Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What is everyone growing.

As the forum is a bit light on I thought it may be a good time to introduce something a bit different. I have been growing okra for a few years now and I find it okay for something different .It is a summer crop and I find it fairly easy to grow once you get rid of the slugs that eat the small plants. I eat the pods raw most of the time and I have cooked the leaves which are alright. If you don't know what it is you can Google it and get a lot of info on it. It is supposed to have medicinal properties as well.

It’s our winter here, though very mild in zone 9 north Florida. I am having great success with green onions, romaine lettuce, kale, and edible pod peas. Insects destroyed my pak choy, and my broccoli has beautiful leaves but tiny heads.

I tried okra this last summer, and one thing I found is that it reallllllly loves heat! Our summer was a pretty mild one for the most part. We had a few freak days of heat, and it would be hot for week, then cool down (repeat)
but overall it wasn't too hot continuously. It grew slowly, then when it heated up, it grew fast, then it cooled down again, and it just kind of did nothing, then it heated up again, and it started fruiting, but it did so right up until it got cold.

Some of my family members would eat pickled okra when I was a kid. I liked it. It's got a nice crispness when done this way. Fried okra is a staple in the south eastern states in the US, I did most of my harvest that way. .

It cropped pretty well. I didn't know about eating the leaves! I'll have to try it some time.

Mgessert, you might be able to eat the broccoli leaves if the heads don't get much bigger. Do you know the type of broccoli? It might be a cut and come again type, that produces small heads in succession..?

It's winter here too, and it has been pretty warm, and even hot a few times. We had a few weeks of colder temps, but most above 45 F at night. We are going through another cold spell right now, this time into the upper 30f range. It always gets colder here after the winter rains.

As for what's growing, I wish I would have started seedlings a few months ago for winter planting. I planted some about a week ago, but only one seedling has popped up so far...

A few things are growing though.

Carrot volunteers (wish they'd volunteer to clean the yard) , arugula, cress, last leg lettuce (patented variety), strawberry (plants, few immature fruit (probably won't mature until after college))

Chard, one plant, dong better than in the summer.

Ginger ( harvested some good rhizomes, still have some in the beds- yellowed leaves once the temps dropped)

Peppers (habanero, Serrano, New Mexico Grande, mini bell pepper seedlings my son started from store bought fruit - and they fruited somewhat true to type.) First two still flowering/ fruiting, best looking plants are the serrano. Habaneros don't seem to like outdoor overwintering here, their leaves yellow really bad and get stunted, but I'm just curious, so I leave them...

Overwintered tomato, which is currently flowering and fruiting (we still have another month and a few weeks of winter or so)

Ridiculous Longevity spinach, unstoppable, overflowing, and well, easy to overcook to a slimy okra consistency,,, You might like it Bird

I planted a few peas, that are just coming up. A few got pulled out by birds.

Spring onions still going and volunteers popping up.

Lemongrass doing okay (started as a pup from a potted plant.

Pineapple buried by longevity spinach and tomato plant, but still alive.

Happy growing y'all!

It's also winter here & freezing,the system is indoors but still cold where it is.

I've got lettuce,spring onion,kale.pak choi & spinach.
Probably a nice recovery (nutrients) from summer because I had cherry tomatoes & cucumbers in there.

I haven't had much luck with spinach,I don't think it likes to be too wet.So I thought I'll try again.

Jerry clower had some coon dogs I think about when I think okra. Every evening after supper jerry had to take out the left over scraps and that night they had boiled okra. He took the remaining boiled okra out to feed the dogs and june (the lead dog) ran up and slurped it up so fast she thought the other dog ate it and jumped on him.... I love boiled okra, fried okra, okra in gumbo, we eat it for breakfast with greens and eggs ect ect... we use red okra as it's supposed to be heirloom seed. Are you growing okra in your aquaponics?

So this is the 3rd time (I think) trying spinach,and failed again.

Has anyone successfully grown it?.Any tips/advise?.Thanks