Growin’ okra

I’m growing okra of all things. I don’t really get enough sun for vegetable growing. Even if things start out ok, they don’t typically prosper. It had never occurred to me to try growing a modestly obscure vegetable like okra, but someone was giving away seeds and since I do love okra, it wasn’t all that strange an idea. Why not? Why not try to grow okra in the strange, tumultuous year that is 2020? I had low expectations but nothing to lose.

I found a few different spots in the busy yard to tuck in seeds. I removed two bricks from the patio, added dirt, and planted seeds. I put some in pots & some in an unused bed. Well damned if they didn’t grow! And what a pretty plant. I had no idea what they’d look like. Here’s the two plants in the patio in August in front of the permanent black-eyed susans bed.

Then they got beautiful flowers, that each lasted only one day. The flowers alone were worth it. Here’s one from the ground plant & one from a pot.

From the blooms grow the okra pod, one to a bloom. And they grow fast. I harvested 2 and oh yes, I cooked (diced & oven roasted with a little olive oil) and ate my okra, scanty though they were.😀

You have to see how the okra pods grows. Isn’t it wild? Upside down!

The plants are growing tall & a little gawky but when they don’t have enough sun that’s typical. Here’s the patio ones today. I cut down the susans the other day; I don’t like messy, spent flowers.

Yesterday I doubled my “harvest” and picked four okra. My oh my, we feast now.😀 I joke, but I really do think they’re beautiful. And I absolutely want to plant okra seeds next year, if only for the plant itself. You just never know what direction good things might be coming from. Simple, good, happy things like a lovely plant that pleased me daily this summer.