Truth be told...I was actually thinking on planting them in my daylily beds. The daylilies can use the shade at that point, and are not blooming so much in the heat of the summer when the okra is. Not to mention, they are just nice looking plants, and flowers...or I enjoy the okra flowers.
Any Coco Grower Questions? PART 2
I agree they are beautiful plants and the flowers are very tropical looking, not to mention I love eating the okra.
O you bet. And what a treat it is, to be able to get it tender off the bush and not have to pay for, or forege thru all the woody pods. The grocery store here packages all the veggies. Take it or leave it. You have to buy twice as much, just to weed out the stuff you dont want.
It good to find some others who like okra. It is one of my favorites to grow in the garden. This year I am growing Emerald Velvet and another that is a noid that I got from a friend.
Here is a site that describes a bunch of different name okras. Some are described as growing not so tall, one even a 2 footer. I may try that one sometime just for fun. The little ones may be fun for you EB growers.
http://www.reimerseeds.com/okra_601.aspx
Jerry
I've grown them all togeather in my EB. Four varities two of each rangeing according to size. The Red Burgundy is a dwarf and very unique. This season I have them in coir and waiting for them to sprout which should be in a couple more days.
I've got some Clemson spineless and the Red Burgandy Okra, I wanted to plant the burgandy this year, but might mix them up.
http://www.reimerseeds.com/red-burgundy-okra.aspx
Says 4' plant on this website.
Works fine for me in my EBs as I"ve done this for many years. Check out their growing guide @ www.earthbox.com It is amazing the amount that you can plant in them!
Tplant, it would be worth it to get an Earth Box just for my okra alone (though I'd like to have more). It says you can put 8 plants in there, 8 well producing okra plants would be plenty of okra. Maybe I'll order a couple of them.
Another question Tplant, what kind of melons do you grow in the EBs and how many melons can you get off a plant?
Also, do you let them grow down on the ground or do you stake them up somehow? I don't have room to let them spraw at all.
I grow any type of melon or watermelons on weedcloth. Certain Honeydews can be stacked as per package instructions such as Amy etc. Each vine provides three or more depending upon plant and bee pollination. I attract bees to my garden by planting roses near my veg garden. Looking forward to the results this season as it is the first time with coco coir. EB people have always said to buy a mix w/o fertilizer but that is almost impossible to find so the coir fits the bill perfectly for their use. That piece in the center is my TASTING! COULDN'T RESIST....
WOW that looks good Ted! I am excited about the possibility of a coconut coir forum.....how many interests does it take before one requests it from admin?
???????
I have watched Ted grow and taste melons for the last couple of years. I had horrible luck last year...it was the bugs...not the EB's. After looking at the melons of all colors...and reading thru the lines..or what I thought were the lines...Im sticking with the red ones...just like above. YUM
Oh, Tplant, that picture really got me! :) Reminds me of bygone 4th of July family reunions with a watermelon all packed up in ice in an old galvanized tub with the kids all hanging around wishing someone would cut it already.
I need some EBs.
what variety is that melon Ted?
Pardon the off topic question (well, maybe not off topic since my melons are in coir), but I transplanted my little watermelon seedlings a couple weeks ago and they don't appear to be doing anything. They're alive, and look well enough, but not growing. I'd heard they don't like being transplanted, but will they ever recover?
At least my Sugar Baby in the grow bag is growing.
Desert Jake, I've transplanted thousands of melons when we farmed commercially and they all made it just fine. If they look healthy, then they'll take off. The same thing is happening with my cucumbers, even though I direct seeded them. Every day I go out there and they're nice and green, but look the same as always.
If you transplant and they get shocked, you would know it, they go limp and wilty looking. Sounds like you didn't have any of that and if you did and they recovered from that, they'll be fine, too.
darkmoon --- the melon pictured above is a Mickeylee one of my favorites. I did not particulary like the orange or yellow melons. I just planted my Mickeylee, Charleston Jr, Hales Jumbo Best (Cantaloupe) and Sweet Beauty Hybrid all in BocaBobs coco coir. Just got five more bales of coir today. Can't wait to use them as I'm addicted to that coir.
