Week 7, 2015-16 Season

We have had some good rain and upper 40's for lows this past week.  In fact we even put on the fireplace for most of Sunday afternoon and evening for our enjoyment.  Here is the cooler, wetter weather I've been expecting since they announced that this would be an El Nino year.  Especially since this is predicted to be a greater than normal El Nino event.  In fact, the climatologists say this might grow to an even bigger event than the 1997-98 El Nino.  I remember the weather for this year as I was growing cabbage in Gainesville for a Master's thesis and I got something like 14 inches of rain during my project in a week.  The cabbages loved every bit of it and grew to the size of basketballs.  I will be planting lots of cabbage this winter as a hedge to see if we can replicate things.  If you'd like to see more about El Nino and what that mans for our locale, in a very nice web format, you can check out my work blog at http://hortagent.blogspot.com/2016/01/el-nino-summarized.html   We planted more collards, kale, lettuce and red potatoes this week to the field.  The cool season plants seem to be perking up with this cooler weather swing.  The greenhouse tomatoes seem to have been dropping flowers instead of putting on fruit for this week.  However we still have much fruit on the vine already in the green stage.

This last week I got a bit of a startle when harvesting sweet potatoes.  It was cool and raining as I was harvesting early in the morning.  I had already dug about a quarter of what I needed for the day.  I generally remove the plastic mulch and reach around in the soil to feel the potatoes then dig them out.  When I get to the edge of the plastic I generally peel back the layer a bit and then poke around underneath for any potatoes until I get to the point where I need to peel back more  plastic to reveal fresh ground to search.  I then gradually make my way down the row like this until I have all I need.  This last Saturday I was poking around underneath the mulch to my left and my hands were underneath the plastic mulch where I could not see them.  Not feeling any potatoes I lifted back the plastic and there staring at me in a tight coil was a corn snake just a few inches from where I was poking around for potatoes. Needless to say, my harvesting protocol quickly changed in light of the new data and now I pull all plastic back and harvest in front of the plastic line.  No more blind reaches looking for potatoes.  After I regained my composure, I quietly shooed him to the row middle and out of the way of my harvesting process so we both could get back to work; me with the harvesting and him with keeping the rodent population down on the farm. You think that a cup of coffee wakes you up in the morning?  You should try being surprised by a snake.

      Waking up the neighbors while harvesting.  I've got the stick next to his head as he pokes out from underneath the plastic to see what the racket is all about.

Week 5, 2015-16 Season

Another couple of weeks with extremely hot temperatures (70-84).  In the greenhouse last week we registered 104 as a high and 42 as a low.  It is hard to believe that it is Christmas time with it being so hot.  I have noticed that many of the strawberry fields around us aren't flowering anymore.  Ours are starting to bloom and we should be picking in a few weeks.  I'm not sure if our's are just behind schedule and catching up or if there is a variety difference.  We are using the variety 'Camino Real' which is a late fruiting variety and is different than what most of the growers are using around the county.  It is finally starting to set fruit which should pick in about two weeks time.

We planted more bok choi, komatsuna, lettuce, scallions, cabbage and red cabbage this week.
The eggplants are really producing now and look great.  Our first ripe tomato is ready in the greenhouse with more following.   We will probably harvest roselle this week.  The mustards are starting to die from the heat.  The onions, broccoli, and beets aren't fairing well either but should make a harvest.  It would be nice to see some milder, less humid temperatures to moderate the cool-season crops.

I received the replacement parts to use the tractor implements (disc bedder and cultivating sweeps) and wound up breaking the remaining first bolt and the new bolt in less than three passes through the fields.  I don't think that I am doing anything wrong as I used the same set up from a friend for a couple of weeks.  I think that these bolts aren't made to last.  However, I could be making rookie mistakes.  I haven't called Agrisupply to see what is to be done yet as I wanted to wait till after the holidays.  So a call is on the list of things to do this week.

Week 3, Season 15-16

Things are progressing well at Steed Farms.  Crops are growing well now.  The sweet potatoes are a little hit or miss depending upon the plant, this season, but they are much better shaped than last year.  We have already harvested lettuce for Week 2 and that is a new farm record.  Eggplants will be picked this weekend for another early record.  The new fertilizer is working well and it is great with our new disc bedder.  I borrowed this equipment from Bilbrey Farms and I liked it so much I purchased one.  It is saving us many hours of hand labor that we normally would have spent.  I can also use it for cultivating between the row with sweeps (picture to follow soon).  I tried to use it last week and broke a wedge bolt that holds down the shank, when I was tightening it with a wrench.  It looked like it was porous metal inside.  It wasn't even an hour on the tractor.  I was able to hobble along and make a new bed with it using just one side of the implement.  I can even use it to cover the edges of the plastic which used to be done by hand with a shovel all the way down the row.  The nice thing was that I called Agri-supply and they said they would sent another bolt free of charge.
Our carrots are doing great in the raised bed and I am glad I tried this out this year.  We will be picking them way early for another early farm record if they keep growing the way they are now.  Green beans are about done as are the squash.  I should have planted one more succession of beans but I thought that it would be getting too cold for them to grow now.  This fall has been a warm one and it is slowing down the kale, collards, broccoli, and turnips.  The good side is that the warm season plants have kept on growing to allow us to harvest.  We will see how this winter turns out.