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gardeni

Planning for next year's asian veg garden

gardeni
15 years ago

I live in San Jose, CA. Winding down this year's garden. Had a reasonably good season with the usual vegs. Getting braver.

Here are some of the vegs I want to grow for next year:

- Snake Gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina)

- Tindora (Coccinia grandis)

- Bitter Melon

- Okra

Can you all please tell me where I can find the seeds/seedlings etc. I have visted evergreen seeds. They don't have the Tindora. I also read from other threads that root cut is better. Anyone can spare some?. I can give you a moringa seedling (horse radish tree) or seeds in exchange.

Also, any advice on when to start, soil preparation etc.

I am getting a starter greenhouse. Any vegs that I can plant now in that greenhouse? I am zone 9 in CA.

I am limited on space (as is common in San Jose) so I have to plan properly and prepare my beds.

Comments (4)

  • fragrantgarden99
    15 years ago

    Gardeni:

    Have you contacted the Master Gardener's in Santa Clara County? They are a fabulous resource.

    Bitter melon will be a challenge in San Jose. I live nearby and had wanted to do the same but a Fresno grower at my farmer's market talked me out of it. He said we don't have enough night heat in the summer. Nor is our summer hot long enough for the melons to grow. He suggested trying choyote melons instead, which did well.

    Okras also need LOTS of heat and full sun. And here in our region, each plant bears one pod at a time, at least it did for me. You need to grow many plants to harvest enough to cook with for one meal. Assuming you'll need at least 20 pods to cook a decent meal with, that's about 20 plants.

    We were dumb enough to grow only two okra plants this year, and--yup, you guessed it -- we got to harvest two okras about every two to three weeks during the really, really hot part of the summer.

    If space is limited, then I would grow pole beans. They love our weather and keep putting out and putting out.

    Can you tell me more about moringa? Can they be successfully grown in SJ area outside all year round? Where did you buy your moringa tree?

    Thanks.
    FG

  • may0503
    15 years ago

    Hey fragrantgardener01, I also live in California but north of Los Angeles, the valley. I planted some okra around October and finished off a whole packet purchased from WalMart. Around 10 okras were planted and was surprised that they grew so much. The okra is still producing even now so I am wondering why its takes about three weeks for one okra to grow on your plant. I have around 5+ okra on each plant and I can barely catch up with all the production that I end up giving them away. What type of okra did you plant?
    I don't know if the seeds are hybrids(they probably are) but I'll try to save some seeds.

  • rookiegardener1
    13 years ago

    Hi GF,

    Crimson spineless is a good one. Adopted for short season production. Try those. If you are short on land, they do very well in containers. They are deep rooted ( but not as deep as Egg Plants). So use at least a knee high container and sow 3 seeds per container. One all 3 sprouted up keep 2 and pull out the weekest one. Make sure you place your containers on a cender block or a brick, which will create a well drinage.

    Good Luck.

    Rookiegardener1

  • ladybug_la
    13 years ago

    I just put down some Okra seeds. Hopefully, they will germinate soon. I live in the hot and humid South (louisiana), where we get plenty of sun now thru October. Will my Okras do well here?

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