Late Summer in the Kitchen Garden, 9.3.16

Lots of Peppers, tomatoes, and some okra.  Very happy with the yields this season.

Radishes, Chinese Cabbage, Daikon and Chinese Radishes.  Planted late July in space left when storage onions and potatoes were harvested.

Turnips, radishes, broccoli, and kohlrabi.  These need thinning now.

Okra plants still looking good.  Yield is not high, but a lot better than nothing.

Perennial Seedlings. 9.3.16

So far, we have germination of most of the hibiscus, a few Echinacea, and a few Asclepius.  Lychnis and Rudbeckia may have some germinating seeds, or they may be weeds.  Interesting to watch.

Pumpkins, Squashes, Indian Corn. 9.2.16

Fall rains have started, so  I a starting to harvest winter squashes,pumpkins, and Indian corn

The squashes in top photo are Spaghetti squash, 

The yellow squash is a spaghetti squash.  There are any more.  The pink warty pumpkins are Galeux D'Eysines.  The small orange one is the smallest of Rouge Vif D'Etampes

Some of the painted Mountain Indian Corn.  So beautiful.

The big pumpkin is Golias.  there is also a smaller one.

One of the Pink Banana squashes and one of the Rouge Vif D'Etampes pumpkins.  The stems are not yet woody so I didn't harvest yet.

Resurrected Chinese Beans. 8.28.16

 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

The intent is to save pods from each type.  Beans normally pollinate within the flower, so may grow true.  I would not be surprised, if they dont.  I will label plants of each type for sed saving, so that I can segregate them next year.  Red/pale, Red/green, and Black/green.

Not bad.  Even though initial germination of tne old seeds was only about 20%, we got a lot of beans in the end, and vigor, for most, was great.

You CAN Grow Okra in Southwest Washington State. 8.27.16

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.