Okra

[seedcorn]

@Zeedman would love to see pix of your okra through our growing season

 

[baymule]

Going from NE Indiana to SW Indiana. We’ve lived in country and now wife wants to move to a new house in a settlement. I just want to be close to grands. Time for them to know how crazy their G’pa really is……. Although trying to keep up with them about killed me for 3 days. They are energized bunnies. I’m working in dead batteries.

That is wonderful. Go for it and enjoy your grandkids. They grow up so fast, you sure don’t want to miss that.

 

[Branching Out]

Good news-- the okra from the Experimental Far Network appears to be hitting its stride! Last year okra never made it past 6" high, so this is big progress.

 

[Zeedman]

"Pentagreen" has been producing consistently for about a month now. But so far, I've just been giving it away, since it's been too hot to do canning. The first ripe tomatoes have started though, so I'll be making salad with steamed okra, fresh tomato, soy sauce, and vinegar. The photo below is from a few weeks ago.

A day's picking:

There are apparently limits to how many times I can grow okra in the same area. I try to rotate locations, but the garden next to the pole building is about 400 square feet, and pretty much every area has been okra now at some point. At the end of the row, where it overlapped part of last year's location, the plants are severely stunted (the beans are stunted there as well). So next year the okra will move to a different garden, while I attempt to restore the fertility of that plot.

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman would love to see pix of your okra through our growing season

Just an update. The okra is still producing, albeit more slowly. !0 of the 32 clusters (those planted in the same area where okra grew last year) are stunted & have been abandoned, so only the front 22 clusters are still bearing. As anticipated, some plants in most clusters have dropped leaves & stopped growing; but at least 2 plants per cluster remain strong, and are still blossoming. Early in the season, I let one pod per cluster grow for seed (on the strongest plant in each cluster) and those pods have now begun to dry down.

With 80 F. degree weather forecast for the next week, there should be at least another 2-3 pickings before cold weather puts an end to them. The yardlong beans directly adjacent to the okra are still bearing well, and they too should respond well to the warm spell.