Whether you like to eat the pods or not, this native of Africa thrives during Florida summers and brightens the landscape.
By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
Published June 12, 2004
Some vegetables are as polarizing as politicians: Either you love them or hate them.
Take okra. The relative of the hibiscus and mallows bears lovely yellow-and-maroon flowers that transform into pods. The pods are savored by those who fry, pickle or boil them. Others find them way too slimy.
Whether you eat the pods or not, this native of Africa loves our muggy summers and looks beautiful in the landscape.
I can't get enough of it, so I sow a couple of rows per month from late April through August to ensure a steady supply. It wants full sun, fertile soil that is barely acid or even slightly sweet (alkaline), and plenty of water. Before I plant the big, easy-to-grow seeds, I cover the garden with a few inches of horse manure, or a thin layer of inexpensive dog-food nuggets, or a sprinkling of menhaden fish meal. I also add a liberal sprinkling of dolomitic limestone (dolomite supplies the calcium and magnesium that okra and other crops need.) to eliminate the excess soil acid common in our area. I turn the soil with a shovel, then plant each seed 1 inch deep and about 10 inches apart in rows a foot apart. I then water deeply each week until the summer rains kick in.
When the plants are knee high, I feed the soil with an inch of manure or more fish meal (chemical gardeners can get away with a balanced lawn fertilizer free of weed killers and insecticides). Once the seedlings grow to 6 inches, I keep them mulched with a few inches of oak leaves to keep the soil damp and to suppress weeds.
While my favorite variety is the 6 to 8 foot Clemson Spineless, this year I am trying the purple podded variety Burgundy and Perkin's Long Pod. Some folks prefer shorter growing varieties such as Annie Okra and Louisiana Emerald.
Okra pods get woody quickly, so harvest them every two days when they are 3 to 4 inches long by snipping them off with scissors. The beautiful flowers are edible and tasty in salads, and the tender unfolded leaves may be chopped and cooked as a summer green. The only pests I have ever seen are aphids, which can be removed with a squirt from a water hose. As summer gets wetter and hotter, okra's growth rate will astound you. At the end of the growing season, allow half a dozen pods to turn brown and dry, this produces seeds for future plantings.
Regardless of the variety, okra is a nutrition powerhouse, packed with protein, soluble and insoluble fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus, plus vitamins A, B-1, B-2, B-3, B-6 and C. If you don't like the texture, drop several pods in your blender with water or broth, and add it to soups and stews as a low-fat thickener; it's also a good way to sneak some of that nutrition into your family's meals.
Once you have it fresh from your garden, you'll find the store-brought variety can't compare. Soon, okra may be as much a part of summer as the afternoon showers.
- John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for the diverse regions of Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com
