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Growing Cool Season Vegetables on Your Farm
- 1. Growing Cool Season Vegetables on Your Farm
- 2. What is a Cool Season Vegetable? • Grow best at temps averaging 15° cooler than by warm season types. • Many have edible leaves or roots (lettuce, spinach, carrots, and radishes), • Others (artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower) are grown for their immature flowers, • A few (peas, broad beans) produce edible seeds. • Most can endure short periods of frost. • Grow in cool weather; or can turn bitter tasting, or bolt to seed. • Plant early spring so the crop will mature before summer heat, or in late summer for a crop in fall or winter.
- 3. Cool Season Vegetable Examples • Arugula • Beets • Broccoli • Brussels sprouts • Cabbage • Collards • Carrots • Cauliflower • Celery • Chard • Fennel • Kale • Kohlrabi • Lettuce • Mizuna • Mustard greens • Onions Pak choi (Bok choy) Peas Potatoes Radishes Spinach Coriander (cilantro)
- 4. Important Factors for Production • Vegetables are a high value crop • More intensively managed than agronomic crops • Irrigation, fertilization, weed and pest management are all required for success • Both mechanical and manual harvesting • Critical post-harvest handling practices
- 5. Production Points to Consider • Site Selection • Cultivar Selection • Planting, Transplanting, & Culture • Soils & Nutrient Management • Irrigation • Harvest, Handling and Storage • Insect & Disease Management • Environmental Disorders • Weed Management • Marketing
- 6. Cropping Systems • Most vegetable production in the U.S. relies on intensive monoculture • Geared to mechanization and specialization, favors large farmers • Crop rotation helps control diseases, weeds, insects; preserves soil nutrients • Alternative systems used • Intercropping • Sequential Cropping
- 7. Production Practices • Soil Preparation • Conventional Tillage • Plowing and disking for seed bed preparation • Raised beds and plastic mulching • Conservation Tillage • Planting into crop residue to reduce soil erosion • Weed and Soil Temperature Problems • Planting • Direct Seeding • Seed bed preparation is critical • Requires longer growing season • Indirect Seeding – transplanting • Extends growing season • Promotes early maturity
- 8. Production Practices • Fertilizer Application • Depends on soil type, soil analysis and crop requirements • Timing and site of application • Starter solutions for seedlings and transplants • Side dressing application for established crops • Foliar application and fertigation • Irrigation • Important for high value vegetable crops • Timely irrigation increases both crop yield and quality • Efficient use of water reduces costs and minimizes other problems • Many different methods available for irrigation
- 9. Production Practices • Weed Control • Weeds compete for resources, harbor pests, reduce crop quality • Many methods to control weeds • Cultivation • Cover Crops • Mulches • Herbicides • Disease & Pest Control • Microbes and insects • Genetic resistance • Important goal in plant breeding • Integrated pest management • Uses a variety of approaches to keep damage below economic thresholds including organic and biodynamic • Pesticides
- 10. Production Practices • Harvest • Mechanical • Requires specialized equipment, production methods • Manual • Labor intensive, expensive • The early crop gets top $$$ • Post-harvest handling • Practices that reduce losses in quality and quantity of crops between harvest and consumption • Losses are estimated at 5-25% in developed countries, 25-50% elsewhere
- 11. Resources and Marketing • Many producers grow vegetables under contract to processors • Without a market, event the best quality produces will not make a profit • Consumer demands change rapidly • Growing demand for organic produce and convenience foods • Farmers markets provide an outlet for local growers