I’m an okra growing novice. I have always liked it, and bought it when it looked good in the greengrocer, but I have never seen it growing and could possibly be the first in my family to try it. But so far I’m impressed with growing okra, as it’s stayed unwiltingly defiant through our dry spring.
I sowed these into big individual seed trays way back in September, got them through harsh times out on the concrete until I got the shade house up, then grew them on and planted them out when it looked like raining. It’s a harsh spot for dry times; at the top of the hill with free-draining soil and a good slope (my thought was that it would be good for wet weather, hmmm), but all six seedlings survived week after sunny week, with just an occasional watering when nearby plants like the maize rolled their leaves up. Now I’m hoping again that the season has broken and the rain will continue and let them take off, as they must have good root systems by now.
The big surprise was, after taking the main photo, I had a closer look and realised that there were five pods of eating size, which is amazing for such tiny plants. We had them sautéed with leek and zucchini, and they were delicious, also a surprise as I thought they might be like beans and go very stringy if the plants get dry.
The variety is Clemsons spineless, by the way.
With the (irrigated Mid-levels garden now on the go, I have sown a row down there, and have plenty more than six in total now. Not sure how many plants make a good harvest, but I can always give them away if I’ve over planted. I think I read that they are pretty generous with the pods and need to be picked to keep up production.