual problem of mint management. We will see.
We have been having some aphids pretty bad in the diakons and the turnip greens but I hate to spray them. It is somewhat counter productive, but when the aphid population builds up there usually is a massive build up of predators that takes place shortly thereafter. This year the predator response has been late in arrival but finally this week I was starting to see some really strong numbers of lady bugs and parasitic wasps doing their jobs. I hope you guys are hungry!
Our first delivery went well and I am thinking that this will be a big area for our future. It is a little logistically challenging at the moment for our size but we will grow into it.
I have been rooting some cassava I got from a friend from my church missionary trip. She was growing some at her house and gave me a cutting last year. Apparently you just stick it in the ground and it grows. It will not survive the winters at our location so you harvest before the cold. I planted it last year and we had one night of a freeze and it killed the plants to nearly the soil line. They bounced back and it grew all year. We harvested and boiled it. Not bad at all. It tastes a lot like potato but you will need to change out the water a few times as you boil it. We sent in the cooked roots to Anna's class that was having a lunch on root crops in science class. It would make a nice addition to our line up of veggies with a starch crop for the beginning of the season.
Here are some of the pictures I have been talking about.
Gavin, Pat, Me and Catherine Rose (she didn't help plant anything yet).
The demolished greenhouse after the bad windstorm.
