FarmI wrote:
"Loosecanon" wrote in message

Waiting for the warmer weather and have started to buy some seeds.
Got some Kale which i could probably plant now. There is also Okra
(never tried it b4), radish and I got some white sage.

You have been busy! But tell me, what are you planning to do with
the OKra?
I too have been eyeing it off in the seed cattle dogs, but the only
thing I know about it is that its supposed to mulicaginous and that
it is an ingredient in gumbo.

Since I'm not overly mad on snot textured things and I've never tried
gumbo, I'm curious about your plans. 'Spose I can always give it
some garden room and work from there as I'm sure there'll be a Yank
somewhere on usenet who'd trip over themselves to tell me what to do
with it (foodwise as opposed to jamming it wise).

If you pick them small (about 5cm) before they get stringy they are great
fried whole in egg and breadcrumb. You get the flavour which is really good
in a package that is soft inside and crunchy outside. Add a touch of salt
and squeeze of lemon and they walk off the plate.

David

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
FarmI wrote:
"Loosecanon" wrote in message

Waiting for the warmer weather and have started to buy some seeds.
Got some Kale which i could probably plant now. There is also Okra
(never tried it b4), radish and I got some white sage.

You have been busy! But tell me, what are you planning to do with
the OKra?
I too have been eyeing it off in the seed cattle dogs, but the only
thing I know about it is that its supposed to mulicaginous and that
it is an ingredient in gumbo.

Since I'm not overly mad on snot textured things and I've never tried
gumbo, I'm curious about your plans. 'Spose I can always give it
some garden room and work from there as I'm sure there'll be a Yank
somewhere on usenet who'd trip over themselves to tell me what to do
with it (foodwise as opposed to jamming it wise).

If you pick them small (about 5cm) before they get stringy they are great
fried whole in egg and breadcrumb. You get the flavour which is really
good in a package that is soft inside and crunchy outside. Add a touch of
salt and squeeze of lemon and they walk off the plate.

David

Wanted to try in a Indian curry where they are known as Bhindi. Plan to pick
them when they snap rather than bend from what I have read that is less than
7.5 cm. Also the research has said to wash them throughly and dry them with
paper towels to reduce to stickiness. I am told you can eat them raw and
that you can deep fry them. The mature seeds are used as a coffee
substitute. I figure if I don't like them to give some to the neighbours who
hail for southern USA so they can have gumbo. I also have a asian store that
sells herbs and spices and has fresh produce so will swap for goodies there
if they are happy with the arrangement.

I want to try these after having a chat to an Indian lady one day about
Drumstick curry. I have access to a moringa tree which produces 30 - 40 cm
pods. They are delicious and I look forward to having them for the 3 months
they are in season. She told me that if I like the drumsticks I would love
okra.

You won't be restricted to those from the USA for liking these. Those on the
subcontinent will eat the with relish and I am told those from the middle
east love them. There is a "but" though and that is if they are picked at
the right stage. So being a virgin okra grower this year is going to be an
experience!

I am also told you have to pick them at the right time or they mature to
fast and the plant decides it is time to shut down just like beans. Oh and
also the leaves can bring out rashes on people so you have to tread lightly.
As I do gardening work the list of plants I have to avoid is growing.
English ivy kills me, Rosemary and lavendar are not far behind. So I will be
extra careful handling okra.

Richard

Loosecanon wrote:

I am also told you have to pick them at the right time or they mature
to fast and the plant decides it is time to shut down just like
beans. Oh and also the leaves can bring out rashes on people so you
have to tread lightly. As I do gardening work the list of plants I
have to avoid is growing. English ivy kills me, Rosemary and lavendar
are not far behind. So I will be extra careful handling okra.

Richard

Yes timing is critical they go from soft and tasty to overblown and stringy
in a couple of days.

David

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message

If you pick them small (about 5cm) before they get stringy they are great
fried whole in egg and breadcrumb. You get the flavour which is really
good in a package that is soft inside and crunchy outside. Add a touch of
salt and squeeze of lemon and they walk off the plate.

My mouth is watering just reading the recipe. thanks for that. I will
certainly try to grow some this year.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"0tterbot" wrote in message

i think the miniatures are more prone to fungal disease & are generally a
bit more delicate; what you describe could be fungal. i don't think i've
ever seen one that's not covered in black spot :-)

I just raced outside to see if mine had any black spot and not a leaf to
be seen, but I'm pretty sure mine haven't been afflicted with BS.

