Scarlet Runner beans which we have recently found that we both love. Cosmic Purple Carrots, I am not a big fan of carrots but maybe being purple and orange that will make them more appealing to me. The Black Eagle Ornamental Wheat is for the tableau I am setting up around the car door out back. Lemon Cucumbers make great sweet pickles, grew them a few years ago but the seeds have not been available here lately. Red Okra....we both love fried Okra but it's now a very seldom treat for hubby, I also love Okra and stewed Tomatoes. Now to get my growing area in what used to be our daughters bedroom set up and ready to get them started.
Toni, that sounds like a great vegetable garden! Do you use sterile starting soil, or potting soil? I may be planting okra again this year. We don't particularly like okra, but it goes over big at the food pantry--the clients tend to like what is familiar and don't want to try some of my "experiments"! I got to play in the dirt today despite the 43-ish degree weather with a ripping wind. I started some tomatoes and herbs. Yesterday I brought in the shelving from the barn and cleaned it up, got the grow lights suspended and the heat mats out. Today was filling six or nine cell containers and planting.
Yeah, when you are hungry you tend to want foods that you know your family will eat. Before my oldest and I moved back to Texas in 1977, she and I were beholden to friends for groceries for about 2 years and it was really nice to receive foods I knew how to cook and that my 8 yr old daughter would eat. I have read articles by several gardeners lately who recommend starting seeds in the soil they will be eventually transplanted to, it causes less shock and stress on the seedlings. But since my 'soil' is black clay, I usually use a mix of compost and a soil made for fruits and veggies. The seedlings going into the ground get a hole filled with the same soil mix and if they go into containers the container is filled with it too.
Nice selections Toni! I have tried the Lemon Cucs with the intention of feeding them to the kids ... I should have known they wouldn't eat anything out of the ordinary! Now pickles with them ... that might work! lol They weren't receptive to purple carrots or beans either, or yellow tomatoes, but I love them all so I still grow some. I wonder if Okra would grow here in zone 5?
Netty, there are varieties of okra that are adapted to cooler, shorter growing seasons (Jambalaya being one of them.) They start bearing in 48-50 days, and grow in zones 5-10. Everyone around here grows okra (except us) and you can't give the stuff away. Well, actually you can. We are growing okra again this year for the food pantry. I usually freeze a couple of quart bags so I'll have some on hand when I cook Cajun.
I love okra any way its cooked . Haven`t had stewed okra for a while,, thanks for reminding me Toni,,need to make some .
