I am especially fond of fried okra, and pickled okra is a real dilly of a treat.Īll articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author. After your first harvest, remove the leaves on the lower part of the plant to speed up production. About an inch of water per week is ideal for okra plants, and even more may be needed if you live in an arid climate. Try one of Chef Linda’s okra recipes on this site in the Articles section. Okra is a warm-weather crop that grows best in full sun. You could even grow them in a flower border. Okra flowers are attractive and there are some with purple pods. There are small varieties developed for container culture. Even if you don’t have a vegetable garden patch, you can grow okra. Keep your plants fertilized throughout the growing season and be sure to water them if rains don’t give them a good drink. Once it sets seed, its reason for living is fulfilled and it has no more reason to put out any more flowers or fruit. You never want to let okra “go to seed” or you will lose new harvests. If some pods get away from you and stay on the plant too long, then cut them off and throw them away. Harvest the pods every other day while they are young and tender. Even so, when you harvest okra, be sure to wear gloves. Look for spineless varieties, since old timers can chew up your hands. To speed the seeds along, you can soak them overnight in warm water before you plant them. As a vegetable, okra may be prepared like asparagus, sauteed, or pickled, and it is also. It is native to the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere and is widely cultivated or naturalized in the tropics and subtropics of the Western Hemisphere. The plants should be thinned to about 2 feet apart, after they are up and growing. okra, (Abelmoschus esculentus), herbaceous hairy annual plant of the mallow family (Malvaceae) and its edible fruit. Do make sure you will be able to reach the tall plants from all sides in order to make harvesting easier. You can plant it in rows or in hills, raised up a few inches to improve drainage. So, wait until a couple of weeks after your frost-free date to plant it out in your garden. After all, its heritage is most likely African. It likes its soil warm and toasty in order to germinate. It doesn’t do any good to plant okra seed early. The planting site should be in full sun, or at least have sunshine for 6 hours or more a day. Now that I'm grown, and my heart and home is in Dixie, I've tasted homegrown okra and let me tell you there is a world of difference. My first introduction to okra was in a can of vegetable soup, slimy little pieces that I pushed to the side and didn't eat after that first bite. Since I grew up in the Midwest, my appreciation of okra is not love, but it has become more than tolerance. Okra is definitely a most southern vegetable. Just in case.Growing up Southern gives you an added advantage. Some people are sensitive to okra leaves, so you might want to wear gloves. Okra is a drought-tolerant plant, but it grows best with regular irrigation. You can protect young okra plants from earwigs and cutworms by using brassica collars.īeing susceptible to Fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt, okra should not be planted where tomatoes or peppers have been grown recently. Okra is frequently attacked by aphids, cutworms, earwigs, flea beetles, and whiteflies. If pods are allowed to ripen on the plant, pod production will stop. Once pod-formation begins, be sure to harvest pods every other day, while they are less that 4” long. Over-fertilization of okra creates huge, beautiful leaves and zero pods. This will ensure they have all the nutrients they need. Okra is a heavy feeder, so top dressing with some aged compost when plants are 8” tall and again when pods set and when plants are 4’ tall.
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