Baby Veggies

Awwww, aren't they cute!?


I know, I know - it's so small you can't tell what it is, right? (NEVER EVER say something like this to a guy. I'm just sayin'....)

That's an okra. Yup, a red okra (or more of a burgundy color actually?)


I took those pics a short while back and I've now had a whopping THREE okra off the plants. THREE!? Mary's picked TWO POUNDS IN A DAY recently!! :( I don't know if it's because mine are shaded on the west side by the pea-carcasses (ok, so I haven't pulled them and haven't buried them - I need to pick off any dried seed pods, but now it's been raining for three days. No complaints about that, but it doesn't make for dry seed pods)

Anyhow - hopefully next year I'll have better luck with the okra. I transplanted these as seedlings I started in pots. I understand they're not fond of transplanting, so next year maybe I'll try side-by-side tests - transplanted and direct seeded, and we'll see how that goes.

Oh, and here's a green one...



I saw another couple forming on the plants yesterday. So while Mary's are dying off (she says it's neglect - I figure they've already cranked out so many okra they're spent!? And we're both blaming the cooler nights), mine are just starting to pick up steam. Weird. Oh, and Brian, who used to work here in my dept but is now elsewhere on campus, got some of the cast-off seedlings that I'd given Andy this spring - my babies are spreading out further than I knew! Anyhow - Brian peeked in the other day to say he wish he'd known when to pick okra - that he and Jess let them mature WAY too much on the plants and were woody. Yup, they'll do that. Not good for soups OR breading/frying once that happens.

And this picture is of my developing Brussel's sprouts.


Turns out I have quite a few plants that have done really well all summer, and are starting to show more growth (this pic is a couple weeks old now?) - maybe they're liking the cooler weather, or maybe it's that I finally started watering more AND we've been getting some rain. Either way, I think I'm gonna have a bumper crop of Brussel's sprouts. YUM!