OH! Someone above mentioned "Dynamite" fertilizer pertaining to my EBs? I don't use that for my EBs only for my flowers and roses. I strictly follow EB instruction pertaining to my EBs.
Tplant........have you talked to the EB people about using coir as a grow mix? I think they would have a hard time listing coir as a grow mix for fear that lots of people would go out and grab the cheapest and wrong kind of coir. Of course they had the same kind of trouble trying to teach people what they meant by "potting soil". Quite a few folks went out and bought "top soil."
No, I really don't have any correspendence with them other than their website. The only time I contacted them was to change their phrasing from soil to mix....but I'm sure they would approve if they knew about but don't forget they selll their own brand of mix.
Finished my EB gardens today by planting two EBs of Sweet Beauty corn and completeing the irrigation system so I don't have to worry about watering on a daily basis. Have the timer set for ten minutes daily. My honeydews and stringbeans that I planted four days ago have already sprouted in the coir with 100% germination. So now I'll get a break on my veggie gardens but now must attend to my front lawn and rose garden area. That is going to be another job and GYMGIRL, I just might change my mind about your volunteering even though it may cost me a toe or two! (LOL )Leave your saw at home??? PLEASE?
Ted, congrats on the garden. Let's see some pix when the corn starts up. I really want to do that. We don't plant corn until it is warmer here.
Paw,
Don't worry about your toes. I just bought a brand new 3.3 lb. handheld sledge hammer. It's "Hammer" time!
Run Ted. Hide in the corn! HammerG is on her way.
HammerG? I LIKE it!
Mindful of the advice that the coir (I'm mixing w/ perlite) might just dissolve in the 'sump holes' of the EB, I decided to pick up some poly screening material to make pockets for the holes. Then, when I started to fill the EBs, not wanting to lose a bit of my precious coir, I lined the false bottom w/ a strip, too. The next one, I just cut a piece 14" x 3', & shoved the pockets in.
I used 1 of BocaBob's coir bags, mixed w/ some perlite to fill 2 EBs & 3 15" stackers (I have some Thai basil seeds started in these). Now, I'm rehydrating a 1.4 lb. brick of Koko Pro (bought locally) to mix w/perlite, to continue filling my remaining EBs. I also have 2 6-pc. AgroTower growpots on the way, think I will do 3 stacks of 4 pots, over a large bottom pot. I've been out shopping for weedblock, rebar, looking at PVC & conduit pipes & clamps. I anticipate a busy weekend ahead of me (squeezed in between my kids' lacrosse games), because I have tomato & pepper seedlings that are just dying to get in their EBs & lots of seeds & seedlings to put in the stackers.
Thank you all for sharing all your info here, it's made it alot easier for me to dive in the deep end!
Wow! thistle, what a lot of work you've done and still have in front of you. You make the coir choir proud.
coir choir!!! Geezzz.........now we got poets?
I just counted all my containers, including the stackers and tiny pots full of potential food, there are almost 200 of them. And I still have to plant melons. I live in Potsville and Bagonvilla over here.
Pugzley, that's a nice way of saying it-my DH calls it my 'pot ghetto'. Right now, I have the EBS, a bunch of potted palms & Japanese maples, orchids that summer outside on metal shelving, as well as oddball pots-big huge ceramic containers w/ tiki torches & 'skelemingos' (plastic flamingos that look like skeletons) that get planted w/ coleus in the summer.
To help w/ the watering, I installed a 'Mister Landscaper' irrigation system for the beds all around the perimeter of the house, but I still have alot of handwatering to do, & switching & disconnecting soaker hoses for the beds farther out. I might try to rig up an automatic watering system for the EBs & the stackers. I just wish I had a whole landscape crew to help me or I could find a way to get the rest of the family more interested (AKA 'more willing to follow my orders')...
Now Jman I have it on good authority that you can turn a phrase or two.
Thistle, I want skelemingos too!!
