All growing-okra articles

how to grow

Growing Okra

Okra, especially popular in the South, grows best in hot weather. Get expert tips for growing the unique okra vegetable in your home garden.

recipes

Creole Okra

recipes

Roasted Okra

garden fundamentals

How to Start a Vegetable Garden

When it comes to starting a vegetable garden, 3 things are absolutely crucial for success: lots of sun, good soil, and plenty of water.

garden plans

4 x 4-foot Cajun Garden

Are you itching to fill your big kitchen pot with gumbo, jambalaya, or another classic Cajun entree? Build your own cajun 4x4 raised garden bed with these suggestions.

garden fundamentals

Harvest Guide to Summer Veggies

Harvesting summer vegetables can be tricky if you're just starting out with gardening. Use our quick guide to know when & how to harvest vegetables in your garden.

garden ideas inspiration

Easy Container Combos: Vegetables and Flowers

Vegetables and flowers make wonderful companions -- and look beautiful together -- in container gardens. Try these tips from author Pamela Crawford.

garden ideas inspiration

Full Sun Vegetable Plant Garden Ideas

There’s nothing like harvesting fresh veggies straight from your backyard or balcony and creating a delicious dinner from ingredients you grew yourself. But many veggies need what the experts call “full sun” to grow their best. Do you know which of your favorites need it?

garden fundamentals

Which Veggies for Which Season?

Learn which vegetables to plant in summer, spring, and fall. Seasonal vegetable planting is the first step to a beautiful and bountiful garden.

garden fundamentals

The Basics of Fertilizing

All edible plants remove some nutrients from the soil, and some have such huge appetites that they quickly exhaust the soil (and then produce a poor crop) without the help of fertilizer. Fertilizer is especially helpful early on, when plants are making fast new growth. The key is to match the fertilizing strategy to the plant.

recipes

Mom's Stuffed Peppers

garden ideas inspiration

Meet the Urban Gardeners

Urban gardeners use salvaged materials and creativity to build a mini-farm in their backyard. Learn from their experience to grow your own urban garden.

garden fundamentals

Are Heirloom Vegetables Better Than Hybrids?

Walk into any farmers market and you’ll see a wide range of heirloom vegetables for sale, often for a heftier price than their hybrid cousins (especially when it comes to heirloom tomatoes). But are heirlooms really better than hybrids?

garden fundamentals

Nematodes

Slightly stunted plants seem chronically thirsty, even when well-watered. Knotted roots are the tell-tale sign.

garden fundamentals

The Cure for Black Thumb

I believed for most of my life that I was born with a black thumb. Not anymore! I've discovered the cure for black thumb. Want to know what it is?

garden fundamentals

What to Plant in a Victory Garden

You’ve probably heard a lot about victory gardens lately, and it’s no wonder. Now is a great time to get your hands dirty and dig into the challenge and fun of growing your own food. We’ll help you choose the best edibles to plant in your victory garden.

garden fundamentals

Corn Earworms

These caterpillars bore into fruit, especially corn. Damage to beans is usually minimal.

garden fundamentals

How to Store Summer Vegetables

When your summer harvest starts coming in fast and furiously, it can be a little overwhelming. While your first instinct may be to just put it all in the fridge and hope it’ll last until you can eat it, the average refrigerator temperature is simply too cold for many warm-weather crops.

garden fundamentals

Keeping Deer Out of the Garden

In spring and summer, deer tend to feed heaviest, because pregnant and nursing does and antler-growing bucks must fuel their seasonal life stages — and those seasons, of course, are when you most need a plan for keeping deer out of the garden.

garden fundamentals

How to Dry Your Harvest

Drying is one of the oldest food preservation methods, since the simple act of removing the moisture helps keep decay at bay. There are some definite benefits to this method: Dried food doesn’t have to be kept cold (thereby taking up valuable freezer space) and it requires minimal real estate in your cupboard.