HOLY TOLEDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lady at the store told me that they grown on tiny little bushes close to the ground! That stuff is INSANE! Do you have to let it climb on anything, or support it with anything.

I'm afraid now. . .

Well all of the pictures I found after a quick search were of people showing off their awesomely tall okra plants. Believe me, mine weren't even close to the picture I linked. The okra I grew last year was maybe a smidge taller than me, if that. I'm about 5 and a half feet tall.
I would imagine that the height of okra is directly proportional to the amount of heat and sunlight it receives. Perhaps in your area where it's a lot cooler than here, the okra does only get to be bush height.
Oh, and no supports required.

Well as I imagined plants roughly a foot tall. . . . it's still a shock. Now I'm not sure where to put them . Perhaps they'll do well at the very end of the garden where I won't have to bother about using a machete to make my way through jungles of okra

I've never had okra before, or seen it grown in a garden...

Amazing to hear about roses almost ready to bloom and green tomatoes already on plants...we're likely to have frost tonight. (Our average last frost date is May 15 so this isn't terribly unusual).

My roses have been in full bloom for a week or two now. They're quite lovely. My sister has been scolding because I don't do anything to them at all (except trim them back in the spring) and she talks about the gobs of people who come into the store to buy various chemicals and whatnot for their roses. She's wondering if it's even necessary now.

..we're likely to have frost tonight.

So I shouldn't mention that I brought back a huge bag of asparagus, salad, and radishes from the farm this weekend?

We do nothing to our roses either. No chemicals, no fancy products, just clip them back in the spring, and dead-head them regularly. They bloom themselves to death, and they are absolutely GORGEOUS.

What rose varieties do you grow, FK? I'm not sure what variety ours are as we got them at a sale. After doing a little research, they look like Wild Blue Yonder roses.

Ha! I have no idea. I'll have to ask my sister. I can give you a general idea though. The two in the front are white and red miniature roses that my husband got for me for Valentine's Day several years ago. The one in the backyard was one my sister decided I needed. It's also a fairly small plant, but the roses are about the size of the ones in your picture but a tiny bit more red.

So I shouldn't mention that I brought back a huge bag of asparagus, salad, and radishes from the farm this weekend?

Sounds delicious!

I must confess that while visiting a greenhouse this past weekend, I saw a tiny green tomato on one of the plants. So it can even happen here this early, under the right conditions.

On roses...my parents have had a rose garden for as long as I can remember. They occasionally fertilized them and were careful to deadhead them, but little other maintainence seems to be required. We did always cover them for winter, since we live in Zone 4.

One of my mother's favorite varieties is Double Delight - each blossom has a whitish center surrounded by a deep red color.

For those of you who are friends with me on facebook, I started a video blog about my garden. You can find the video here:

... 4&comments

Very cool DiGs, I will be sure to check it out shortly!

The current to-do list on the farm....
Plant the slicing cucumbers
Plant the remaining tomatoes and bell peppers (was going to do this but due to a sudden crazy cold snap, we decided to hold off)
Plant the last two rows of corn
Plant pumpkins and watermelons
Plant the next round of radishes
Weed and water
Plant okra in June

Slicing cucumbers ... check
Tomatoes and bell peppers ... check
Corn ... check
Pumpkins and watermelons ... check
Radishes ... check
Weed and water ... ongoing, but did some this weekend so check
Okra ... Not June yet

HOORAY!!!!! Except for the okra, I have FINALLY gotten everything in the ground.

From left to right, back to front:
Future Okra, Peppers, Eggplant, Radishes, and Turnips.
Corn, Squash, Slicing Cucumbers, Lettuce and Spinach
Potatoes, Green Beans, Celery, Brussel Sprouts, and Swiss Chard
Herbs, Onions, Carrots, Peas

I don't have any updated pictures of the other two garden locations, but one of them contains the Concord Grapes and Watermelons, and the other location has the tomatoes, tomatillos, pickling cucumbers, and pie pumpkins.

Ha! I have no idea. I'll have to ask my sister.

The rose in the back yard is a shrub rose called a "knockout." They're most often seen growing around businesses in a neglected, weedy state but blooming happily.

Digs and 'gazer, both those roses are gorgeous! I wish I had a huge yard to try loads and loads of roses in.

My list of to-dos aren't nearly as long as my sister's. They consist of keeping the sweet potatoes I planted alive (which my coworker assures me isn't hard to do) and convincing the pineapple to needs to bloom.

For the pineapple, I've already tried the apple core trick, maybe I really do need to use a bag. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, rip apples are supposed to release ethylene gas which makes pineapples and other bromeliads bloom.)

I've been spending so much time and energy on the farm garden, that I've barely posted any pictures of my own backyard garden so here are a couple of them....

Strawberries and rhubarb in the back. Onions, the potted tomatoes and peppers, one watermelon by its lonesome, Aravanna's sweet potato plants (they have the red tag markers), and then two more peppers.
Oh, and you can see Ara's pineapple plant sitting in the greenhouse.

My herb garden. Funny how everything looks a million times better after it rains.

Pineapples? I didn't think you could grow them here. There was an entire Jeopardy category on pineapple growth on Friday . I thought that they took several years to grow .

FK, your herb garden is making me jealous! I bet it smells heavenly!

I was looking forward to getting my garden in tip-top shape with this long weekend, but really didn't get to. Apparently it rained back home every day this past week. The garden had puddles of standing water throughout, and I hope that it doesn't result in any of my plants drowning.

Weeds are EVERYWHERE, but we cant get the tiller or the hoe into the ground/mud/sludge.

On the bright side, the beans have sprouted (amidst the carpet of weeds), and are about two inches tall. Our spinach is being given one more week before we pronounce the seeds waterlogged/rotten, and plant again. Our peas are starting to sprout, and everything was nice and green.

Today and tomorrow are supposed to be in the 90's, and it's supposed to be a dry week. Hopefully that'll allow me to get out there next weekend.

I lost two tomatoes to birds yesterday. I went and bought some bird netting to go over my tomato plants today. My roma tomato plants have about a dozen tomatoes a piece on them. My heirloom plants have begun to bud! One of them has a small green bulb. My cherry tomato plants haven't started to bud quite yet, but it looks like they are very close.

Digs, it's ironic that you're having the exact opposite problem we are. We're in a drought and you're waterlogged. I wish we could exchange some of that weather.

Considering the lack of rain, the garden does look good! Except my sister's poor Juliet tomato is doomed. The second half of it broke off today. The first half that broke off we been rooted in water and replanted a few days ago. Unfortunately, it was dug up by the dog who likes to dig in moist soil. So it looks like no Juliets this year.

And to answer your question about pineapples, I WISH they took two years to grow. I've had my plant going on four years and it
s never set a bloom.