Companion Week Side Bar Button

I would like to thank everyone that had linked their post, read and left comments sharing their experience and knowledge about companion planting during companion week in April. I have add a sidebar button for companion week linked post for easy access for any readers that wants to refer or get some ideas about companion planting in the future. I can't remember all the match for good and bad companion. So I too need to refresh my mind by looking back at the photos which match was made in heaven or hell.
•  Broccoli
• Carrot and Cucurbit
• Carrot, Daikon, Lettuce and Marigold ~ Milka's Jishiben Blog
• Cauliflower
• Chive, Sunflower and Potato ~ My Garden Diary by Kelli Boyles Blog
• Corn and French Beans ~ Milka's Jishiben Blog
• Eggplant and Basil ~ Vege Patch Diary Blog 
• Kitchen Garden
• Leek
• Sunflower
• Turmeric
• Zinnia

I hope the give-away seeds will arrived safely to the author of the blog above.

Okra ‘Clemson Spineless’ Life-Cycle

Okra is believe to originate from northern Africa probably Ethiopia. However, this warm climate vegetables have spread growing in warm countries all over the world including temperate region. Because of its quick growth from sowing takes about 8~12weeks growth to produce in warm weather it has become suitable to grow in warm-temperate region as well. In Malay language, okra is known as “bendi” and we learn it in school as lady fingers in English. In India okra is commonly known as “bindi”. So I wonder if okra founds its way to South-East Asia by travelling the sea trading route. from India to Malay Peninsular.

I have never ever found any nursery selling okra seedlings in Adelaide. Adelaide have really hot summer which will be ideal to grow this heat-tolerant plant. It start to produce much quicker than eggplants and peppers. Why not fill in the gap with okra?You can start sowing okra seeds in mid-October as the soil has warm enough for the seeds to germinate and it will start to produce in between the middle of January or  February. If you have bountiful harvest of vegetables in your garden, you can straight-away keep okra in freezer unlike eggplants. Okra can be frozen at least 6 months which we did last year and still taste much better than the ones in the supermarket. When we have not start growing our own vegetables in Adelaide, I had a craving for okras and bought a plastic full of it. It was the last time I ever bought okra again because it was so tough, any okra newbies will probably hate this vegetable instantly. I think if you want to start appreciate okra, you must grow it your own (wink).

Newly sprouted home-saved okra seeds with its coat seeds attached (direct sowing).

You can grow okra in containers as well. I direct-sowed okra seeds in this container in early January this year and it started to produce in Early March, although we had cool summer this year compare with last year. Okra growing in containers can grow over 1metre tall as well.

A closer look of Clemson Spineless okra pod. The pod grow very fast usually it is ready to be harvested in 3~5 days if nights are warm.

Okra flower resembles colourful hollyhocks and ornamental hibiscus because the are in the same family. Okra can look like an ornamental plant as an addition in the front yard garden growing along together with Zinnia as companion. Spent-bloom of okra will develop pod as shown in the photo.

At the end of the season, you can leave okra to dry on the plant to collect okra seeds. Immature seeds are white in colour which you see when you harvest okra to eat and cut in the pod half-widthways. This seeds will become hard and black when mature. This okra pod have already matured and the skin has naturally open by itself. Black okra seeds peeping.

Newly harvested Clemson Spineless okra seeds, our second year of collecting home-saved seeds for this variety.

Definitely a plant that can grow very well in Adelaide during the warm season.

Not the Backyard

It seems growing vegetables at the other side of our backyard fence has been a good project. We started using that space because we wanted to prevent cars or trucks to park at our side of the fence that made a lot of noise so the kids can have a nice nap during the day. We started growing things there last spring and mostly sunflowers and onions. It is still less than a year from the time we started to plant our first batch of sunflower seedlings last spring. All the sunflowers are gone and were composted on the same place it has grown. Here is the update of what is growing at the other side of our backyard fence since a month ago.

The Redland Pioneer bush bean has already given us first bean harvest this week from this batch. I sowed a row of Dragon carrot seeds 2 weeks ago in between rows of this bush bean and found some carrot seeds have already sprouted last weekend.

Our first batch of Telephone peas has start to flower. We have already eaten many daikon thinnings growing in between the pea trellis. I have already plan to transplant some cabbage seedlings in between these pea trellis after those daikon are harvested. The cabbage seedlings have just sprouted and I have already daydream of transplanting them at that spot. I hope I can fool the white cabbage butterfly using the pea white flower that there are other butterflies around here. So they won't lay eggs on the cabbage later.

Mammoth sunflowers growing slowly and the chili plants growth are stunted. A row of carrot seedlings at the front can be harvested soon.

Mostly root vegetables on this veggie patch with fast growth sequence ~ daikon, 2 rows of Afghanistan carrots and 2 rows of parsnips. I sneaked in some watermelon radish seeds in between parsnip and leeks which has just develop it first sets of true leaves.

