Bean Sowing at the Allotment! More Dahlias + Work Starts on the Polytunnel Floor. Ep 212 || Plot 37 

Well well well. Looks like I am going to settle into my armchair and relax to 52 minutes of piano and peaceful allotment adventures with Lil cat, the girly chickens and the two lady humans. Lovely Tuesday afternoon.

Ahhhh, TuesdayJessday is here again. That's an hour of this evening sorted😊

I grow okra (‘oak-ra’) every year in the southern US. It’s a tall, ornamental looking plant with large blooms. Keep the okra picked around finger length. It gets woody if you let it get too long, and it can be a heavy producer in my climate. It can be added to soups, gumbo, and dishes like that are good, but it really shines when fried or roasted… either rounds of sliced battered okra fried in oil… or made into okra “fries” by cutting in half lengthwise, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, then roasted in a hot oven. Serve with an aioli type dipping sauce. We also freeze bagfuls of battered okra rounds. They make a nice side dish to fish.

The reddish spider with the long abdomen is a Woodlouse Spider

I was waiting for a Mr Rattius rat to pop his head out of the hole ! I think we have nearly solved the rat issue at our plot with help from the council pest control man. Happy growing. X

Lilly the potatoes queen 🥔👑

Lay 1/4 " wire mesh down on the floor and up the sides at least 4-6" and it will be rat proof. Nows the time!

Chicken coops with the dropped feed are huge mice and rat magnets.

Your perfect just the way you are. We all love you and thanks for your channel ❤

I've been watching since the first episode. You are always a pleasant start to the morning. Keep the vids coming.

Okra are delicious! To get rid of the snot, chopped them and sumerge them in water with lemon or vinager, get rid of the water, do this 2 or 3 times. Somehow the acid gets rid of it.

I've missed this one ( thanks you tube admin) it didn't come up on the notification list still interesting and relevant

Okra in the Midwest grows like crazy. You want to pick frequently and at a small size. The bigger they get they are very woody! Snot aside many people love them deep fried.

What no one is saying about okra is that it requires hot weather and plenty of sunshine. It produces really fast once the temperature gets hot so check it EVERY day or you will miss harvesting them at the right time.

This is my favorite video to watch every week. I'm in the US and I typically watch you after my lunch break on Tuesday while I'm working. Okra in the US is often sliced into circles and egg wash dipped, dipped in cornmeal and deep fried, it's also used as a pickle sometimes. These are both more of a southern US application (I'm in Chicago), but thought it might be helpful in avoiding the slimy sensation.

Okra! Loves hot weather, is drought resistant, pick it small and use gloves. They are spiney. It's best battered and deep fried. The plants can attract ants occasionally. We loved growing it in Texas. It would be 5 feet tall some years. Clemson spineless is the standard variety here. Love the channel, bye!

Lordy I need to put my glasses on more I read the title as Its been snowing at the allotment, I thought crikey if its snowing down south there I stand no chance here in the Midlands 😂

Hi Jessie and your Mum, your chickens are just gorgeous & Lil too ❤ the weather has been so cold but, it's warmed up here in the Northwest, very windy but, 18C & now 10C overnight. So, I have planted my tomatoes In their final position in the polytunnel. Lovely video update. Thanks for sharing and take care 😊

Love watching your shows,Thanks!

Baby to the vet - hope she got a treat afterwards for being a good girl. 😊 I’ve popped so many herbs around the gardens that my husband questions why I need containers too, but you can never have enough! 😂 Oregano, catnip, mint, fever few - lots of bullies but they come back every year making less work for me.

a lovely video jessie

perfect timing jessi, i had nightmares last night was spiders hope i sleep tonight, love lucy

Omg I did a real spit take. Dust Buster 😂

Fantastisch Good work Jessie you the best moostiun thans te video Top week 🌺🤗🌞🌱🧤🧢🐝🥦👍

I have never found way to cook okra that made it taste nice. Euurgh

Okra has gorgeous flowers, trumpets. It requires quite a bit of sun and heat, but you should be good to grow it. I eat quite a bit of Middle Eastern food, and the okra doesn't go "slimy".

Coucou 👋🏻 👋🏻 👋🏻 Merci beaucoup pour ce beau moment passé avec toi 😊 A bientôt et bon jardinage

Looking forward to the rhubarb cake.

