Okra Lovers Unite





If you love okra this blog is just for you!

 During a trip to Grenada I fell in love with okras. When I got home I served this as a side dish regularly. I boiled them, sautéd them and ate them in sada roti or best of all added some Masala!

 Soon I realized that they were costly for my level of consumption. Knowing nothing about growing okra I decided to try my green thumb at growing these lady fingers as they are commonly called.
Planting Okra

 I purchased 4 okra seedlings from the plant store and nurtured them in a flower pot for about 3 weeks before transplanting them outside.
Okra plants are tall, so be sure to space out the rows 4 to 6 feet apart. Being from Africa, these plants love sunlight, so make sure to plant them where there's lots of it.
Harvesting Okra

 This unique vegetable is easy to grow. They mature between 50 and 65 days and the best part is that they can produce Okra for about 12 weeks! So get your okra recipes ready!

 Apart from gaining this edible delight, okra produce some beautiful flowers.


Avoid wastage and harvest pods at least every other day when they are about two to four inches long, as they quickly turn from tender to tough the bigger they grow.

 Okras have a long growing season and hearty production, four or five plants will usually produce enough okra for most families. I planted 6 and I am able to share with three of my neighbors and family!


TIP: For maximum yield, make sure to prune older limbs beneath the already harvested pods.
Storing Okra

 After harvesting, do not wash okra as the pods will become slimy and mold quickly, trust me. Be sure to refrigerate dry okra in perforated plastic bags and use within a few days or before the pods' ridges and tips start to turn dark.
If you love okra as much as I do feel free to share your favorite recipes with me in the comment section below!

Comments

  1. Christeon RomainSeptember 25, 2017 at 11:30 AM

    Sometimes they get hard before the tip turns brown. How can I know otherwise?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rogue Gardening September 25, 2017 at 11:47 AM

      Hi Christeon, gently bend the tips of the okra, if you push too hard it could snap off but that's a good thing because if it's flexible that means it's fresh and ready to be harvested. However, if it is firm/hard when pushed/ not flexible that means the okra is already beginning to get rough or hard.

      Delete
    2. Christeon RomainSeptember 25, 2017 at 12:41 PM

      O ok. Thank you.

      Delete

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