Rainbow chards seedlings at the front. In the middle new potato plants interplanting with Giant Purple Mustard (Potato seeds from Berry Gnome). At the back, a mess of self-sowed tomato plants and peas have just sprouted. Not sure whether that one papaya tree that my mother planted last summer will survived through winter or not but I will just let it be there as it please.

Sweet corn seeds sowed in middle of February has already have cobs. Some of the silk from the female ears has beginning tu turn brownish. I wonder if we get full kernal or not this time. I did not help with the pollination as I usually don't pay much attention with the plants growing at the other side of the backyard. Hopefully, a few will be ready to be harvest this weekend, after a long week coop up in school.

This is Ilhan sweet corn patch growing much healthier and taller than mine which were sowed in March. His sweet corn plants are taller than the ones at the other patch. We were making remarks that Ilhan sweet corn follows Ilhan growth like weed. So we voted that Ilhan will sow the next season for sweet corn. He will be taller and understand more what he needs to do by then. But he is still growing taller at that time which make him the best candidate to sow sweet corn seeds.

I am assuming that this veggie patches will be providing us food on the kitchen table this month.

Da Cheong Chae Week

Da Cheong Chae is another member of brassicas which is quick growing and can be harvested at any stages of growth. According to my tastebud, I found Da Cheong Chae have more rich flavour compare to Pak Choi/ Bok Choy. It does not wilt easily under the sun and do not get overcooked quick in the wok. This is the main harvest for us this week since summer vegetables are almost over and ripening takes a little time to mature as the weather gets cooler. Da Cheong Chae can be grown in partial shade. New sprouted Da Cheong Chae.

Da Cheong Chae seedlings leaves look like spoon.

Da Cheong Chae can be grown in shallow containers. You can transplant seedlings to make space for Da Cheong Chae to grow instead of thinning it. Look good too in stir-fry noodles/rice after washing just like that with this small seedlings.

A good ingredient for soup, porridge and beef stir-fry. Da Cheong Chae filling in the gap before cool season vegetables are ready to be harvested.

Our main vegetable for this week.

Collecting Yellow Ruffles

The first time ever we eaten our first pattypan squash was last year and it was our own home-grown. I rarely found anyone which said that they like to eat pattypan squash. I heard complain about this vegetable a lot though. So to make sure that we know what true pattypan squash taste like, we decided to grow this vegetable last spring. Well, the cute photo of pattypan squash and it bright colours on the punnet seedlings tag were one of the main factor that made me bought it and grow the seedlings in our garden last spring. It was not in my wish lish and plan for warm season planting. I just came to know about this vegetable when we live in Australia, not a really popular vegetable I reckon since we hardly see them in market shelves unless it is in season. FYI, I don't hear any complain about pattypan squash in our house.

Pattypan squash was very prolific. It was one of the first vegetables that give us summer harvest. The blooming flowers are so big compared to the fruit waiting to be fertilised behind it. At the end of the season, we left one fruit to mature to collect seeds. When you left one gets very big and go to the stage of producing seeds, the plants will stop bearing other fruits.

We left one pattypan squash to grow on the plant for weeks until the plant died to collect seeds. We finally harvest this last pattypan squash together with other summer vegetables. Visit Daphne's Dandellion Harvest Monday to see what other gardeners all over the world is harvesting this week.

It was not easy to cut through the pattypan squash to collect the seeds as the skin has become very hard. We were happy to see many seeds to collect that we can sow for next spring. 

It will be a waste not to eat this mature pattypan squash, although usually it is collected for the kitchen used when it is young and tender to eat. CikManggis gave me an idea when I was looking at her angled luffa recipe. So I adapted her recipe, to make this pattypan squash dish and join in Wendy's Garden to Table Challenge (GTTC).

Ingredients:
One mature pattypan squash cut like an apple 1 inch thick.
4 mashed garlic cloves,
1/2 teaspoon of pepper (coarsely grind)
1 egg lightly beaten
salt
water
vegetable oil for saute
Optional: prawn, tofu, rice vercimelli or dried bean curd (pre-soak with water).

Heat oil and saute garlic. Add in water and pepper. Let it boil. Add in pattypan squash. When pattypan squash is almost tender add in egg and mix well. Then add in prawns, tofu, rice vercimelli or dried bean curd. Add salt.Cook until pattypan squash is tender. You may need to add in some water after you add rice vercimelli or dried bean curd because it soak a lot of water.


What did that pattypan squash tasted like? A bit nutty. Our 20months old family member seems to like this dish as he keep asking for more.

With the other summer vegetables that we harvested, I mix them with spicy sour dried salted fish with mango.

Any ideas how to prepare pattypan squash dish?

Happy Mellow Yellow Monday!