Lol, I'm glad I'm not the only one to shout out random words when they pop back into my head ages after I was looking for them 😂😂😊

Here in Central US - just planted our Okra! ❤️💚🎉 It's one of the crops I look forward to the most. Delicious, picked young 3-4 inches, lightly rubbed in oil and then cooked in the oven til a bit Krispy. Salt after, yum 😋🤤😋. Also delicious pickled 🥒 Direct sun and they take off in growth once temps are staying above 50 at night.

It's a woodlouse spider and they bite so avoid them.

Good luck with the okra. I’m from the southern US. You’ll need it.

Pick young--slice, coat in egg, roll in corn meal and saute--not deep fried--very good!!! very beautiful tall plants, yellow flowers, very pretty planted among sun flowers!! (from Kansas)

Hello from South Carolina In the United States. I had such a great time growing Okra, they remind me of hibiscus plants and my beans grew up them. Just some fertilizer and thats about it. they grew about 6ft. I harvested when they were a couple inches long. Love watching your channel.

Yes, talking about that vegetable okra (lady finger) I did tried growing it last year I planted in the full ground but didn’t work and the seeds was very poor coming up too.. but this year I started the seeds inside the house and it all came out. This time I will grow in the pots and some in the full ground. But the seeds I brought it from my hometown and the seeds are very good too. Last week I started the seeds inside at the window and today I will bring it to my greenhouse. Yes, l love okra too but I boiled it without cutting and ate in Asian way. But you can slice it cook with garlic and onion in the pan or wok when almost done you can put eggs on the top like omelet..off course with oil or butter. Some countries they cooked as soup and they ate with cornmeal or cassava meal .( they putted vegetables, meat inside and very hot peppers) so hot you feeling your mouth burn 🔥 😂😂😂. This my experience when I was invited to have okra soup with cassavameal..out of politeness I ate it boy..heaven.😂😂😂but was delicious too.😊

HI JESSIE FROM THE USA FLORIDA.

Looking good lovely…❤

Here in my corner of the world (Texas) I’ve got cool weather and warm weather crops so I’m also stumped for space. Onions are slowly being harvested and that is it! I’ve got the heat lover crops sowed so I’ve got time before they go in (melons, squash, zinnias, eggplant, parsley and not to forget basil). Weather here has been cool and overcast with a few rainstorms thrown in. Once the sun pops out all hell will break loose as tomatoes and tomatillos have set fruit but not ripened. Okra grows great here as they love heat (they laugh at it) but most have tiny spines on the fruit and most grow like a Christmas tree (can get very tall and gangly).😮

I am so glad it is not too late for sowing green bean as I sowed a couple of trays and only 3 came up. I ordered Python. Never done those before. My butter beans and runner beañs have gone mad but its just too cold for tgem.

Funnily enough, I didn’t get full germination from Black Krim either but I resowed it and got a couple more. First time trying it 🤞

Jessie, I grew okra for the first time last year!! You need to be picking them when they are small because they get very woody if they get too big!! The flowers are absolutely beautiful!! The more you pick them the more you get!! The way I cook it is slice it in 1cm thick. Wash it really well bread it & put in my Airfryer in order to save calories with deep frying it in oil!! If you don’t have an airfryer put them in a backing tray in the oven!! I dip them in ranch dressing!! Yummy!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Looks like Canadian weather.

I put 1 or 2 seed in one pot 😊 and it doing good but the one I bought in Europe it didn’t coming out but the one I brought from my hometown..M.S all coming out..I wish you all the best planting okra..😊👍👏👏👏

🐝Thanks for the great video🌻 spiderman spiderman!!! earworm music 🤣

Yes. The bags of sylvagrow l bought were rather twiggy too. I was surprise. The bags of Good home peat free from B &Q are also a different consistency from usual. Much more fluffy. I don't like that very much but things seem to be growing OK in it. So far though anything l have planted even when really nice strong plants have been completely decimated by slugs. Multi sown spring onions planted and protected with fleece just disappeared completely.

Loved the spiders and those busy fluffy bums and what a star your fellow allotmenteer is, cheers to George. 👍

Good work! Glad to see Mum, sensible woman is wearing gloves………rat borne infections are not great fun

You got me motivated! I harvested some rhubarb yesterday...

💚💚💚Great! Thanks for the video!💚💚💚

Thanks

Last item on okra when growing them plan on dealing with ants cause they love okra. We also plant them tight, like about 6" spacing but see what they recommend. If they get too tall and lots of okra pods come off then you may need to help support the stalk.

