Growing Okra

My first year success with Okra. I love the flowers. I lost a lot of the okra plants to slugs so I planted two in an old paint container and one just bloomed today. I am planning on saving most of the pods from this plant for seeds so I don't have to buy those expensive seeds. Almost $2 for 20 seeds !!



First Okra bloom
This variety is Emerald, first bloom on July 10


Okra everywhere
Okra in container


Bottle gourd is also growing in the background along with other plants.


4 more okras in garden. These went in about a week ago. I think I have about 15 plants now. I am hoping I should have a decent drop of okra this summer.


I love okra sauteed with garlic and some julianed red onions. Strange thing is, I hated okra, eggplant, gourds growing up. Now, I can't have enough of them.

Growing from seeds

This year, I have been experimenting heavily with seeds. I mostly buy my plants from HD but the selection are rather limited and those 6-packs have gone up in price considerably.

So far, I have been able to successfully grow many plants from seeds: Basil, Cayanne pepper, Eggplant, Zucchini, Okra, Onion, Tomatoes. I must have spent no more than $10 on plants and may be $20 in seeds so far. I started saving seeds last year and every seed I saved, grew :0

Eggplant from a discarded fruit
One of the white Japanese eggplants I bought last year was planted in a container and survived the winter. I ignored the small eggplant and let it ripe until it started to rot. I was going to toss it into compost but instead decided to experiment with its seeds. Those seeds germinated profusely within a couple of weeks of tossing them into an empty container.

I had to quickly transplant the crowded seedlings. Now I have at least 15 pairs of healthy plants transplanted in small containers and ready to go into the garden. These are about 1.5 month old, a bit slow growing but look healty. One of the container is Calendula and another with three melon-looking saplings is a Honey Dew - both grown from seeds. I have a bad habit of putting everything everywhere.



There are still about a dozen left that I need to find a room for soon


July 10, 2009
The plants are now settled in the garden. I managed to squeeze in some edamame in between.



Tamarillo (Tree tomato)
I planted the seeds back in February in a home-made mini-green house (plastic bottles). I few of them were killed by slug in a single night that I moved them to the main garden area. These survived and are doing very well. I am going to keep two and trade or give away others. Planted some more seeds the other day in the garde.



Chili (Cayenne Pepper)
I had about a dozen Cayenne Pepper that did very well last year. Quite a few ripened to bright red. Earlier this year, I bought some cayenne pepper from HD that were devoured by slugs overnight. That was when I started growing from seeds - cheaper if I lose plants that way.

I planted a handful of seeds from last year's chili into a greenhouse made of strawberry box and they came out heavy. These plants were about 3-4 weeks old. I still have some more thinning and transplanting to do.

Growing cauliflower

When I tried a couple of years ago, the flowers were about the size of my palm but looked more like white broccoli than cauliflower. I read somewhere that Cauliflower needs constant supply to nutrients throughout its life. This year, I did just that. I planted each with a gallon-full of compost that I make from kitchen scrap, green and brown cuttings and from sweeping the front yard for eucalyptus tree bark/leaves.

I love the blue-green foliage color of Brassica family. I have found Broccoli and Kohlrabi very easy to grow. Now I think Cauliflower is also not that difficult as long as you provide enough water and nutrient. I am not sure what variety I planted but it took about 5 months for these to be ready.

Bought these plants around Jan/Feb. 9-packs from HD was my second time growing cauliflower. The growth was somewhat slow.

This is around March. About 2 months after planting -

There is lilac growing behind these plants




Here is how it looked like on the last day of May.




A few days later... this was ready. It was a little over 3 pounds.


My almost 5-year-old daughter loved it.


This one is next, I think another 2-3 days and this will be ready.


Today, I picked two more (July 17, 2009), its supposed to get very hot the next few days, which can wilt the leaf and turn it yellowish.

Also, I need this space for eggplants.

This one is huge !! It must be at least 4 pounds and its very tight.

(Thats a quarter on top of it)

I could not resists... here is one more picture. This must be one of the best yield I had from my garden.

Edible Landscaping

I throw in everything I get - Guava tree, Naval Orange, Tree Tomato, Eggplant...

Eggplants are one of my favorite -

Must be my version of square-foot garden, just a lot more square foot....



Can you spot a luffa plant at the bottom ? It has only 3 leaves that look like maple leaf. There is also a leek plant that is flowering (can't see the flower, its more than 5 feet tall)


Luffa and canna competing for space in a 4" pot. I am going to transplant them in the garden today. Luffa has grown at least 6" tall since I took this picture a week ago. Its getting warmer here and looks like they like warmer temperature.

getting Started

Adding pictures of my garden from spring/summer of 2008 to get started.

Tomato patch of 2008 -













Pomegranate for the first time !! They were about a pound each and very sweet.
















Bougenvilla finally made it. This plant is 7 years old and almost died last winter but I think the trunks are mature enough to survive now on.