This fall, the Gulf Coast Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises Team put in a fall vegetable demonstration at UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay, Florida. The demonstration had several fall crops such as spinach, swiss chard, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, rutabaga, kale, and collards. Several of the recommended varieties were grown so that small farmers and home gardeners could visually inspect the different varieties and see what they may want to grow next fall. The recommended varieties came from the 2012-2013 Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida and the 2013 Southeast US Vegetable Crop handbook.

So you can also experience this demonstration, below are pictures of some of the varieties being grown.

Swiss Chard

The swiss chard has done outstanding, although the low temperatures recently did produce cold damage. The swiss chard that was grown in the high tunnel structures has thrived.

Lettuce

Ouredgeous (romaine), Cherokee (loose leaf), and Ithica (heading) were all grown. Below is a picture of Ithica which has done well, although slow growing up to this point. The cold caused some damage on Ithica as well.

Carrots

Suger Snax 54, Purple Haze, and Apache were the varieties grown. They have all done well but appear to have grown much slower than the literature indicates. Beautiful none the less!

Broccoli

Cauliflower

If you want to have a closer look at the varieties, call for a walk through (850)623-3868 or email at bthaxton@ufl.edu. Their will be a field day held Wednesday, December 18th, at this demonstration site for Master Gardeners and Small Farmers. Click here to register!

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