When summer comes, come over to lunch one day and we'll check them out.

all right, that will be lovely! (and clearly whether or not there is black
spot i shan't mind either way ;-)

concerning roses in general, i'm not a fan of them it must be said, but
we have an old-fashioned-looking thornless climbing (rambling??) one with
wee butter yellow flowers in clumps - i find it really beautiful! and
because it's been forced to look after itself for quite some time now,
it's very healthy. to celebrate this fact, i might give it a prune this
winter (i let it go a bit berserk last year with all those shoots that
come off the sides).

Sounds like a Banksia rose???

? not sure! but i like it.

of course having said that, i haven't given it a haircut yet. everything has
got on top of me so i'm having august off from much of my usual activities &
the past few days i've been out in the garden finding myself again.

I've recently started buying Alister Clark roses - he was an Australian
rose breeder and found they are brilliant for Australian conditions.

The "Black Boy"s I mentioned previously are his and I also have a
"Lorraine Lee" climber over the chook pen fence and it is superb - just
keep sflowering and hides a rather ghastly fence very well. I did no
ground prep at all for it and its in what was formerly paddock land and
hard and hungry soil at that. It's thrived.

I'm not especially fond of many roses but I love the old ones and I love
the smell and form of some of the Hybrid Teas and i think if I could only
ever have one rose, it might have to be Cecile Brunner - such a dear
little rose but as tough as old boots.

some roses are just lovely. but i can't seem to want to commit to any of
them & that is ok.
kylie

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

in autumn, i had a bucket full of coriander seed that i couldn't seem to
organise planting anywhere, so i threw it around in a few garden beds &
now we have more coriander than i think i have ever seen!

Ditto! Mine self seeded all over the end of one bed and into the path at
the end of last summer and its growing beatifully ATM.

i'm going to put more seed out seeing as how i still have loads of seed, and
one new garden bed i was starting up last autumn seems to have all gone
wrong after the frosts - i put in a few plants that were going wonderfully,
but it looks now like they are completely dead. it is most exasperating as
it's unusual for any new thing i put in here to start off so well!!! (that
must have been the problem!!) so i might as well cover it in coriander for
now while i have a think.

also, i think any of us could do worse than have things like rocket or
coriander self-seeding about the place - you can eat it, the plants look
good when they go to seed, and it keeps the ground covered while you think
about what you would like to do. (and frankly i'm a huge fan of any plant
that does all the work for you).

there are lots of veg kicking along nicely (things that like winter,
obviously) but for the most part i'm ignoring everything unless eating
it - there's enough rain to water them & i mulched for winter long ago of
course. anyway, i'm finding it a convenient time to be run off my feet
with other things beside the garden.

i find winter extraordinarily difficult tbh. it's just so cold here &
when there's been 3 days without sunlight i start to lose my mind.

Yep. All that sodding cloud and not a drop of real rain - **** ghastly
mizzle at the best!

it is becoming rather exasperating (probably not as exasperating as in
victoria atm though). whenever it does rain, the dam level simply does not
change.

Today I weeded the asparagus bed and half of one of the veg beds.
tomorrow I'll spread horse poop and leaves on the weeded veg bed and give
the asparagus a dose of dolomite.

i'm just in the process of moving all of my asparagus down the back. the
young ones i've got in pots are fine, although i wasn't really thinking
about how many i have (24 or something) & i don't have the bed space!! and
will have to quickly sort something out. the older ones are 2.5 years now, &
are staggeringly difficult to dig out!!!!! mainly, i hope i don't kill them
in the process - that would be a bugger :-) so i've decided not to hope for
any asparagus this year in case the big plants are still recovering (or are
dead ;-) & the small ones too small. they've started shooting already
although of course the shoots die when it frosts, so they are clearly not
dormant still. but, once they are moved & settled it is nice to think
there'll be asparagus every spring with no special work on my behalf, 3
cheers for perennials eh.
kylie

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
"0tterbot" wrote in message

i think the miniatures are more prone to fungal disease & are generally
a bit more delicate; what you describe could be fungal. i don't think
i've ever seen one that's not covered in black spot :-)

I just raced outside to see if mine had any black spot and not a leaf to
be seen, but I'm pretty sure mine haven't been afflicted with BS.

