I have recently started reflecting on where plants in our garden are originally from, because people often ask me the same question about myself. Most of our flowers, fruits, veggies and herbs in the garden are from other countries. I have started writing a series of blog posts to explore some of our favourite flowers and edibles we have grown over the years which are from overseas. In this post, I would like to cover some plants we have grown in our garden that are thought to originate from Africa. Watermelon Years ago, I used to be able to grow watermelons (and other types of melons) successfully in our garden in Auckland. Sadly, this is no longer possible due to climate change as our summers start later every year, are shorter and temperatures are considerably cooler than in previous years. Here is a picture of a watermelon which I grew three years ago. It is a variety called Charleston Grey and was grown from seed. Okra We love okra and enjoy growing it every summer. Like snake beans, I plant okra in late December and it usually crops in late autumn (April and May for us). I have experimented and discovered that okra performs better when planted in containers. I use 9 litre black square pots filled with potting mix. Okra is self-pollinating and does not require help from bees. The plants produce a beautiful flower in the hibiscus family, which turns into an okra pod. Once plants start forming flowers, I recommend keeping an eye on them regularly so you can pick okra as soon as they are fully developed. If left on the plant for too long, they become quite tough to eat and are not very nice. Broad beans We enjoy growing broad beans in spring. They are incredibly easy to grow, delicious to eat and the plants are good for fixing nitrogen in the soil. We shell and freeze surplus broad beans. I recommend blanching them first for best results. Tropical impatiens I grew tropical impatiens from seed for the first time last spring. I sowed the seeds in a punnet filled with some seed raising mix and covered them with some more mixture lightly. I propagated them on my heat pad as temperatures can be quite cool in spring, especially at night. Once the plants had germinated, I moved them into our greenhouse to grow a bit more before potting them up into six cell punnets. Once they had outgrown them, I potted each plant into an individual 10cm plastic pot and left them in our patio to grow. In late summer, I potted each plant into a larger pot. As it started to get cooler towards the end of autumn, I moved the plants into our greenhouse as tropical impatiens are sensitive to the cold and I didn’t want to risk losing the plants, especially as I had put so much effort into caring for them. Here is a picture of the fourteen plants that originated from a packet containing approximately 20 seeds. The variety is called New Guinea Divine Mix and is available from Egmont Seeds in New Zealand. If you live overseas, check your local mail order seed suppliers to see if they have this variety.
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Here’s a round up of developments in the garden. Harvesting pumpkins and butternuts My pumpkins and butternuts died off the vines quite early this year so I harvested them and stored them inside. The butternut variety that we grew this year was called Chieftain. We also grew Spaghetti Squash and the following pumpkin varieties – Blue Hubbard, Jarrahdale and Queensland Blue. All of these are known to store really well. Harvesting okra Our okra is starting to become ready! This season I grew four varieties: Gunjan, Emerald Green, Clemson Spineless and Burgundy. I planted my okra in 9 litre square black plastic containers (around the size of a household bucket). I have 193 plants in total. Every two days, I keep an eye on them as they mature quickly. It’s best to harvest them while they are young otherwise they can start to become too tough. Planting rudbeckia seedlings My marigolds that were planted in large plastic baba troughs had just about had it, so I pulled them out and replaced them with some dwarf rudbeckia seedlings that I raised from seed. This is the first time that I have grown rudbeckia and I am very pleased with the results. They are very easy to grow from seed and required little effort on my part. Potting up seedlings I have been busy working in my nursery. I have been potting up lettuce seedlings (including the wonderful variety Degli Ortolani from Italian Seeds Pronto), Pak Choi, Silverbeet, Kale and Spinach. When they have grown a bit in the seed raising trays I transferred them to, I will move them into the garden. I expect this to be in March some time. Next steps
This year, I’m growing a greater range of okra than I normally would because I wanted to conduct a growing trial to compare and contrast some of the different varieties available in New Zealand. Okra is a difficult vegetable to grow because it requires a very hot and long summer, which we don’t have in Auckland. Sometimes the plants only start fruiting in April, which is well into autumn! Unfortunately by the time they get going, it’s starting to get cooler and growth soon stops. I have experimented over the years and have found that growing okra in containers is the best method. This year, I intend to do the same thing.
Varieties I am growing this year Yesterday, I sowed the following varieties in punnets filled with a little seed raising mix from Gardn Gro, and placed them on my heat pad.
I’m not sure if there are other varieties available in NZ, but these were the ones that I wanted to try and grow this year. I’m sure the selection is greater overseas but I’m not keen on the hassle of importing seeds because MAP (the Ministry of Primary Industries) is pretty strict about what can be brought into the country due to pests and diseases. Once the seedlings germinate and grow a bit, I will transfer them to six-cell punnets. Then when the plants are bigger, I will pot them up into individual 10 cm pots with a bit of potting mix. From there, when they’re big enough (and it’s hot enough outside), I will transfer them to 9 litre black plastic containers and wait patiently for them to crop. One of the things that’s really good about okra is that it doesn’t require pollination. The flowers are also really beautiful. Apparently they belong to the hibiscus family. I’ll be reporting back regarding progress of the plants later on in the season, so check back regularly for updates. Ideas for using okra in the kitchen
Okra (also known as Ladies’ Fingers or bhindi) is one of my favourite Indian vegetables. The origin of okra is contested, but it comes from Africa and South East Asia. While a little more challenging to grow in New Zealand’s more temperate climate, it is nonetheless possible to grow okra successfully, at least in the Auckland region and further north.
