Okra, Pole Beans, and Cucumbers

The okra that are about knee high are just starting to form little okras, and the plants are forming side shoots as well which means more growing tips and even more okra. Most of the other okra plants are shorter than this because of replanting due to low germination.

The Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans are thick and lush and have completely overtaken their 6 feet tall bamboo stakes (1.8 meters).

Lots of purple flowers and a few tiny beans can be found under the Cherokee Trail of Tears canopy.

The Chinese yard long beans are much further behind in comparison. The two varieties planted are Green Noodle and Mosaic yard long beans. The Mosaic yard longs beans have yet to blossom and are just starting to climb their poles.

The Green Noodle yard long asparagus beans may not be the most vigorous but they are producing beans much earlier than the other two pole bean varieties.

The Japanese Long cucumbers are coming along nicely, the blossoms have been hand pollinated.

Sweeter Yet F1 hybrid cucumbers are just starting to form.

I have only seen 3 bees in the garden this year. Usually there are bees everywhere in early spring visiting clover blossoms and Asian greens that have been allowed to bloom. Although, I have seen little insect pollinators visiting tomato blossoms this year. Bees are just so necessary for the pollination of zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, and okra.

Hand pollinating has been part of my daily regimen, but I am having mixed results. Zucchini and squash blossoms seem to be fertile for only a few hours in the morning, I have managed to get one zucchini and lots of dead baby squashes. Cucumber blossoms seem to be fertile for most of the day, so lots of growing cukes. I pollinate squashes and cucumbers by stripping the petals from the male flowers and dabbing the stamens at the center of the female flower. I use a q-tip on the okra which are perfect flowers containing both male and female parts in one blossom.

Planted Okra and Pole Bean Seeds

Pole beans planted around bamboo supports with okra seeds planted in front of them.

I managed to get the pole beans and okra seeds planted yesterday. The garden measures 15 feet wide by 45 feet long, so thirty feet of okra might seem a little high but with all the wildlife in these parts it's better to over plant. Today's rainfall has thwarted my planting plans for the day, shakes fist at the heavens. Hopefully it will clear up over the weekend and the tomatoes, eggplants, and pepper plants can be planted out in the next few days.

The okra was planted 12 inches apart with 18 inches between rows, the two varieties planted were Cowhorn and Stewart's Zeebest. Four or five pole beans are planted at the bottom of each bamboo stake with 15 inches between stakes. The pole bean varieties are: Cherokee Trail of Tears, Purple Podded, Romano, Marengo Romano, Kentucky Wonder, Kentucky Blue, and Wisely Magic scarlet runner. The soil in my garden is fairly heavy tending to clay, so I plant the seeds shallower than what is called for on the seeds packets, otherwise the sprouts have problems breaking through the crusty soil.

Cucumbers, luffa, bitter melon, edible gourds, and peas will probably all be supported with bamboo stakes same as the pole beans. Seeing the bamboo stakes in the garden amuses me to no end. There's something so charmingly rustic about them.

Looking back in 2012 which was an unreasonably warm year, it looks like I am about a month behind in comparison to last year. The seedling starts are a month behind and planting is a month behind. I was hoping for tomatoes in June again, but that seems highly unlikely.

Harvest Monday, July 9, 2012

Tuesday's harvest of green beans, okra, and tomatoes

Thursday, the first harvest of Zephyr summer squash

Thursday's harvest of okra

Two of the okra picked on Thursday were 9 inches long and still tender

Sunday, more sunburned tomatoes and a couple of summer squash

Sunday's okra harvest

Thank goodness it rained a couple times this week and put an end to the 108˚ F heat wave (42˚ C). The tomatoes have some sunburn on their fruit and two summer squash plants have succumbed to vine borers without ever producing any fruit. The beans and tomato plants have gotten fairly burned up in the heat, they're just a little crispy. And I've been finding tomatoes that have been nibbled or pecked at, looks like critters are finding their way through the bird netting looking for water sources.

