Today’s guest post was written by Ed Ammons.
Last fall I stripped all three inches of topsoil off my little garden and piled it up. That allowed me to break up and somewhat reshape the subsoil underneath. Springs wet weather didn’t allow me time to replace and amend all the topsoil as I had hoped for, leaving me with limited planting space.
Thinking about how best to use my now “half of little” growing space led me to choose only tomatoes, corn and okry. I would cook and can or freeze them together as a soup base. I would be all set for many a winter supper. So that’s what I did. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. The corn got destroyed.
First by a dry windstorm, two thunderstorms with high wind and torrential rain, and then this. Smut!
Now for the tomatoes. I planted seeds in yogurt cups followed by up-potted into red Solo cups. They thrived in the cups and in the ground. I used T-posts to stake a dozen plants. They withstood the wind and heavy rains that had decimated my corn but then I began to notice problems. Although I had kept the lower leaves trimmed off so that dirt did not splash on them, the leaves further up the plants began to wither and die.
The fruit pictured here are not much bigger than a tommytoe. The leaves on the bottom half of the plants appear dead while the top continues to produce blooms with no resultant fruit. Is it blight? Is it drought follow by flood followed by drought again? Is it all things? I don’t know!
On to okry!
Beautiful bloom! Like a Morning Glory it lasts for only a day. Most people never see the Glory in these blossoms. Most people never realize or relish what this effloresce brings to the table. I do! Aplenty! Where the other two ingredients of my soup blend were lacking, this one more than made up for it.
Multiple stems each bearing fruit, multiple suckers doing the same.
Note the big black ants at the base of the bloom in the above picture, they love okry too! The presence of ants is unconcerning. When the bloom falls the ants move on to a fresher blossom and seemedly leave the pod to grow uneffected. And grow they do, from every branch and sucker. I am overwhelmed! I can’t eat it all. Nobody will take it! I have frozen some, given some to friends and relatives and forced it on others. And still it comes!
Some are eight feet tall now and still they grow ever skyward. I need a stepladder before I start breaking out the tops.
The stems on some of the plants are as big as my arm thus I’m calling them Okry Trees. Come fall when I start cleaning off my garden will I need my chainsaw? I don’t know! This is a first for me.
I hope you enjoyed Ed’s post as much as I do. Such is the life of a gardener—some things flop and other things perform far beyond your expectations.
Last night’s video: Q&A with Granny 4.
Tipper
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We say “okree” in northern Michigan, and I sure do love it, especially fried in cornmeal. Yum!
Oakree is what it is for us…and Ed, I’ll eat that smut any ol day. Tried it this summer as our Silver Queen had plenty and boy howdy was it so good. Mind you, it has to be fixed right. Don’t misunderstand me, corn is on the tip top of my food pyramid, but smut is now on the list like dryland fish. We don’t typically ever grow Silver Queen but this year we grew it for our mother in love and the weather was perfect for smut..humid humid humid. We also grow Clemson spineless and red varieties. Thanks for sharing!! Always enjoy the blog!
I always enjoy Ed’s posts. I grew up in rural NY State. I never ate okra as a young person. I was introduced to okra in Cajun cooking. When I first had it fried, I was amazed!!! What a treat. I like it like you prepare it Tipper. I don’t like a thick coating on it. Even though I’m from the north, I absolutely appreciate all that you and your family stand for. I must have a little bit of Appalachia in my blood!!!
Some years back I lived in a suburb of Houston. It was an upscale area with an HOA, but the HOA couldn’t stop you from planting a small garden, especially if it was behind fences, out of sight of the street. The soil there was black gumbo; so I dug it about 8-10″ deep then placed 2 courses of block around the garden area and filled it with purchased sandy loam topsoil. I grew herbs, tomatoes, flowers and okra.
I had a nosy biddy-body of a neighbor. Despite the fence, she managed to see my garden from her ranch style home. She called the sheriff to report that I was growing marijuana. The deputy laughed out loud when he found the okra plants. While he probably wasn’t supposed to, he told me who reported the plants. I took out an injunction against her for interfering with my home life. She was not happy.
Around here, we call HOAs The Gestapo because they try to micromanage everyone in their little kingdom of a subdivision. Most of my family owns acreage and refuse to live in a subdivision. We do what we want, paint our house the color we want, and ignore all the silly bored souls with nothing more in their life than to complain.
That one experience cured me of HOAs.
Always called okrey at my childhood home. I usually say okra now. We’ve had a bumper crop too. My husband has been taking it to work but most of them have had enough now. It is slowing down but we desperately need rain . We also had disease on our tomatoes and peppers & thought they were goners. I pruned them hard of all dying leaves & low leaves. I think the dry hot weather has suited them as they have greened up and are still producing quite a bit.
I almost thought he was describing my garden. It was the worst tomato or lack of tomatoes ever. However the okra was, and still is an overachiever!