I like to eat okra raw. Yummy. Pick when finger size so not woody. Just needs hot weather to grow and then it grows fast. In the states I direct sow it.

That was a chonky spider!! Busy week you've had, it's all systems go! Just need the weather to get it's act together now.

Jessie when I saw the holes in the hot house I thought old tree stump decayed then maybe the badger tunnels but a rat my g… I hope the one we had in our ceiling space didn’t do that. Get the pest man our is gone….i hope now we turn cold it’s a worry as culprit wall under house is still not covered in still waiting on builder. As for those spiders and no gloves be careful Jessie glad mum had hers on. Just sent some $ with ❤to help out

The flowers will be beautiful this summer. Enjoyed the video.

Okra flowers are stunning

Looking forward to seeing your rhubarb cake and a new recipe! Any other ideas for using rhubarb would be welcome, too. As always, we love seeing all that goes on at the plot and whatever else you like to share.

We have a polytunnel cover to get on. We have to wait for a dry, still and quite warm day so the cover stretches well...cant see it happening in the next two weeks 😢😢😢🥴

Okra! Yay! This Texan approves. I grow it every year. Loves the heat. But the only way I’ll eat it is battered with corn meal and fried. So good. If it works there for you, you’ll want to pick it every day once it starts producing. It’ll be 2” long one day and 6” the next. Pick it young as it’ll get really woody (and fairly inedible) quick. Good luck!

Take a look at Rhubarb Custard Cake (Good Food)….delicious

Hiya Jessie, Cheers luv Southern Ontario Canada We are just creeping into spring here. Take care 🇨🇦🐝

Thanks, Jess, yet another brilliant vlog, busy, busy. Why didn't you wear gloves when moving that rat stuff?? Ugh.!! And no, I'm not encouraged by snot cooking!! more UGH . I lost 3 courgette plants when temps dropped to 3% last week. UK. WCL

Jessie those beans you're calling Bruno seem to be yard long or asparagus beans. They are really only suited for indoor sowing in our climate unless we get the heatwave you predicted.

Don't put any membrane back in the floor or beds in the poly tunnel the reason the rats are tunneling underneath is because it's warm and dry leave the membrane out and let the ground underneath get wet

Your garden is looking so lovely! 💐

Jinxy beans are “Asturias” beans and you can use them as fresh French beans, or as podded beans or dry them for winter use😀😀😀

Okra is a vertical stalk and the okra will shoot off the stalk off the sides. Okra varieties that doesn't become slimy when cooked also there's ways to cook it that reduces the slime. In Louisiana many of us that cook Gumbo and use okra in the gumbo (soup/stew), we will lightly cover the sliced okra in seasoned flour and lightly fry them to a off white to light golden brown and drain. Don't over flour or bread and don't over fry the okra. After draining as much oil off the okra add them to your gumbo or stock and that should knock out the slime. Okra is the one of the last items you add to your gumbo or stock or sauce and much of the breading will come off in to gumbo or stock unless you heavily bread or flour them. If you like a contrast in your gumbo then go heavy on flour and fring which makes them crunchy even in a soup.

Hello Jess from across the pond in Austin Tx. !! Okra will be a challenge for you because it’s such a heat loving vegetable. It’s one of the main vegetables we can still grow when our summer temperatures rise above 35C. If you can spare a little space in your poly tunnel that would offer you the greatest chance at growing success. Okra doesn’t really start producing until temperatures are 80f or 25-26C. BTW..the key to “non-snotty” okra is cooking with a very small amount of water..water = snot. Favorite way to cook them is halved lengthwise and grilled with olive oil, salt n pepper. Cheers !

I've had that problem with a few bags of Sylvagrow this year and last year too ... and the results from those woody bags were not as good ... having said that I've switched over to the Sylvagrow with added John Innes this year and it's been much much better even than the good bags of regular sylvagrow.

I am so fed up with the weather Jessie. It has really slowed all the growing and projects right down.

Another fine vlog you've got us into, Jess! But OMFG please please please wear (disposable) gloves when dealing with known rat debris - you surely know about Weill's Disease don't you? We don't want to lose you 🤗😂

We grow lots of okra in the south US. I always plant okra in the least fertile soil as to encourage pods over green leaves. I never fertilize it. Okra likes a very warm soil to germinate (22C at least). Good luck!!

