Got about 1/2 the fall garden planted

[gumbo2176]

The cucumber and Yard Longs I put in a couple weeks ago are up and running. I put in 16 ft. of a 6 ft. tall trellis worth of Sugar Snap Peas this morning, along with 8 more pepper plants, 4 collard green plants, and sowed soybeans, Brite Lites and Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard, beets, kohlrabi, and another attempt at squash now that summer is drawing to a close. Hopefully the SVB's will give me a break by the time they are producing.

I still have about 1/2 the garden with mature hot pepper plants, eggplant and lots of okra plants that have it looking like a jungle as they are between 5-7 ft. tall each and spread over 3 rows.

I'll pull the okra in a week or so since I now have more than I can use in a year put up in jars and my freezer. I'm giving away all I pick now. It's always fun to remove the okra plants since the stalks are now 2-3" in diameter and look like little trees with a great root system. Many of them will have to be dug out going by past experience. That is one job I don't look forward to.

Hope the weatherman is wrong about next weeks temps. They are calling for mid to upper 90's and that is not nice to work in the garden.

[imafan26]

Good for you. I did get some plants in too.

I transplanted the lettuce and cucumber seedlings. The beans are starting to grow longer, and I planted my ez leaf celery. I still have a lot more weeding and half of the vegetable garden to go.

[lakngulf]

Sounds like a great fall garden, and lingering summer plants. You are way ahead of me. We have been traveling for several days, so I have no idea what my garden will look like. Had a guy looking after things and told him to pick anything he wanted. Okra plants are like yours, but we will pick and eat as long as they produce, and then let some go to seed.

I have probably asked before, but how do you prepared the okra for the freezer?

[gumbo2176]

I have probably asked before, but how do you prepared the okra for the freezer?

I'll wait until I have a bit more than a gallon container of okra picked and cut it like I was going to fry it, but just a bit thinner.

1 large onion diced
5-6 cloves garlic minced
1 large can of petite diced tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes if available
2 tbsp. Worcesteshire Sauce
2 tbsp. hot sauce of choice
Salt and pepper to taste-----I do this at the end of cooking time.

In a large enough pot put about 2 tbsp. oil to heat. Add the onion and wilt them down for a couple minutes, then add the garlic and let that cook down for a couple minutes. Next add the tomatoes, if using canned, do not drain. Use the tomato can to add a full can of water to the pot. Add the okra, hot sauce, Worcestershire Sauce and mix thoroughly. This will be fairly thick but as it cooks down the okra will release liquid.

Cook this over a fairly low heat for about 4 hours stirring every 20 minutes or so to keep it mixed and not sticking to the bottom of the pot. I have a gas stove and use a heat diffuser between the pot and burner to better distribute the heat and avoid hot spots. When done, add salt and pepper to taste. The last thing I do is take a potato masher and use it to break up the larger pieces of okra, but that is a personal choice. Let it cool, bag it and put it in the freezer for later use.

I use this in my vegetable/beef soup and especially in many of the varying gumbos I cook. Because it is already stewed down, it can go directly into the gumbo or soup and is not slimy like okra can be when first cooking down.

[applestar]

I put in 16 ft. of a 6 ft. tall trellis worth of Sugar Snap Peas this morning [...]

Hope the weatherman is wrong about next weeks temps. They are calling for mid to upper 90's and that is not nice to work in the garden.

So will the peas come up? Fall peas of any productive quantity has not been successful for me so far. I think mainly we just done have the extended fall season between hot and hard frost/freeze here. I sowed some peas but they are taking their time to sprout (I didn't pre/germinate them before planting)

I think we have may be 6-7 wks to first frost at this point.... Not sure if these zuke/yellow squash will have enough time. I also planted thus h-19 little leaf cuke seedling as experiment. Sowed lettuce, chard, onion and carrot mix in the empty spot here, and radishes red orach and spinach, more chard and carrots in other beds.

These direct seeded cukes -- not h-19... Can't remember if it was Market More or a Japanese var -- are also trying to grow:

b5e94859698c78215d91633c47952198.jpg (69.67 KiB) Viewed 604 times

[gumbo2176]

Applestar, if I go by the past 2 winters, we will have very little frost. Of course, that is not written in stone, but I plant with the idea that I'll get something before any frost hits, and if it does, that's the gamble I took. Then again, if not, it pays off in dividends for me.

I remember one year I had beautiful tomatoes in early December and about 2/3 of them were beginning to turn orange, just prior to ripening. We had one of the worst hail storms to hit my area and it totally destroyed my garden and beat everything to the ground. It defoliated my trees, busted holes in my roof and tore up our vehicles. Nature can sometimes be cruel. It made me sick to lose all those tomatoes.

I've been doing this for many years and I know that it is sometimes a crapshoot as to what is going to produce or succumb to pests, weather, or diseases. But I do it anyway.