I am afraid to count all the EBs, stackers, and various size pots hanging around in my potting area that I've just started to fill up--some with coco coir only; some with that and perlite, some using potting mix--'cause I might feel jest a touch panicky about how long it's going to take me!
Yet it's so fun to over-do it!! Do you wake up early in the morning happily thinking about your pots? I do.
Maybe I need a life? ;-)
hahah, "Can't touch her".....HammerG!
I got a few more pots to fill myself. But surprisingly enough, I am pretty far along. I have 20 EzGro poles with 16 plant sites each for 320 plant sites. Four 5 pot stacks of NJ stackers makes 60 more plant sites. twelve more NJ stackers growing strawberries makes 36 more plant sites. 416 plant sites to fill and most of them are filled. That is not counting all the one gallon, two gallon, and four gallon and bigger pots sitting around. Other than that, it looks like a pretty slow year here at the Scabby Acres Garden and Ranch. Oh yes, I got lots of scabiosa's sprouted and close to trasplant time. My son named this place Scabby Acres the year I went nuts and planted scabiosa in every hole on the place.
I not only have 416 plant sites to fill but am planting multiple plants in some sites. I know from experience that these grow poles will support that sort of foolishment. I poked green onions in helter skelter and most of those have been harvested already but I followed them by transplanting chive plants. Nothing scientific, just poke a hole with my finger and stick chive plants alonside whatever is growing there. They will make a nice flower later this year and then I guess I will jerk them out and stick them in some nursery pots to carry over untill next year.
I have lost track of what all I have poked into these grow poles. Whatever sprouted from my winter sowing experiments went into the poles. I guess I will have to wait untill they bloom and then look at some pitchurs to see what they are.
Sunflowers are an absolute blast to play with. You cant kill them even with one of Gymgirls 3.324756 ounce mauls or even her sabre saw (there orta be a law against women using weapons like that). That sunflower in the top of one of my stacks survived a stink bug attack and has 3 blooms.
This is my first year for some things. The nearest pole in the photo has fressia's blooming. Each year I have tried some new things and the force must be with me because most of them have done fine in the grow poles. For those of you new to grow poles, try just about anything.......and plant a little heavier than normal. The grow poles will amaze you.
This message was edited Apr 24, 2009 8:17 PM
This is my tomato experiment for this year. Two early girl tomato's in the top pot of a container stack. I had two more in that stack but lost them to something that looked like early blight. I think they came that way from the nursery where I bought them. Im growing two more early girls in large nursery pots shown in the next post for comparison.
416 + planting sites to fill, does it get overwhelming at all? I love your idea of poking chives in everywhere, they're about the only thing I had here that overwintered w/out help.
I'm getting nervous about the stackers I have coming, I hope I can get them up & running, w/ transplants & seedlings, right away...
And here is the two early girls in large nursery pots. So far the nursery pot 'maters are a little larger plants. The petunias are there to cover up the ugly of the tomato plants. I had some sweet alyssum's in those containers to help cover up the tomato stink but the alyssum's went buggy on me and I murdered them and hid the evidence.
Tomato stink? I love the smell of even sedlings, Jay, don't you?
The secret to having enough plants to fill up all your grow poles is to use one of them as a propagator. Plant enough (or more) in the sites on that pole to transplant to your other poles. Early in the season, you can wrap that pole in plastic to form a greenhouse effect and maybe get ahead of the season and protect from frost. It is easier to do that on one pole rather than direct seed a bunch of poles. Once the danger of frost is past, you can heavily seed one or two poles and turn out more plants than you will ever need.
Some stuff has already been transplanted from this pole. The top pot has Rosie O'day alyssum, the next pot down has some African Daisy (Osteospermum), the third pot down has Basil Plenty and the 4th pot down doesn't have a tag and I'm not sure what it is. No matter, If I need to fill a hole on some pole, I will just grab something from that pot and stick it in there. After all, life should have some surprises.
To D......No likum tomato stinkum....Yuk. You sure got some funny ideas. And your sense of smell is a little off to. :-)