My wife and I often talk about how strange it is that some years certain garden crops just absolutely produce so much that we can't eat or store it all. We share the bounty with family and friends. And then other years, when we do everything exactly the same, we experience crop failure or the crop may produce, but not very much. It is very odd. We try to examine the inputs to see what happened so that we don't repeat the error. Oftentimes, we can't find what went wrong.
Last year our okra crop was lackluster at best. The year before, we discovered a recipe for "Oven fried Okra" and this was a game-changer. Previously, we ate okra primarily in gumbos or cooked down with tomatoes and onions or we had an okra curry recipe that we enjoyed. The oven fried okra with panko bread crumbs was a favorite of ours and we ate it often.
Okra is normally a big producer. You have to pick it every day as it grows faster than kudzu. Last year, our okra failed - big time. We have no okra in the freezer. This year things will be different. This weekend I readied the seed. I'm planting three of our favorite varieties: Clemson Spineless Okra - this is our old standby. Dependable. Hardy. Prolific producer. Next, we have Burgundy Okra - this variety is burgundy in color. We like things with color. It doesn't produce as much as Clemson and when you cook it, the color fades, but it it a nice variety. Finally, we have Beck's Big Okra - a short, fat, variety with a number of ridges on the pods.
When I say 'readied the seed,' here's what I mean: Okra seed is tough. It is hard as a ball bearing. If you would just put it in the ground, it would take a while for the seed coat to soften and germination to occur. I began soaking my okra seed in warm water 24 hours in advance of planting:
By soaking the okra seed, you are jump-starting the germination process. It speeds up the process and allows you to see sprouts in a couple of days after putting them in the ground. After 24 hours, the seed is soft and the hard coating is swollen and coming off. I dropped them in the ground. In no time at all, okra sprouts are popping up out of the ground!
We will check back in on the okra later. For now, let's mosey over into the side yard. Right next to the Irish Potato patch, I have some Thornless blackberries planted. The two varieties I have came out of Arkansas and are named after Native American tribes - Navajo and Arapahoe. We've been pleased with these plants. They produce berries almost as big as a man's thumb!
As you can witness from the photo above and below, they are full of flowers. It won't be long before we'll be picking the sweet berries to eat! One thing on my 'to - do list,' is to take some cuttings and plant more blackberry bushes to expand our berry territory.
My camera wasn't focusing in right, but I believe you can still make out the tiny clusters of muscadines in the photo below.
We are hopeful for a good crop this year. Regardless, we'll have a good time in the outdoors soaking up vitamin D and enjoying nature.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
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