The first summer squash of the season have been picked! The Zephyr hybrid summer squash is excellent, it has a wonderful texture and flavor that is sweet tender and firm when sauteed with a little butter. Not at all watery or spongy like summer squash can get.

The main green bean bed is definitely winding down production but the smaller plantings are just starting to flower.

This weeks harvest:
2 pounds, 14 oz tomato
2 pounds, 4 oz squash
1 pound, 6 oz green beans
1 pound, 5 oz okra

Total: 7 pounds, 13 ounces

Thank you for visiting. Check out Daphne's Dandelions and her Harvest Monday posts, where gardeners from all over the world take part and post their weekly harvest.

Harvest Monday, June 25, 2012

9 inch okra and the first tomatoes of summer

Saturday's green bean haul

Wednesday's green bean harvest

This has been a week for firsts, the first green beans and the first tomatoes of the season. And they are all delicious! The green beans are coming in strong, I was able to harvest three large bowls full this week but I didn't get a picture of the very first harvest on Monday. One small tomato and two large cherry tomatoes were plucked from the vine on Saturday, the tomato became part of a tomato sandwich whereas the two cherry tomatoes were quickly popped into my mouth. Yum.

The okra have been producing for a couple of weeks, four were picked on Saturday with the largest being 9 inches long and still as tender as can be.

Weekly total:

3.5 pounds of green beans

0.25 pounds of okra

0.4 pounds of tomatoes

Please, join us at Daphne's Dandelions where we share our harvests every Monday!

Stewart's Zeebest and Philippine Lady Finger Okra Growing in the Garden

Stewart's Zeebest okra have nice bushy plants

Philippine Lady Finger okra short and yet desperate to produce offspring

She may be tall and skinny but Philippine Lady Finger can crank out that okra

Free range silver beet or Swiss chard, slightly wilted by the heat and bright sun

The two varieties of okra may both produce long smooth pods but the growth habits of the plants can not be so different. Stewart's Zeebest seem more robust with thicker stems and more branching to form  bushier plants. Philippine Lady Finger produces okra much sooner, when the plants are just 7 inches tall, they are so thin and spindly looking but still make beautiful long smooth pods.

The free range Swiss chard or silver beet gets a little wilted and depressed in the hot afternoon sun but perks right up when the temperatures cool. I've been pulling a few leaves now and then to add to stir fries. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to do with it.

The First Okra of the Season

Philippine Lady Finger okra

Bush green bean flowers blooming

Bed of 4 varieties of bush green beans

First hill of summer squash or zucchini

Second hill of summer or zucchini

Third hill of summer squash or zucchini

The first okra of the season has already formed which is amazing since it's only early June. The okra plants are still itty bitty less than a foot tall but about half of them are blooming and forming okra. Since the plants are so small it takes a few days for the okra to grow big enough to harvest, but once the plants get bigger they will be cranking out pods on a daily basis. This year I am growing smooth podded varieties which I have never grown before, Philippine Lady Finger and Stewart's Zeebest.

The okra are the first of the summer vegetables to produce, even before the bush green beans which have just started flowering. Soon the blooming blossoms will give way to fresh green beans. The first of the bush beans were planted just a month ago in the first week of May.

The summer squash and zucchini are coming along nicely, little male fruitless blossoms are starting to form which soon will give way to female blossoms and fruit. Six hills were planted of all different varieties with 4 plants per hill but one hill was accidently planted twice so has 8 plants. The hill with 8 plants were planted with two different varieties so I don't know which ones to thin out. Six hills of summer squash and zucchini would be considered an overzealous amount usually but this area of the US tends to have major problems growing this kind of vegetable because of the squash vine borers, Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, wilt and mildew. Last year not a single summer squash or zucchini was harvested because the plants were so devastated by the squash vine borers.