May 1 here is still 2-4 degrees Celsius during the day and freezing at night love from Iceland

Good video Jessie. I have cheap plastic pots my mother in law bought me 12 years ago from the pound shop about 30 for a pound. . Fit 15 to a tray. They fit perfectly into the hole made by a very expensive Jackson bulb planter. Ideal for no dig planting. Just putting in a giant strawberry bed 60 plants continually fruiting Fragaria Albion. Best strawberries I have ever grown. Give them a try you won’t be disappointed.

Who ya gonna call... dust busters ;p

My franchi onions all germinated after 2 other types of onion failed.

Okra plants like sun and heat, they can get quite big, and some varieties can have big nasty thorns.

Hey Jessie it was such a lovely 20c here today wasn't it, with actual sunshine and not too many clouds! I am fair like you and feel like i caught the sun. Feels soo long since it has been nice weather and the clouds have been clearing. I hope that is a good sign for us in London and the rest of the UK to finally get some good weather. Plenty of time to start summer stuff. I was saying the same thing to hubby about chicken and egg and choo choo convey belt of plants.

Old fashioned root trainers…mine still going strong at 10 years old…well strong..ish…each “book” is now in 2 parts…but still usable😀

Would love the rhubarb cake recipe please!

Hi Jess... interesting fact.. here near Melbourne Australia we can grow peas over winter as our summers are a bit warm for them... they cope ok with cool weather and a frost.. 😀

if you give the rats a dry area with a roof they will find a way to tunnel in, wire mesh floor ?.. they will still tunnel and nest under it making it unstable.. so make the area less of a prime location, make it damp and prone to flooding.. collect the rainwater and regularly flood the floor, your squatters will move out, it worked wonders in my greenhouse..

Great timing…I posted my “Jinxy” beans to you yesterday…hope they arrive safely and that you have room to grow some more😀😀😀Jinxy

We are the opposite here...a drought in autumn..dry as a bone and temps still in the mid twenties

Hi Jessie I’m going okra for the first time I soaked the seeds for a couple of hours first they are doing well first true leaves already exciting times great video again xx

Soil must be really warm for okra. They do not like it chilly.

Can't wait to see the rhubarb cake

i can identify with you with the cold and windy weather here on the west coast of washington state. tonight they are predicting frost April 30. what the heck.

There might be able to find some RU-vidr from the southern US that describes okra growing. I have not grown them but have read they are less mucilaginous if you harvest them young. Your plot is looking great!!

Yes, April has been pretty cold and windy here (Fylde coast), but there is warmth in that sun when it does shine (however briefly) 😁. The Met Office will probably tell us it's the hottest April on record 😂. My sweet peas, peas, runner beans and broad beans are outside, they'll have to take their chances 😂. Here's hoping for a fantastic summer.

See VLOG 53 for the Rhubarb Cake! I happened to watch that one again recently 🤩

I hate okra it is like eating a runny nose 😂 very big in my culture, Jamaicans eat it in stews. I used to cry as a kid when I had to eat it

I soak my okra seeds 12 to 24 hours before direct sowng in ground / sowing.What floats is most likely not good.And what sinks to the bottom is good.There is suppose to be a less slimy version of okra knocking about.I dont mind the slimy mess lol .Im in the south of the USA and MOST of us love it cooked anyway.I have planted a zillion seeds and plants in my garden and flower bed.They have the most beautiful flowers. Yet pick while small because the huge ones are woody.

I have tried to grow okra for the past couple of years with seeds from kings…one verify definitely grows better than the other but never had more than one at a time which is a shame as okra fries are delicious and it's a lot of effort with one “okri”😂Will be interested to see how yours work. Thank so much for your videos, always a pleasure 😁

would it be worth digging a trench round the walls of the greenhouse and putting in metal mesh netting in vertically to stop the rats returning.

Who was mum talking / chuntering to ? Herself, Lily or the ghirlies? You’ll have to do a secret recording 😂.

Oh my god Jessie I wish it would warm up!! Everything is so slow to germinate, I'm still waiting for my first lot of peas, so because they've blocked everything up I am now resorting to using loo roll holders for the second lot 🤣as I have no root trainers. It's the 1st May tomorrow and I have my fire on indoors here in southern Scotland. Ridiculous weather !!! as you would say "it's pants" and beyond pants!!!

I made my first rhubarb and strawberry crisp never tried rehubarb before it was so good

I made a couple of cuttings from my Taunton Deane. You can have one if they take. I think you are South London? I'm in Ilford. If we can make it happen you'll have the plant.X

Those blooming Rats 🤪 they really had a field day didn’t they!!! Everything is looking fabulous 💚