When summer comes, come over to lunch one day and we'll check them out.

all right, that will be lovely! (and clearly whether or not there is black
spot i shan't mind either way ;-)

I hope not with free food on offer! :-))

concerning roses in general, i'm not a fan of them it must be said, but
we have an old-fashioned-looking thornless climbing (rambling??) one
with wee butter yellow flowers in clumps - i find it really beautiful!
and because it's been forced to look after itself for quite some time
now, it's very healthy. to celebrate this fact, i might give it a prune
this winter (i let it go a bit berserk last year with all those shoots
that come off the sides).

Sounds like a Banksia rose???

? not sure! but i like it.

Well when you come, I'll shove some rose books under your nose and we can
check if it is a Banksia. Common as muck old things, but tough.

of course having said that, i haven't given it a haircut yet. everything
has got on top of me so i'm having august off from much of my usual
activities & the past few days i've been out in the garden finding myself
again.

I know what you mean. I'm just itching for some Spring action and am bored
shitless with reading catalogues. I want action and I want it now. All I'm
doing is weeding and faffing about. Gives me the poops! Mind you, I could
do somethign constructive like give the propogating area a good clean out
but that is too dull.

I've recently started buying Alister Clark roses - he was an Australian
rose breeder and found they are brilliant for Australian conditions.

The "Black Boy"s I mentioned previously are his and I also have a
"Lorraine Lee" climber over the chook pen fence and it is superb - just
keep sflowering and hides a rather ghastly fence very well. I did no
ground prep at all for it and its in what was formerly paddock land and
hard and hungry soil at that. It's thrived.

I'm not especially fond of many roses but I love the old ones and I love
the smell and form of some of the Hybrid Teas and i think if I could only
ever have one rose, it might have to be Cecile Brunner - such a dear
little rose but as tough as old boots.

some roses are just lovely. but i can't seem to want to commit to any of
them & that is ok.

Yep. I can't ever warm to Azaleas. They leave me cold and especially if
they are Magenta coloured. Totally gross.

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message

in autumn, i had a bucket full of coriander seed that i couldn't seem to
organise planting anywhere, so i threw it around in a few garden beds &
now we have more coriander than i think i have ever seen!

Ditto! Mine self seeded all over the end of one bed and into the path at
the end of last summer and its growing beatifully ATM.

i'm going to put more seed out seeing as how i still have loads of seed,
and one new garden bed i was starting up last autumn seems to have all
gone wrong after the frosts - i put in a few plants that were going
wonderfully, but it looks now like they are completely dead. it is most
exasperating as it's unusual for any new thing i put in here to start off
so well!!! (that must have been the problem!!) so i might as well cover it
in coriander for now while i have a think.

also, i think any of us could do worse than have things like rocket or
coriander self-seeding about the place - you can eat it, the plants look
good when they go to seed, and it keeps the ground covered while you think
about what you would like to do. (and frankly i'm a huge fan of any plant
that does all the work for you).

So am I. My garden is very messy because I strew seeds around all over the
place and love volunteer plants even if its just mustard. At least it
provides chook greens.

Last year I had some Mullein come up right in the middle of a path in the
Veg garden and it looked glorious. Head of Home Affairs kept threatening to
pull them out and I kept threatening him with castration if the plants
suddenly disapeared.

there are lots of veg kicking along nicely (things that like winter,
obviously) but for the most part i'm ignoring everything unless eating
it - there's enough rain to water them & i mulched for winter long ago
of course. anyway, i'm finding it a convenient time to be run off my
feet with other things beside the garden.

i find winter extraordinarily difficult tbh. it's just so cold here &
when there's been 3 days without sunlight i start to lose my mind.

Yep. All that sodding cloud and not a drop of real rain - **** ghastly
mizzle at the best!

it is becoming rather exasperating (probably not as exasperating as in
victoria atm though). whenever it does rain, the dam level simply does not
change.

But at least the pathetic amount we have had seems to have left reasonable
soil moisture levels. At least in cultivated areas. If the soil is not
well cultivated it's still as dry as a chip only a couple of inches down,
but if it has been well prepared then lovely moisture!

Today I weeded the asparagus bed and half of one of the veg beds.
tomorrow I'll spread horse poop and leaves on the weeded veg bed and give
the asparagus a dose of dolomite.

i'm just in the process of moving all of my asparagus down the back. the
young ones i've got in pots are fine, although i wasn't really thinking
about how many i have (24 or something) & i don't have the bed space!! and
will have to quickly sort something out. the older ones are 2.5 years now,
& are staggeringly difficult to dig out!!!!! mainly, i hope i don't kill
them in the process - that would be a bugger :-) so i've decided not to
hope for any asparagus this year in case the big plants are still
recovering (or are dead ;-) & the small ones too small. they've started
shooting already although of course the shoots die when it frosts, so they
are clearly not dormant still. but, once they are moved & settled it is
nice to think there'll be asparagus every spring with no special work on
my behalf, 3 cheers for perennials eh.

