How to grow your own Okra
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This vegetable is native to Africa and can survive in sweltering heat and droughts.
Native to Africa, this iconic vegetable thrives in sweltering heat and withstands withering droughts. The candelabra-like stems produce attractive crepe paper blossoms that closely looks like a hibiscus or a cotton. The flowers give rise to the edible seedpods you crave all summer and fall.
The first rule of harvesting: Don’t blink. Okra pods forms in a flash. Checking flowers plants every two days or you might miss the perfect picking size of 4 inches for tender pods. Second, despite the July wardrobe, wear a long sleeve shirt to reach the underneath leaves when cutting off the pods. Even if, the pods are spineless, okra stems aren’t and will stick to you.
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Growing and harvesting okra is simple. Typically it needed to plant a few weeks after tomatoes and it can benefits from the long warm growing season. Soak the large in water overnight and then sow them 1 inch deep in row that are at least 3 feet apart. Cover and water thoroughly, giving them a deep soaking every 4 or 5 days. When seedlings are 2 inches tall, thin them down to 18 inches apart. As the plants begin to flower, apply a blossom-boosting fertilizer according to label directions.
Okra produces until frost, but the older plant need reinvigoration in late summer. Do this by cutting the tall plants back to 1 feet to 2 feet high, allowing side branches to form that continue producing for months. Keep picking the pods until you are ready to save seeds. The let few pods dry on the plant at the end of the season before the frost. Store their seeds in a sealed glass jar. Also save cut stalks with mature dead pods for decorative elements in wreaths, ornaments and flower arrangements.
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