A Summer of Okra

As you may know, I became a fan of okra a few years ago when I started getting it fresh from the farm and cooking it myself.  Turns out, my fears of the much-touted slime factor were misguided. Same too, my expectations that it had to be deep-fried or nothing. In three years, I've gone from avoiding this vegetable in the kitchen to napping under it's shade in my backyard. Weird. But cool.

In 2008 I got my okra from Johnson's Backyard Garden CSA, and professed my ignorance as to what to do with it. I found out that okra is popular in Indian recipes, and since I wasn't a fan of deep-frying in my kitchen, I gave them a shot. They were freakin' awesome tasting. I made them with each bundle of the lady finger I got form the CSA that summer and fall. The only down side was that the recipes were more involved than I was used to making. Cooking okra took a lot time. Worth it, but not always practical. Sometimes the okra went bad in the fridge before I had a chance to use it. Boo.  I wish I'd thought about pickling then....

So by 2009, I decided okra was a pretty cool vegetable. It also had the distinction of handling our Texas summer heat, so I planted 3 okra plants in my 3x3 foot square-foot garden box. I gave each tiny seedling a whole square foot as was recommended somewhere on the internet. The results: unimpressive, but successful. The plants were plagued by aphids, but the buggers were kept in check by knocking them off daily either with water from the hose or my hand. The little pests didn't seem to hurt the okra that was produced, and we ate it when we could supplement our 'harvest' with the okra from the CSA.  The plants grew about three feet tall eventually and produced maybe 3 okra a week. (Hence, the air-quotes around harvest.) I noticed that the plants, while easily a foot wide, were pretty spindly. I resolved to plant them more densely the next time.

In 2010, I planted 16 okra seeds in my upgraded 4x8 foot square-foot garden. I planted them with corn, squash and peas in a modified, failed three-sisters garden plan. I'd heard that corn needed a lot of fertilizer to be successful, so I began fertilizing weekly with seaweed extract almost immediately. It was my first committed effort to regularly fertilizing since starting my garden experiments. Well, the corn never really produced anything edible and died half-way through the summer.  The okra plants had a different experience, which I'd like show in pictures.

2 feet tall plant, okra next to serrano pepper

4 feet tall plants

about 6 feet tall

I'm guessing 8 feet here

Long story short, I've got some okra plants that are about 8 feet tall now. In the afternoon, I can lay down on my garden storage bench by the fence and daydream through the branches. The one green okra plant has a 'trunk' now that's almost and inch and a half in diameter. The burgundy okra plants are slimmer, as are the fruit the produce, but still impressive (at least to me).

Lessons learned:

• Fertilize your plants often, at least while they're small and not yet setting fruit.
• Aphids only seem like a big problem when the plant is 2 feet tall
• Planting both green and burgundy okra can produce some odd-looking, hybrid fruit. I think I'll stick to just one color next year so I can save seeds
• Okra plants are pretty flexible, even when they're big. If a tropical storm is coming through, I should use stakes to help support them
• Even if a plant bends way over, it can still produce okra
• Plant okra towards the north so that the rest of the box can still get some sun
• Burgundy okra is too long and skinny to be a good pickling okra, as it's too tall to fit in the jars without squishing. Use the green okra from the CSA for that.

Our harvests don't require air-quotes to describe any more. We have to keep picking them every 2-3 days to keep them from getting too big and tough. We've been able to give some to friends and still have enough to enjoy ourselves (we're still getting some from the CSA as well). Our okra recipe repertoire has expanded to included tasty, yet quick side dishes. It's been a summer of okra, and it makes me kinda proud.

Unexpected Gifts from the Rain

So after getting almost 9 inches of rain this week, the grass is crazy long, the fences are still drying out, and there are a few less birds visiting the fountain.  This morning I took a Town Lake walk with M and saw remnants of the flooding there: weed-draped benches, beached docks, and long expanses of muddy muck where the trail used to be. When I got home I took the time to walk around the park in my backyard and see how things were drying out.

The okra plants that had fallen/bent way over under the force of the wind and rain had start to grow in an "s" shape back towards the sky.  I found more twine and posts to force them upright. Then I picked a plate of okra.  Those plants are hardy.

The tomato plant is draped way down over the basil and pepper plants. I have a trip to Lowe's planned today to see if I can find some better supports.  For the record, still not cool enough at night for tomatoes, but I'm not giving up early this year.  I'll keep that plant going until the first freeze before I give up!

There were also a few surprises.  This volunteer didn't look like the usual suspects when I saw it on Thursday, so I let it grow.

Turns out it was a rain lilly, and more popped up in the lawn and herb garden within the next couple days.

Funny that they don't crop up from being watered with the sprinkler.  You definitely need a good soaking before they emerge.  Not sure how they propagate but I'll leave them be where I can so that they have a chance to come again after the next big rain.

Moving on. In the back of the yard near the strawberry patch everything looked normal. Then I thought I saw  a pot of gold coins tipped over near the rosemary. Turns out, the jack o'lantern that I'd dumped by the fence to rot last year had a heck of a lot of seeds.

I doubt they'll grow into anything, but I suppose I should still clean them up.  Or maybe see if the squirrels do...
And finally there were these little surprises sprouting up from dried husks of ancient purple alien flowers.

Artichokes back from the dry dust of summer! The one on the top left is really close to the thyme (upper left corner). I hope the thyme learns to grow northwest because it's going to be fighting for sunlight in another couple months if that artichoke continues to grow. The artichoke sprout from the second plant is not looking as strong, but now that I know it's there, I'm going to make sure to water it regularly.  Hopefully these plants don't need 8 inches of water a week to grow, but it's still exciting to see them after months of nothing.

Tropical Storm Hermine

I went out to check the rain gage this morning and measured 7.92 inches.  This amount is since it started raining on Monday.  I didn't check the gage yesterday b/c I didn't want to get soaked. Lazy science! I didn't even realize we had a tropical system in the area, but I had heard in passing that it was going to rain Tuesday and Wednesday, so I shut off the automatic drip irrigation to the garden.

But 7.92 + inches in three days? I'm a little concerned about root rot in my raised bed now.  If it doesn't rain too much more today, and is able to dry out quickly, perhaps this isn't a big concern.

I hope the pecan tree in front is enjoying this good soaking, though.  It was showing signs of heat stress, according to my amateur research and opinion.  Might not be a good year for pecans (again). Bummer.

Another problem with the rain is falling down plants.  The okra plants were the worse hit.  Most of them were over five feet tall at the beginning of the week and this morning, about half were laying completely on their sides.  The main stem was still pliable and they hadn't uprooted themselves, so I bent them back up and then tied some twine around the whole lot of them.  Now they're squished together in places because it's still raining and I only hastily wrapped them together, but I hope the triage helps. Between me and the rain, a lot of okra blooms are on the ground. Might be the end of okra season for Andromeda this week, but it was a fun ride.