Okra Starting to Form Flowers

Stewart's Zeebest okra are already starting to form blossoms.

In a few short weeks okra pods will be forming!

Okra are such beautiful plants, amazing how in one summer they can form into little trees.

The okra that were started indoors are already forming blossoms even though they are only a five to seven inches tall (13-18 cm). Since the okra have been going through the same trials and tribulations as the tomato plants (birds) it's amazing how well they have done. The okra seeds that were planted directly into the garden have all sprouted except for one or two which makes about a 90% germination rate but suspiciously the toothpicks that were placed around those unsprouted seeds to deter cutworms, were bent over. I'm thinking it wasn't cutworms. The newly sprouted okra have just started forming their true leaves.

Most people in this part of Kentucky eat okra as corn meal breaded deep fried golden nuggets which can't be described as health food. During last year's okra glut I lost a lot of weight eating okra everyday in every way imaginable. Curried okra, stewed tomato okra, grilled okra, baked okra, okra stir fry with green beans and radish pods, till finally I let a few pods mature on the plants to shut down fruit production. Why, why didn't I think to freeze or dry the excess okra rather than continuously gorging myself daily on the pods?

Planting Eggplant & Replanting Okra Seeds

The weather here has been hot hot. Up around 88˚ F (31˚ Celsius) and humid to boot. I've been out in the vegetable garden braving the heat to plant 28 eggplants and six rows of bush green bean seeds. The eggplants are from all sorts of fun varieties from the Middle East, Asia, and Italy that were all started indoors from seed. The bush green bean varieties that were planted include Derby, Contender, Masai, Blue Lake 156, and Romano. After laying down one and a half packages of Dragon Tongue beans I happened to look down at the package and realized I was planting a pole bean variety amongst the bush beans. Luckily, the seeds were all still laying on top of the soil as a way to keep track of spacing and were easy enough to pick up.

None of my zucchini, summer squash, and okra seeds have sprouted after being 3 weeks in the ground, so I dug around and found some empty squash seeds in the soil. Ugh! The birds probably pulled up and ate the little sprouted seedlings as soon as they popped out of the soil, since they were planted before the bird netting was set up. I went ahead and soaked some more okra seeds in water for a couple days before planting because their seed coats are so very hard, in just two days little white roots could be seen poking out of all the Phillipino Lady Finger okra seeds whereas the Stewart's Zeebest didn't even look like they had swelled at all. Either way, into the ground the okra seeds went today.

The tomato plants are still very short from the birds eating the leaves and growing tips but oddly enough they are still managing to flower even under such duress. How exciting.

A Little Bit About Growing Okra

Okra is a heat loving plant that is tolerant of heat, humidity and drought although regular watering will produce higher yields and pods that stay tender longer. The plants are almost tree like growing anywhere from 4 to 12 feet depending on the variety. Given space and time the plants will form branches that will also flower and fruit. If a single pod is allowed to reach maturity then the plant shuts down fruit production even aborting immature flowers, and will put all its energy in ripening fruit which similarly occurs with pole beans, zucchini and summer squash.

Okra as a vegetable has a warm green nutty flavor that is difficult to describe. The young pods are tender and soft with a velvety texture. Although pods that are a little more mature and firmer are wonderful because of the young seeds which burst in your mouth when you bite down with a sweetness reminiscent of spring peas. Okra can secrete a thick liquid when cooked this thickening affect of okra makes it an important component of seafood gumbo. Yum. Pods cooked whole in tomato stews, lightly curried in coconut milk, or floured and fried served with fried oysters are just lovely.

Okra pods that are too old will be woody and fibrous so keep an eye out on ripening fruits or they can get away from you and reach gargantuan size. Few pests seem to bother okra except Japanese beetles which will consume the leaves till they look like lace. Personally, I just squish the bugs between my gloved fingers. Being a heat loving plant frost will damage and kill it, so plant after any chance of freezes are gone. Here are a few pictures from last year's okra plants.

