First Okra 2009

I'll be firing up the grill in a day or so, as our okra has started coming in. Most of the Clemson Spineless plants have pods, with the first few now obtaining a harvestable length. In comparison, the Emerald and Cajun Delight varieties are growing very slowly. They appear to be several weeks away from producing any pods.

Clemson Spineless Okra 2009

Here are a few more pictures of the garden's progress:

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Early Sunglow Corn and Peanut Plants

Gold Nugget Cherry Tomatoes

Okra Update

Our okra just isn't doing so well. It doesn't seem to enjoy the cool and windy weather we've had recently. The plants have almost stopped producing over the last week and, as you can see by the picture below, some of them are looking pretty bad.

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Okra Bugs

Some sort of small black bugs have infested our okra plants. They congregate on buds, blooms and the underside of leaves. These are destructive little things, as you can see by the leaf (or what's left of it) pictured below. I gave them a good blast with the water hose this morning and, after quite a bit of effort, washed most of them away. If they come back I'll have to take more drastic measures.

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The Color Red

One of our okra plants has started producing pods that are partially red. I know that there are strains that make red pods, but this is just regular old Clemson Spineless. Also, the plant put out standard green okra for months, from May until the last few days. Maybe it has something to do with the weather change. Whatever the reason behind the color change, I think the red okra looks pretty cool. We'll find out this evening if it tastes the same.

Concerning the color red, I've also included the latest picture of our not-so-red "red" bell pepper.

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Okra Mystery Worm

Yesterday I found a worm feasting on one of our okra pods. As the pictures below show, this thing managed to inflict some pretty heavy damage to the pod. After some research I think it might be some sort of cabbage worm or perhaps a Diamond Back Moth larvae. All I know for sure is that it's not one of the hornworms that have been plaguing our tomatoes all year.

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worm on stem side (right), crawling out of hole

okra worm

BRRRR! It's Cold!

For the third day now, the early morning temperature has been in the 40s (7.2 c). The highs haven't been much better, climbing only into the 50s and 60s (10 to 15.6 c). That's about 20 degrees below normal for this time of year in Las Vegas. The wind has also been blowing nonstop. It seems to have gone from Summer to Winter overnight. Our plants aren't caring for the cold and blustery weather either. The Habanero and Tabasco plants looked so bad that I decided to bring them inside on Saturday. Our okra also looked very droopy by yesterday. But there is hope. The forecast calls for highs near 90 (32.2 c) by the end of the week!

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Habanero plant looking much better out of the wind and cold

Okra

Our six okra plants are really starting to put on the pods after slowing down just a bit in the hottest months. These plants have been a very pleasant surprise. They seem to grow and produce better here than anything else we've planted. Here's a picture of today's harvest.

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Vegetable Update

Just a late Summer/early Fall update today on our various container-grown vegetables. The strongest producer at present in the okra. The four original plants are going strong and still putting out a decent number of pods. Over the last week, the two plants that I started later in the Summer have also started bearing. The daily high temperatures are still a bit hot for the tomatoes, but I have one Black Prince on the vine and just picked two off of the Sunmaster plant. We're getting lots of blooms but most are still drying out and dropping. Some of the plants are also looking a bit stressed and wilted on their lower parts. I'm hoping that when the highs fall into the mid to lower 90s (33 to 34 c) the tomatoes will pick up. The hanging basket cucumber plant is doing well. It now has a second cucumber growing. As for peppers, it seems that we are going to have several red bell peppers and the Habanero and Tabasco have put on lots and lots of blooms this past week.

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Cucumber #2

First Black Prince tomato of the Fall

Lots of blooms but no tomatoes on this Hawaiian Tropic plant

Veggie Output

Vegetable production is picking up a bit. If the daily highs will just cool off a few more degrees then things should really get going. I'm hoping that there are many more pictures like these to come over the course of the Fall.

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This Sunmaster tomato should be ready soon.

The okra has really picked up its pace.

This is going to be my first cucumber.

Two Plants, Two Soils

You'd never guess by looking at them, but the okra plant on the left, in the picture below, is several weeks older than the plant on the right. The only difference between the two (other than age) is that righty is planted in Miracle Grow potting mix while lefty is in a different brand.

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Blooming in the Heat

The past couple of days have been very nice here in Vegas. Cloud cover and the threat of rain have managed to keep high temperatures in the 95 to 100 degree range. For those of you that have never experienced Summer in America's desert Southwest, such temperatures are quite a reprieve. August in Vegas really sucks the energy out of person and plant alike.

