What did You do Right?

[Phaedra]

I think that I only grew okra once, @Phaedra .

It was years ago, outdoors, and when Dad shared half of his garden with me. Dad grew up in New Mexico. He was obviously not impressed but I don't remember him saying anything .

Sorta, the same as when I have tried sweet potatoes ...

Steve

Steve, this time, the okra surprises me, no, it shocks me! I will take a photo and you will understand. It grows like a tree.....oh my, I never know an okra can grow so huge. I might need to remove it soon from the raised bed - it's already two meter high now.

I'm pretty curious so I keep two pods for the seeds. Gosh, the pods can also grow until soooooooo big

 

[Hornad]

Steve, this time, the okra surprises me, no, it shocks me! I will take a photo and you will understand. It grows like a tree.....oh my, I never know an okra can grow so huge. I might need to remove it soon from the raised bed - it's already two meter high now.

I'm pretty curious so I keep two pods for the seeds. Gosh, the pods can also grow until soooooooo big

I grew okra this year.
I grew 8"

 

[digitS']

This post should probably be moved off a thread about finding the "right" path because the tomatoes went both ways. Late – the most of them are showing up at what could be the absolute end of the season. We have had frosts plenty of years by this date.

Dragging their feet, nonetheless, they are certainly larger than usual. The size just might be the result of using compost as a mulch. All of the recent years, I have grown potted cherry tomatoes in 100% homemade compost. Pots of 6 gallon capacity restrict plant growth and the same varieties, in the open garden 17 miles away, always did better.

I've never grown beefsteak tomatoes here at home and, if I ever mulched tomatoes, I don't remember it. Applying organic fertilizer mid-season is common practice.

Well, the tomatoes ripening are "full size" in 2024.


This Gary O Sena is 1 1/4 pounds. I had to restore seed from Restoration Seed several years ago and they say that Gary O Sena can produce 20 ounce fruit. Bingo. However, it has never done that for me.
Here's a thread I put on TEG a dozen years ago and you can see the larger tomato in the first group is Gary O Sena. What I wrote was that it was 14 ounces. Well, some of them are 6 ounces larger in '24! LINK

Stephen

 

[Branching Out]

I grew okra this year.
I grew 8" View attachment 68468

That's about how tall my okra grows too-- a short plant with one and only one pod.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Picked apples today before the deer got them.

 

[ducks4you]

I DIDN'T cut down the old red (don't know what kind of ) apple tree, since it decided to live AND produce.

 

[digitS']

The Kellogg’s Breakfast variety is a justifiably popular heirloom. They never grew this large in the distant garden. Although, I didn’t grow them often there. They are a late variety so I couldn’t trust them to make much of a crop. They are late here at home too but they are loaded with fruit, and probably a few more that are 1 1/2# .

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

View attachment 69155
The Kellogg’s Breakfast variety is a justifiably popular heirloom. They never grew this large in the distant garden. Although, I didn’t grow them often there. They are a late variety so I couldn’t trust them to make much of a crop. They are late here at home too but they are loaded with fruit, and probably a few more that are 1 1/2# .

Steve

Looks like your having a jumbo tomato year @digitS'.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

@digitS' Tomato haha I thought it was a pumpkin…

 

[digitS']

I am trying not to limit us in the world of plant varieties. It will be difficult to transition from a 6000 sqft++ garden to a 700 sqft+ garden. What a change! After over 20 years from when I first carried tools across the alley to a vacant lot, we are no longer GOOPP-ing (Gardening On Other People's Property).

It won't be easy to enjoy a variety of varieties. Let's see, that could be a VoV ... but, whatever . We have favorites, yes. They are almost like old friends that we enjoy welcoming back each growing season. We know that they have proven performance and, if vegetables, we know that we will enjoy them at the table. Ornamentals — beauty in the yard and in the vase.

Succession planting can play a small role. That's important to us and fits with the idea that "in life, timing is everything." Well, it may not be eeevveryything, but, it is workable to sow seeds and move transplants outside their usual season and it's very worthy of the effort. Now, I will need to be more imaginative as to what varieties might be involved. For example, if we enjoy having one green bean variety from a Spring planting, might we enjoy a different variety from a Summer sowing?

The most important reason for VoV is that seasonally, weather is not consistent. We often learn the effects of this to our dismay when a crop fails. It may not be as dramatic as that: If the Charentais melon is underperforming, the Galia melon may be coming through, and what about that Crenshaw around the corner?

Steve