25 plants! You'll have to provide a restaurant with that many :-))

And they seem to be very tough to kill.

I think I've moved my asparagus bed at least 3 times and somehow I always
leave at least one plant behind. 2 ended up being in areas which became
compacted bare paths and each year they still come up. I really should
rescue them I suppose.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

So am I. My garden is very messy because I strew seeds around all over
the place and love volunteer plants even if its just mustard. At least it
provides chook greens.

Last year I had some Mullein come up right in the middle of a path in the
Veg garden and it looked glorious. Head of Home Affairs kept threatening
to pull them out and I kept threatening him with castration if the plants
suddenly disapeared.

is mullein the one with the big hairy leaves?

But at least the pathetic amount we have had seems to have left reasonable
soil moisture levels. At least in cultivated areas. If the soil is not
well cultivated it's still as dry as a chip only a couple of inches down,
but if it has been well prepared then lovely moisture!

but, once they are moved & settled it is
nice to think there'll be asparagus every spring with no special work on
my behalf, 3 cheers for perennials eh.

25 plants! You'll have to provide a restaurant with that many :-))

well i could do worse. there are more than 25, that's just the little ones.
i think there must have been 50 seeds in the packet or something :-)

And they seem to be very tough to kill.

that's lucky because i made a mess digging up the bigger crowns, they were
stuck in like anything, & a number of them broke so i hope they don't die.
then i got dh to do the rest because i don't like digging (no wonder).

I think I've moved my asparagus bed at least 3 times and somehow I always
leave at least one plant behind. 2 ended up being in areas which became
compacted bare paths and each year they still come up. I really should
rescue them I suppose.

having had that experience (of how difficult it is to dig them up!!) i have
no intention of moving the bed again!!!!! you must have been eating your
spinach
kylie

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message

Last year I had some Mullein come up right in the middle of a path in the
Veg garden and it looked glorious. Head of Home Affairs kept threatening
to pull them out and I kept threatening him with castration if the plants
suddenly disapeared.

is mullein the one with the big hairy leaves?

Yeah, aka Verbascum. Old cottage plant where the spire used to be used as a
form of candle and the leaves were used to line holey shoes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

25 plants! You'll have to provide a restaurant with that many :-))

well i could do worse. there are more than 25, that's just the little
ones. i think there must have been 50 seeds in the packet or something :-)

And they seem to be very tough to kill.

that's lucky because i made a mess digging up the bigger crowns, they were
stuck in like anything, & a number of them broke so i hope they don't die.
then i got dh to do the rest because i don't like digging (no wonder).

If it was only the roots that broke then no worries, it it was the crown,
then it depends on how much damage you did. In reality, I think it'd be
very hard to kill a big crown based on what I've done to them in the past.

I think I've moved my asparagus bed at least 3 times and somehow I always
leave at least one plant behind. 2 ended up being in areas which became
compacted bare paths and each year they still come up. I really should
rescue them I suppose.

having had that experience (of how difficult it is to dig them up!!) i
have no intention of moving the bed again!!!!! you must have been eating
your spinach

Nah. If it lives it lives, if it doesn't then it (and any other thing I
move) was in a place where I didn't want it anyway.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

is mullein the one with the big hairy leaves?

Yeah, aka Verbascum. Old cottage plant where the spire used to be used as
a form of candle and the leaves were used to line holey shoes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

well there is everything i ever needed to know about mullein...!

i have some of that. normally, i pull it out before it gets big.

that's lucky because i made a mess digging up the bigger crowns, they
were stuck in like anything, & a number of them broke so i hope they
don't die. then i got dh to do the rest because i don't like digging (no
wonder).

If it was only the roots that broke then no worries, it it was the crown,
then it depends on how much damage you did. In reality, I think it'd be
very hard to kill a big crown based on what I've done to them in the past.

all the roots broke, but not all of the crowns (although some did, 2 or 3 i
think). fingers crossed!!

having had that experience (of how difficult it is to dig them up!!) i
have no intention of moving the bed again!!!!! you must have been eating
your spinach

Nah. If it lives it lives, if it doesn't then it (and any other thing I
move) was in a place where I didn't want it anyway.

that is fair enough.
kylie