Top photo is today, lower photo is yesterday. The short fat pods are the Star of David cultivar. The longer, thinner pods are the Baby Bubba hybrid.
It's true, this Spring was unusually hot. I didn't think they would grow and did not invest much effort in these at first - planted in ground, in rows. When they started growing, I became more interested, thinned the plants, provided fencing for animal predation protection.
My failures this year, were okra plants that I grew indoors and set out in the garden. They failed to thrive, and died - I think it was too early, and on top of that rabbits ate them .
In the top photo, thete are 3 large pods and one small malformed pod. The top three were hand pollinated, using a paintbrush. i left the flower for the other one, to its own devices and local insects. I dont think the insects here are pollenizers for okra. The only flowers that have formed pods, are ones that I pollinated.
There are lots more flower buds. Cool weather ahead may limit bearing, but at the moment i'm very happy.
We've had sveral meals from these Cinese bean seeds that I resurrected from packets in the 6 to 10 year old range, maybe older. There seem to be 3 types. The wider ones were what we remembered from the past. Wuote delicious, stir fried i the Northeast Chinese way with potatoes. Tradition calls for pork but I am vegetarian, and I think their flavor as is, is great
These are perennals for next year if they grow. I bought seeds for Echinacea - both the wildflower species and the hybrid "Warm summer". The hybrid had all of 10 seeds in the packet, but I don't need more than that anyway. There is also hybrid Lychnis, unnamed Rudbeckia species, Asclepias tuberosa, and a hybrid perennial hibiscus.
