Okra & Tomatoes

Okra and tomatoes could have been served together last night, but there were only a few okra and these 1st few tomatoes need to be eaten raw with just a little salt or some cucumbers. There is nothing like a home grown tomato. Two tomatoes were picked Saturday. There was another ripe one yesterday, but it was rotten.

It hasn’t rained since Saturday night so BT was sprayed last night. That will probably guarantee rain today or tonight. Spraying the garden is kind of like washing the car. There are holes in some leaves, but there do not seem to be any larvae or eggs on the bottom of them. There have been quite a few fireflies observed. Maybe they are eating the harmful larvae. The spotted cucumber beetle has not shown up yet this year, but he will be here.

The blueberries that were planted a few months ago are producing already. These are the ones that came from the 4H club and from the Wing-haven sale. The one that was still alive after last year and that had blueberries last year has not even bloomed.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Tomato Envy

For male gardeners out of puberty and all female gardeners tomato envy is one of the greatest curses of gardening. Who will get the 1st tomato? Who will get the largest and the tastiest? Who has the coolest heirloom? What if the tomatoes get a disease or are disfigured? The list goes on and on and the anxiety builds until the crop starts coming in healthy and tasty.

The tomato fence in our garden had to have another rail installed. The vines are over my head, but the tomatoes (the vines are loaded) are mostly within a few inches of the ground. The fence seems to have kept the deer out this year, but there are still many critters that can get the low hanging fruit from the tomato vines. As the 4th of July (our normal 1st tomato day) approaches the anxiety hightens.

The okra is producing little pods and should be ready to pick by Sunday. Would it be wonderful to have okra and tomatoes together.? Maybe it will happen soon. This weekend will be devoted to making sauerkraut and drying squash. Of course the standard jobs of turning compost, mulching, weeding and tying tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants continues.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Okra Blooming

Finally the 1st blooms appeared on the Okra. Until last year the okra was pretty much left out of our garden because picking it is so itchy. It is worth it. A long sleeve shirt beats the itch and okra is so good in so many ways. Many people limit their okra to fried okra because of the slime. They are really limiting themselves, because frying okra destroys the best part of the experience.

Okra in stews and little mixes of vegetable is really great. It enhances the flavor of almost everything. Speckled limas, fresh sweet corn and onions are fantastic. Add stewed tomatoes and a little basil and the flavor goes through the roof. Stewed tomato and okra served cold is a summer delight. Green beans and new potatoes with a few pods of okra are excellent.

Some people leave the end of the okra where it is picked from the plant to keep the juice and seeds from running all over the place. This destroys the okra for me, because it does not blend with the other foods. As good as the okra is, it is not one of my favorites if it is not mixed with other vegetables.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Squash Time

The squash is here big time. All three types of summer squash: yellow crookneck, patty-pan and zucchini are producing like crazy. Of the winter squash, only the butternut has bloomed. The winter squash is in a corner that does not get as much sun as the rest of the garden. We have been eating squash and giving it away for over a week now.

Ana made a fantastic lasagna with zucchini and kale. Her lasagna is always wonderful, but this may be the best yet. She has also grilled a lot of marinated patty-pan and made a lot of stir fries. Michael Swol said that he was going to make stuffed patty-pan with the ones I gave him. We put his recipe in the blog last year and it is in “THE INCOMPLETE GARDEN BOOK”, but I will try to get the “new and improved” version and publish it here soon.

The okra is waist high. The tomatoes are shoulder high. They are loaded with small tomatoes. The early girl variety started putting on little tomatoes 1st this year. Usually they are last. The cucumber vines are huge, but the largest cucumber is about 3’ long. That won’t be worth the trouble to pick. Straight 8 was the variety planted, but with members of the cucurbit family, one never knows what will actually appear.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Bone Dry

Yesterday was the traditional day (Labor Day) to plant the fall garden. The soil is so dry in the raised beds, that it is hard to work the dirt. Everything did manage to get in the ground, however. The broccoli and cabbage plants were first on Sunday, and they were well watered in. Then radish and carrots were planted together as filler between the plants, and collards and turnips went into another bed. On Sunday the mustard and kale went into the ground.

It is so dry that the compost had to be watered. Even the spotted cucumber beetles seem to have dried up and gone away. The watermelons and cantaloupes are finished and can be pulled up. The fence can be removed. The okra in the raised beds is still green and producing even though it has all fallen down. The okra planted in the dirt is mostly dead. The stalks on the raised bed okra are over an inch thick. The stalks on the dirt planted are about an inch thick.

The only thing planted in dirt, and still producing, that will stop the fall tilling are the peppers. They are really producing a lot of peppers. The lima beans are still green and growing, but they are so close to the fence that they won’t hamper the tilling.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Fall Cleaning Progresses

The garden part of the weekend was dedicated to getting ready for fall planting and cleaning out the accumulated debris of the season. The accumulation bin of the compost system was pretty much filled with old squash plants, grass and old sunflower stalks. Some of the grass was so bad the lawnmower was used. That is in the section that will be tilled anyway. The fence-line between the neighbor and the grapevines was trimmed back as well; but that stuff went on the street.

The vacant beds (there are 5 of them) still need to be raked and refreshed. A new addition will be added to each one. They will get a permanent “corner post” in each corner just like an old four-poster bed. It will be either bamboo or fence post that can be used to attach trellises or other supports. The okra has mostly been beaten down by the rain. The corn suffered the same fate earlier. Maybe a few bamboo poles around the edge would have given enough support to stop this.

The lima bean vines have some little beans on them; but are still not ready to pick. They made beautiful vines really early, but took a long time to flower and to make beans. They do not seem to be very prolific. Everything has slowed down anyway except the weeds and the bugs.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Mystery Squash

One has to wonder what type of misogyny goes on in the garden when no-one is looking. The squash seeds we got this year were really mixed up. The patty-pan was a light colored zucchini. The spaghetti squash was mostly true, except for one plant. This plant is producing something that looks like a small watermelon and taste like a cucumber. It is not particularly good.

The first tomato is almost ready to pick. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will survive to turn red in the garden. There is a great temptation to pick it and put it on a window sill, but we are resisting the urge.

One day in the life of picking okra was skipped. The okra got 7” long. It was still tender however. The new planting of patty-pan squash is coming along well. The zucchini and the light zucchini are still producing strong, as is the yellow crookneck. The leaves on the yellow crookneck are looking sad. It does not look like the powdery mildew. It just looks tired and dry.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Will the Real Patty-Pan Squash Please Stand Up

The momentous event actually took place on the 16th. As was mentioned in earlier blogs, the patty-pan squash that was planted on Good Friday, turned out to be a pale zucchini. On Saturday the 11th, seeds were obtained from Myers Park Garden Center. They were Reneé’s so I have confidence they are the real thing. They went in the ground on the 12th and on the afternoon of the 16th the first two had sprouted.

Yesterday some of them had true leaves. I just hope they have true fruit. The other squash are really coming in. The cucumbers, okra and corn are doing likewise. There are some good sized watermelons on the fence and the spaghetti squash is loaded. The corn is the surprise. It has been smashed down by rain several times. The ears are very small for silver queen, but they are fully filled out and they have very sweet and tasty kernels.

One tomato was starting to blush just a little yesterday (Sunday the 20th). Maybe there will be a complete salad in the future. The mesclun is looking a little ratty, but it is still producing. We harvest with the scissors, so we have to pull the leaves off of a tough center stalk now.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/