Merry Christmas from Steed Farms to You and Yours

Well, the fall is behind us now and winter starts. Our weather has vacillated between hot and cold as the usual for Florida weather. It is really hard to grow things with such uneven temperatures. Our butterhead lettuce (Sylvestra) is doing fine but some are already bolting due to the hot temperatures we have experienced. The one that are not bolting look great. There is a lot of variation in the plots and very little uniformity. I guess this is good for now when we pick small quantities to sell and eat. We are still harvesting arugula, collards, mustards, mint, oregano, bok choy, napa cabbages, parsley, and lettuce. I also let Anna pick the first two carrots from the plots. We had a terrible germination on the first plot of carrots. The second and third plantings did much better. I factored in the uneven drip line watering, the dry bark, and the warm temperatures and did much better. We will be picking our first cilantro next week as well.

One butterhead lettuce plant! Pretty nice!

Butterhead lettuce rows

I also started some peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and our saved cucumber seeds in the green house in organic mix sown in trays. They have started to put on their first true leaves and I plan to plant them in the greenhouses in pots since I am not using the space at the moment.

I planted some avocados from seeds and they germinated well in the soil. I just transplanted them yesterday to make nice trees for sale. I am planning to spice up our wholesale landscape plants to include a retail type farm stand and I would like some variety of tropical, color, and edible plants. That will be my main goal for this year as well as making sure that I can grow the right mix and variety of vegetables.

As the holidays approach, I would like to wish all who read this glad tidings and may the blessings of the spirit of Christmas be upon you, your loved ones.

Robeez Shoes Donations

I don't normally do this, but here is a link to send e-greeting cards and Robeez shoes will donate $5 to K.I.D.S. (Kids in disetressed situtuations) for each card that is sent. If you post it on your blog they will donate $25 to the same charity. Here is the link. http://seasonofgiving.robeez.com/send_ecards.asp

Fall Season Underway

The strawberries around the county are growing, the citrus is turning sweeter by the day, and the vegetables are being harvested. I enjoy this time of the year. Holidays, baseball finals, (Go Rays!), college football (Go Gators), pro football (Go Bucs), and eating events.

Two pictures of our harvested crops!

We are still planting lettuces, cilantro, carrots, and onions. I started the red onion (Mars) in a tray and will be transplanting them out. I used organic soil and when they started to germinate out of the soil I top-dressed with an organic fertilizer (Sustane). I didn't have much luck with the horse poop this year. There was way too much wood shavings and it is having a very bad effect on the the germination of the seeds. I guess that they are drying out too fast. We are harvesting bok choy, oregano, mint, mustard, and collards. New this week to harvest are the citrus (Hamlins), dandelion, and parsley. The cucumbers are finished. I top dressed the entire field with an organic fertilizer (Bradfield) and weeded half of the plot. I will weed the next half this week and plant a few more things. The pest pressure is pretty light and there are ladybugs all over the place.