Friday, August 17, 2012

Garden Pickings




I'm afraid I've been neglecting the blog lately, but I'm popping in here to update on the garden a bit. Here are the pickings I got from the garden this morning. The Royal Burgundy Bush Beans are about completely dead and defoliated from the bean beetles, and I got a meager handful of beans. I got enough okra to cook for myself and my hubby tonite for dinner, a couple tomatoes, and a ton of peppers that I just might turn into salsa(I have onions in the garden, too). Oh, and I do have some kale and chard that I am kind of waiting for cooler weather before I pick...the chard last time was bitter.

Many people in OH have never heard of growing Okra up here. But we've done it for a couple years now. Here's a pic of how it looks when it flowers (ours is a burgundy type).

And when it's cooked up the best way I know how (fried):
 
I love fried okra!





2 comments:

Unknown said...

My garden pickings have been very slim. When I finally got some bird netting and put up a couple poles to support it, I was able to keep the critters out - but not until they had obliterated my cauliflower and broken my pepper plant.

I"m getting cukes but I need something for the one plant to climb and my cherry tomatoes are coming in, but my heirlooms are slow to ripen. All in all, I'm hoping that with the netting, etc. next year will be better.

Any suggestions on when to plant for a cold frame?? I'd like to have a fall season this year now that I have my poles up.

Tanya said...

It has been slim pickings compared to other years! My beans did not do nearly as well this year compared to the last 10 years. Too hot and dry, I think, at bad times (blossoming)...many of the ones I picked today, I discarded because they were practically hollow and leathery. :( That's why I ended up with only a handful.

My cucumber plants have all but died now...I may get a couple more. I did better this year than most years with cukes (they always seem to die early, probably bc I don't water enough), but last year was awesome--last year I had so many I didn't know what to do with them all!

Cold frame...I like chard and kale in a cold frame. Maybe spinach or some other greens? I'd guess you could start it anytime now, as the weather hasn't been overly hot, so things might germinate fairly easily.

We tore our "cold frame" out of the garden this year, so I am not sure what I am going to do along those lines this fall/winter. Hmmmm...