Out in the garden this is very evident as the plants are just refusing to put on new vegetables. With the amount of blooms we've had recently on our Jalapeno, bell pepper, okra, and tomato plants we would be overwhelmed with produce if the temperature would just stay below the mid 90 (32 c) degree mark. Instead, with normal daytime highs hovering between 105 and 110 (41 to 43 c) and nightly lows in the mid to upper 80s (29-31 c), the blooms just dry up, fall off, and blow away in the hot desert wind. Even our okra (a plant that loves heat) is saying no way, as it's dropping bloom after bloom rather than producing pods. It all really makes me wonder at how people could live here before the age of air conditioning. They must have been some extraordinarily tough characters!

Jalapeno Blooms

Bell Pepper Blooms

Dried Up Okra Blooms

Red Bugs on Okra

Some very tiny red bugs (at least I think they are bugs) have decided to make a home of our okra plants. Yesterday, I noticed that a few of the leaves were discolored just a bit. Upon a much closer inspection, I discovered lots of little red specs. These things are very small, much smaller even than a flea. A quick Internet search hasn't turned up any possibilities as to what type of bug they might be. I suppose that I'll have to find something to spray them with today. I was hoping the rain last night would wash them away, but I don't think the five drops that fell accomplished the task. But hey, at least it rained!

Family's Garden

Here are a few pics from my family's garden in Alabama. Check out the number of tomatoes on their plants. I wish I could get mine to produce like that!

All 48 plants look like this!

Huge German Queen

Lots of Okra

Bama Veggies

Things certainly grow well in the Alabama soil. Here are a few pictures of some okra and tomatoes harvested yesterday from my parents' and grandfather's garden. The amount of vegetables growing there is really amazing. I'll have some pictures of the garden itself tomorrow.

German Queen tomatoes

a few of many, many tomatoes from their vines

single day's okra harvest

Happy 4th of July!

This is a guest post from The Wife, writing to y'all from over yonder in Alabama! We left Vegas Wednesday night and arrived at the in-laws at the crack of dawn (10am) yesterday. So far it has all been just lovely y'all, with sweet tea (yum!), fried okra (twice!!), and warm biscuits for breakfast - it is all so good! Speaking of southern food, here is a picture of my Husband at the airport in Dallas eating biscuits and gravy and grits! Hah, he was sooo close to home and he just couldn't help himself but start the comfort food feasting right there and then!

For the record, John wants me to put in a caption about him looking silly in this picture, but I refuse, a picture says a thousand words y'all! The picture below shows a close-up of the entirely white meal, isn't that something, it just tickles me to death to see a complete meal all in one color!

Anyways y'all, we are fixing to cook our special recipes for grilled okra and portobello mushrooms for the big family lunch - hopefully they love these dishes as much as we do! Enjoy your Independence Day!

Turn on the AC, Please!

It looks like the dreaded 100 plus degree days have arrived to stay. Today will be the third or fourth in a row in the 105 range. The ten day forecast has all highs coming in at over 100, with tomorrow being the hottest at 108. I 've decided post pics of a few of my plants now, and then repost more of the same plants in a few weeks. It should be interesting to compare the pics and see how they are handling the heat.

Okra

Sunmaster (left), recently planted Heatwave (right)

Heatwave

Lemon Boy

Black Prince

Tabasco Pepper

Jalapeno

Basil (second planting)

Grilled Okra

Having grown up in the Deep South, I've eaten alot of okra in my life. As anyone that's ever tried it can attest, okra fried in some cornmeal batter is one of the world's best tasting treats. Yesterday evening, however, my wife Marianne and I set out to find a new way to prepare it that was both better for us and wouldn't stink up the house with that frying smell that she detests.

After looking up a few recipes, we decided that grilling was the way to go. We took some okra that I had harvested from the container garden in the last couple of days, skewered it, coated it in olive oil, sprinkled on some Cajun seasoning, and threw it on the grill for about 4 minutes per side. The finished product was very flavorful, tender, and devoid of that infamous okra slime. And to top it all off, the house didn't smell like a deep fryer afterwards. All in all, grilled okra makes for some fine eating!

Grilled okra with a homegrown Lemon Boy tomato

Okra Blossoms

For those of you that are curious about the blog's title image of the pretty yellowish flower, wonder no more. The picture is of an okra blossom on one of my plants. So, beyond producing the delicious tasting pods that they're famous for, you can see that okra plants are really very ornamental. There are also multiple strains of hybrid and heirloom okra plants that vary greatly by size and color. Maybe I'll plant a few of a dwarf variety like the red Little Lucy in some small pots around the back just to liven things up a bit. Some other interesting possibilities include: Alabama Red, White Velvet, Red Velvet, Red Burgundy, and Star of David.