My new favorite way to eat it is, bring a pan of water to boil. Throw in whole okra pods, boil 1 1/2 minutes. Then drain and cool in cold water quickly.
Slice pods, Add to skillet where you’ve browned ham or bacon, cook 2-3 minutes, add beaten eggs, with a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce. Scrabble til done.
Delicious!
Back in the 90s I had a massive garden in Colorado, where I had sand/clay soil. I thought to try and grow some okra for pickling, but thought it probably wouldn’t grow in my soil. Boy howdy, was I wrong! I had a bumper crop and couldn’t keep up with the picking, and nobody else wanted any! It was a terrible predicament! Glad to read the story and know I’m not the only one that experienced this, but when I look back it’s one of my favorite gardening memories! Thanks for taking me back to that summer.
Nice photo breakdown of his gardening journey.
I love okra if it’s crunchy . Not “slimy”. If you catch my meaning.
I did grow a little okree a few years ago and enjoyed it but I have been growing more tommy toes, cucumbers and squash for the last two years. I do love okree!! Mother boiled it and cut it and fried it in a big ole black skillet and I loved it either way. Sure enjoyed your Q & A with Granny. She is a delight to listen to and was raised like my parents. God bless for all you do!!
I would love all that “Okree”. Great story!
Ed had me cracking up with his writings this morning. I’m convinced to have anything anymore we are going to have to fight and scrimp and work hard just to get it and keep it and gardening is the same. I never saw an okra bloom and it is a lovely sight indeed! God bless you all and have a good day!
What a bumper crop! I guess sometimes there literally is too much of a good thing. lol
Okree, okry, okra…whatever..I love it fried or boiled..
Call it as you like, but to me, I love it no matter its name too Mr Don. Sure wish I lived next door of that bumper crop of it. I too love stewed okra, corn and tomatoes. One of my favorite any time of the year dishes. To cut the ooey, gooey I add a bit of acid. Like apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. It really works. Lived this article. Thanks Miss. Tipper. Have the best weekend. God bless you.
That should have said “loved this article.” My fingers are always hitting the wrong keys.
Call it as you like, but to me, I love it no matter its name too Mr Don. Sure wish I lived next door of that bumper crop of it. I too love stewed okra, corn and tomatoes. One of my favorite any time of the year dishes. To cut the ooey, gooey I add a bit of acid. Like apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. It really works. Loved this article. Thanks Miss. Tipper. Have the best weekend. God bless you.
That was a great post. You just never know how your garden will grow. I just wish I had some of that okra.
true life turns out the best stories one can tell or hear–sometimes funny sometimes exciting sometimes sad…but as this story ended with a bumper crop of okree we can be assured our lives will end with plenty of one of two things–a wonderfully glorious life in endless eternity with Jesus or a horrible never ending forever in the torturous pit of hell….I am so appreciative of you and your family speaking and living The Word of God lighting the way for unsaved viewers, and encouraging any struggling saved viewers. God bless each one of you and keep you in the Shelter of His Arms
Okra envy!! If I lived close, I’d buy all the extra okra he had. Okra does that some years. is it Clemson spineless or another variety?
It is Clemson Spineless. That’s what I usually but it has never grown like this. I finally did something and don’t know what is was.
I rarely think of “oakree” without thinking of what Tony Howse told me years ago in regards to this plant of African origin which was, “I’ll have oakree till frost, if I keep it cut back”. He is right too. I like it cut tender. Nothing spoils the “oakree experience” like tough, stringy, and/or hard oakra.
oh! how I wish my okry looked that good!
I have two and a half small rows, I get about five to seven pods a day. we like it boiled so it goes in a bag in the freezer.
it’s finally cooled off a bit here in Texas and my tomatoes are growing great. already got in the onions and peppers.
we built raised beds. it’s been nice having some fresh food.
Tipper, I had seen the blueberry tomatoes on your video, so I planted some. not to bad, next year tho I want to plant some Tommy toes lol
This has nothing much to do with okree or Ed’s other garden problems. In the past I have had black ants get on my okree and also on my ears of corn. It would be during times of dry weather, I assumed the ants were looking for moisture. For most of us, our garden problems are more of an inconvenience unlike in the past when my family and others depend on a large garden for most of their year long food source, now we can just buy at the grocery store. I think of the farmers that have lost their crops or the dairy or beef cattle farmer that has not been able to grow hay that depend on these things for their income. I tried to plow some spots of land yesterday for my son to plant some deer food plots. I have a larger 65 hp tractor and a heavy disc plow-it was like trying to plow up a cement parking lot. Since May we have had very little rain and in the last 6 weeks only one measurable shower. The flow in a large creek on my property has slowed down to a trickle. A better chance of rain is forecast for the next several days because of the Hurricane. I am having a family problem concerning my sister and her health that is causing a lot of problems for me, please pray for both her and me.
Randy-I will continue to pray for you both.
If I lived close to you, I’d take that okra off your hands! Maybe I could make a day trip???
Everyone have a great day!