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.