Posted By FarmerJ on August 25, 2009

Isn’t this a pretty flower?  No, it’s not a Hibiscus ~ it’s better.  It’s an Okra!  How cool is that?  Not only are we blessed with the food from our Okra plants, we are blessed with their beauty in the interim.

It’s been fun and interesting to watch these plants grow over the course of the summer.  I started the seeds in a tray back in early April.  I placed black plastic over the row in the garden where the okra live because they like warm soil and warm weather.  I planted the little seedlings the last week in May.

I’d never seen an Okra plant before.  For me, Okra came pickled in a jar on a shelf or sliced with a breaded coating in a bag in the freezer section of a grocery store.  So, I really had no idea what to expect when I planted these ~ I just knew that Darling Husbie and I both love Okra and fresh Okra had to be the best…just like everything else that grows in our own chocolate angel food soil.

We have twelve plants.  We started with thirteen, but one just didn’t thrive and I finally pulled it yesterday.  Today, most of the plants are standing approximately 4′ tall.  Some of them are approaching 5′ tall.  The trunks are between 3″ and 4″ in diameter.  I had no idea these plants would grow so large when I stuck those little seeds in that potting soil.

The Okra plants are sort of reminding me of the pepper plants last year in that they seemed to take their time in getting established.  The plants grew, slowly but steadily, and would put on an Okra now and then.  I almost couldn’t stand the anticipation in waiting for a pod to get large enough so I could pick it.  My poor Husbie only got a bite ~ more like a nibble ~ once in a while because I would crunch into that green beauty as soon as I got it free from the stem!  I never made it to the edge of the garden with any Okra left, let alone with any to bring into the house.

Because of the slow production, Husbie has been saying that we need to plan on planting four rows next year so that we actually get enough to do something with ~ so that he could actually eat an entire pod and not just get a nibble his wife so generously shared with him.  But now, I’m thinking four rows might be a bit much.  The plants have really taken hold and are beginning to produce like crazy.

I made some Okra Stew for Husbie yesterday, so I’d picked the plants clean of every pod ready for the taking.  The pods are prime for picking when they are about 3″ long.  I removed everything 3″ or longer yesterday morning leaving several more pods on the plants ~  but they were very small and wouldn’t be ready for picking for at least two or three days.  Or so I thought.

I went out there this morning to work on some other plants and I couldn’t believe my eyes!  These were ready to be picked already!  There are thirty Okra in this bowl.  Thirty Okra ready in twenty-four hours.  There are at least that many more on there right now that are the same size these were yesterday, and too many to count that are just beginning to bud.  So, I think the verdict is still out regarding how many plants we’ll have next year.  Twelve may end up being plenty!

I’ve been trying to be diligent in weighing the bounty of our harvest so that we have something to refer to when planning the garden plots next year ~ but I’ve failed miserably with the Okra.  Mostly, because I am guilty of eating them faster than they were growing (almost literally) in the beginning, so there was nothing to weigh.  Then, when the plants finally started producing enough to make a little harvest, we were so excited we didn’t wait long enough to weigh them!  I will try to do better from here on out.

Those in the bowl weigh 1 lb 1 oz.  One pound of pure sweetness.  ♥

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