The icy beautiful Cowhorn okra flower.

Newly formed Cowhorn okra.

Okra Has Germinated and Hardening Off Seedlings

Very tall three day old Philippine Lady Finger okra

The Philippine Lady Finger okra was the first to sprout but I can see one Stewart's Zeebest okra starting to break through the surface of the soil. The okra seedlings are beautiful and otherworldly with their strangely delicate pale green crumpled first leaves. At only three days old the okra seedlings are larger than most vegetable seedlings with their thick stems and enormous leaves. They have already outgrown their peat pellets with rapacious seeking roots that will need to be repotted in the next day or so.

I am a bit nervous about putting the plants outside to start the hardening process to get them strong enough to be planted out, since the storm that beat up the tomato seedlings. Ah well. It must be done so the shuffling in and out of trays of plants in styrofoam cups will begin. The plan was to set them out in the soft morning light for a few hours each day, slowly lengthening the time until they can bare the harsh afternoon sun. It ended up being a good day to start hardening off the little seedlings with the sky grey and overcast. Although it was quite breezy outside which can be hard on the stems and drying to the plants so I went ahead and watered them in.

On Onion Sets and Tomato Seedlings Perking Up

A tumble of white, yellow, and red onion sets

Effervescent lemongrass

The stalwart Cosmonaut Volkov tomato

A lurid Break O Day tomato

Determined Granny Cantrell seedling

Sun singed but still going Santa Fe pepper seedling

Anaheim pepper forming its first true leaves

Happily growing serrano pepper

A friend and fellow gardening enthusiast gave me her leftover red, yellow and white onion sets which are just onions started from seed that are allowed to form little bulbs, and then dug up and sold when they're under on inch wide. The little onion bulblets are already forming green stalks so they need to go into the ground soon, but it has been raining and the ground is too soggy to till. Yikes. I have never grown onions before from sets or otherwise, so it should be fun.

The tomato seedlings seem to recovering from the ordeal after surviving a thunderstorm. Now they are back under lights and finally seem to be growing again and forming new leaf growth. But there were a bunch of casualties, I had 53 tomato seedlings before the storm and am now down to 37 seedlings counting the 8 cherry or grape tomatoes. Eight cherry or grape tomatoes is definitely overkill just one or two cherry tomato plants should keep our little two person family in plenty of little bite sized goodness, so the rest will be given to friends. Every seedling of a few standard tomato varieties had been lost, so I went ahead and replanted those three lost varieties:

• San Marzano Lungo No. 2 - listed as a heavy bearing paste tomato with tasty thick dry flesh and few seeds a famous tomato in Italy.
• Pantano Romensco - an Italian heirloom that is supposed to grow large dark red almost purple fruit that have a rich sweet acidic taste.
• Ingegnoli Gigante Liscio - gigantic fruits that can grow to over 2 pounds and said to have a very sweet rich flavor and juicy flesh.

Okra is one of my favorite things to grow. The plants get nice and tall with lots of fruit that need to be picked on a daily basis like green beans and they take the heat and humidity beautifully. They do take some time to get past the seedling stage before they start shooting up which leaves them vulnerable to a careless husband and his lawn mower, which is why I like to start them inside to get them a little bigger before being set outside. Be sure to plant more than a couple plants so you can get enough ripened fruits at one time to cook up, ten plants or more gives me enough okra to play with on a daily basis. Okra and tomato stews, lightly curried okra, and okra fried to a golden brown served with fried oysters are all yummy. The okra were started in peat pellets, three different varieties for a total of 18 seeds were planted which included:

• Stewart's Zeebest - round smooth long pods that are unribbed with heavy yields on 7 plus feet branching plants.
• Phillipine Lady Finger - round smooth podded fruit that can be allowed to grow very long on gigantic 10 foot tall plants.
• Cowhorn - popular ribbed okra variety on tall plants.