Need planting suggestions

[evtubbergh]

I don't think I would like the soup thing but we did eat gumbo in New Orleans, I wonder if it had okra in. Anyway I may try one of the others

Yes, punkrotten, what did you plant ?

[feldon30]

I don't think I would like the soup thing but we did eat gumbo in New Orleans, I wonder if it had okra in. Anyway I may try one of the others

If it's real gumbo it did.


The green circles.

[Lindsaylew82]

We make a tomato based vegetable soup with okra. Very tasty with cornbread. It's just scalded whole crushed tomatoes, corn, okra, potatoes, and a smile bit of cabbage, butter, salt and pepper. In the south, we cook the crap out of everything. This soup is chunky, but silky (thanks to the okra) at the same time!

I'm partial to hot okra pickles! If I could only pick 3 crops to grow, it'd be tomatoes, okra, and squash. In that order!

[ElizabethB]

PunkRotten - DITTO Feldon. You can plant any warm weather crops. In you 2' x 4' bed you can grow either cucumbers or indeterminate tomatoes vertically. Build a frame on the 4' side. Grow 4/6 cucumbers or 2/3 indeterminate tomatoes. In front you have room for other plants - herbs or bush beans. You could also grow 3 pepper plants. MAYBE 2 eggplants if they are caged. Herbs would be great in your 3 gallon containers - 1 each.

Supposedly gumbo is an African word for Okra. The jury is out on "Real Gumbo". Tomato based gumbo is referred to as Creole Gumbo. Cajun Gumbo is roux based. A shrimp and okra - roux based - gumbo is a staple in "Cajun Country". The okra is usually lightly fried - okra in a hot skillet - to get rid of the "slime". It is added near the end of the cooking process - just before the shrimp.

Happy planting

[evtubbergh]

@ElizabethB Ah we had tomato based gumbo. We were in a fairly authentic looking place though. The locals looked at us funny when we walked in.

[PunkRotten]

Nothing yet, I just got a break today. Over the weekend I am gonna go buy a few plants probably. I never see Okra starts here though. Still not sure what I am going to plant. I'll just make up my mind while plant shopping.

[applestar]

I think okra is better direct seeded, which means you get more variety choices.
(I pre germinated mine and it only took 1-2 days)

[PunkRotten]

Maybe I will get some seeds then. Gonna try to do this tomorrow.

[ElizabethB]

PunkRotten - if you are considering okra you may find this helpful.

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_offic ... dition.htm

Good luck

[PunkRotten]

Browsed the plant section at Lowes but saw nothing I wanted. I was almost tempted to grab a stevia plant but you need to process it to get the white powder. Anyway, I got some Okra and Zucchini seeds. They had a few Okra varieties and I chose one called baby bubba hybrid. It says it is suitable for pots too. So I may try one in one of the 3 gallons. my plans are one bed to 1 Zucchini plant, another bed to 2 Okra, and the final for a few bush bean plants. The 3 gallon pots I may go with one Okra plant or I may just search my seed stash and find something else for the pots. The bed I am going to plant the Okra is perfect. It gets sun all day. I hear Okra can handle like 100F+ heat pretty well. I have never grown Okra, but how much do you get from one plant generally? What amount of plants is ideal for one person?

[ElizabethB]

PunkRotten - here is some information on crop yield. Of course they are talking about row gardening but it will give you and idea of what to expect.

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/lawn_gard ... yields.htm

3 or 4 okra plants won't yield a whole lot. They do need cross pollination so place your pots close to the bed.

Good luck

BTW - our climates are similar enough for most of this information to be applicable.