Okra is traditionally green, but it is also possible to find the seeds for burgundy and orange okra in New Zealand. Homegrown okra tastes so much more tender and fresher than imported okra, which can sometimes be quite tough, not to mention expensive. Okra is a very versatile vegetable. It is highly prized in Asian cuisine and makes a wonderful addition to curries. It is also used in gumbo (a type of stew) in the southern states of the USA. We enjoy it cooked in a pot with a little onion, chilli and turmeric. It doesn’t take long to cook and is so delicious! We like having okra as an accompaniment to dahl and curries. The main trick is to not sow okra too early in the season. My other tip is to try growing okra in containers if like me, you don’t have luck growing okra in the ground. I hope that with the help of information in this guide, you’ll be able to grow some of your own successfully this season. In my experience, okra should be started undercover in mid-November and no earlier. Don’t forget that okra is a subtropical vegetable that performs best in really hot weather. While it’s natural to want a head start on the season, my advice is to not be in a rush to sow okra seeds and plant out seedlings. There is often a dramatic difference between day and night time temperatures at this time of the year and the weather can still be quite temperamental. Young seedlings are particularly tender. Once they’ve been hit by a sudden cold snap or exposed to consistently low temperatures, they never really recover. It’s therefore a good idea to wait until mid November to start sowing okra seeds, when temperatures are warmer. This way, the seedlings you plant out in December will be a bit more established and strong enough to survive any setbacks along the way. This might seem very late and many people are simply too impatient to wait, but in my experience okra started any earlier almost always ends up dying at some point simply due to the temperatures being too cool. Whether you can grow okra successfully or not does depend on where you live. New Zealand’s climate varies dramatically from region to region and I do have to remember that not all of my audience lives in Auckland or even New Zealand for that matter. My personal gardening experiences are limited to our urban homestead in the Auckland region, so please take this into account when considering my advice. On the same token, what grows well in my environment may not necessarily thrive in your own microclimate. In my opinion, it is possible to grow okra successfully in Auckland and north of Auckland. It may be possible to grow okra successfully in other parts of New Zealand, in certain parts with the help of a glasshouse. Sowing okra from seed Now is the perfect time to sow okra. It can be hard to find okra seedlings at the garden centre, so why not try growing okra from seed? It’s very easy, provided you sow seeds when it’s warmer. Okra germinates relatively quickly, so it will only take about 10 days to two weeks until your plants reach a stage where they’re large enough to transplant outside, either in the ground or in pots. As okra seeds have a very hard coat, I find it helpful to soak seeds for a few hours prior to sowing. This improves the rate of germination. Even in November, I still raise okra seedlings undercover to protect them from fluctuating night time temperatures. Okra seeds need warmth in order to germinate. I germinate seeds in punnets filled with seed raising mix from Gardn Gro. I like Gardn Gro’s seed raising mix as it is very fine in texture, enabling seeds to push through the mixture easily as they rise to the surface. I place the punnets inside plastic incubators which you can purchase from garden centres. I then place the incubators on a heat pad indoors and spray plants with water once daily or twice if the seed raising mixture is very dry. If you don’t have a heat pad you can also use your hot water cupboard which will also provide seedlings with a warm environment so they can germinate successfully. Okra varieties If you’re planning to grow okra from seed, you’ll find that they come in range of colours. Egmont Seeds have two varieties, Burgundy and Emerald Green. I’ve grown both of them in the past, with great results. To order seeds from the very extensive Egmont Seeds range, visit http://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/. Okra plants I have green okra in my nursery at present and am selling punnets of six seedlings for just $2 each. How to care for okra plants Being sub-tropical, okra needs at least 6 hours of sunshine per day, so be sure to plant seedlings in the sunniest spot in your garden. Before planting okra seedlings, take the time to prepare the bed properly so plants receive adequate nutrition. Dig the area over that you wish to plant your seedlings in. Mix plenty of compost and some sheep pellets into the ground. I highly recommend Gardn Gro’s Wonder Nuggets, which are 100% organic and function as an excellent fertiliser. Rake the ground so that it is nice and level. Add some tomato fertiliser to each plant’s hole at the time of planting, to give plants a strong start to life and encourage fruiting. Alternatively, you can grow okra in pots. We grew okra in both the ground and in containers one summer. We found that plants grown in pots were bigger and more fruitful than their counterparts in the ground. The soil temperature in containers is warmer than the ground and black pots will radiate the heat. Pots are also prefect if you’re short on ground space or want to devote the area to crops that need room to spread, such as pumpkins and melons or root crops such as potatoes and kumara, which require depth in order to grow successfully. Be sure to water plants every day, preferably early in the morning or in the evening. In December, plants are in their most active growing phase. Liquid feed okra plants weekly to encourage the growth of healthy leaves and the formation of flowers, which will develop into fruit. Pollination of okra Okra are self-pollinating and do not require the assistance of insects or the wind for pollination, unlike a lot of other summer vegetables. Harvesting your okra It can take what seems like forever for your first okra to be ready for picking but be patient! In early summer, it will usually be cooler so it might take awhile for them to grow to full size. You can pick okra at any stage. I prefer to pick them when they are smaller because they are tender and you can stay on top of your harvest. If left on the plant for too long, okra can become tough to chew. Got a glut of okra that you can’t get through all at once? This is quite a nice problem to have! Okra can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks prior to consumption, or you can give some away to family, friends and neighbours. |
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