Growing Okra (photo) seedlings - planting and care
HOW TO GROW Okra (Okra) AND WHAT TO PREPARE FROM IT
I want to tell you about a rare vegetable plant - okra, or okre. Three years ago, I was taking my granddaughter to a language school and I was walking past a gardening store. In the window was a package with a photograph of a strange pepper - pods spiky, like fingers, and faceted. She asked: what is it? In response, I heard that this is a southern vegetable - okra. I looked on the Internet, turned over old magazines. Three years ago there was no information about okra. But I took the plunge and bought one.
Okra seedlings
Seeds are similar to mung beans, only smaller, gray-green in color. At the beginning of March 2017, she planted, as it was written in the annotation on the package, in pots: in the first pot - three grains, in the second - two. Two sprouts sprouted in the first pot: the first is strong and the second is very frail, in the second pot - one sprout. Stretched up to 8-15 cm and sat like this until mid-May. Later, she planted the seedlings in the garden, where they disappeared after two or three weeks - it was a bad experience.
At the end of May, dry seeds of watermelons were planted on the same site, and the holes were regularly watered. And in one of the holes suddenly appeared a sprout of okra! I transplanted okra into the garden with a pass, and, apparently, one grain that did not rise was preserved. Here it has grown.
By August, the plant had grown up to two meters. Buds appeared, and then flowers of a pale pink color, resembling a non-double mallow in size and structure. They bloom for only one day and fall off, leaving behind a pod about 1 cm long. It grows very quickly, reaching a length of 8-10 cm in three to four days. And then the pod (unplucked) coarsens and does not go into food. The pod is a faceted thin-walled box containing white seeds 2-3 mm in diameter and a lot of mucus. Externally, the pod is green, covered with hairs 1 - 2 mm.
The pods are held very tightly, and contact with the hairs sometimes gives an allergic reaction, so you need to collect them with gloves, cut with secateurs or scissors.
Flowers secrete sweet nectar, one-day-old pods are also sweet, so wasps simply attack them.
SOWING OBAMIA SEEDS
In general, in the first goy, since the autumn was warm, she harvested one and a half kilograms. They collect pods up to 8 cm long. In the spring of the second year, they again sowed okra for seedlings, planted them in the garden at the end of May - and again all the seedlings disappeared. Sowed dry seeds, and they almost all sprouted. But my mistake was that I planted okra in a dry place and watered from a watering can all summer. The harvest came out poor, as watering was clearly insufficient. But there was a seed. The box ripens for a very long time, about one and a half to two months, the ripe one bursts.
In the third year, I no longer bothered with seedlings, and immediately at the end of May, simultaneously with the planting of watermelon seeds, I planted three dry grains of okra in a hole along the groove. At first I watered from a watering can, and a week later sprouts appeared.
There must be one plant in the hole, otherwise the others will be oppressed and almost no crop will be given.
The distance between plants is 50-70 cm. Then I watered it along the groove, once a week from a hose, very plentifully. And the harvest was decent for the Middle Strip - 5 kg of okra. I collect five to eight pods daily, they are stored in the refrigerator for about a week. I collect the right amount, put it in bags and put it in the freezer. Wipe the pods with a slightly damp cloth and cut off the tails.
Reference by topic: Okra plant (photo) - growing - planting and care
Okra seedlings - VIDEO
HOW IS OBAMI PREPARED?
I saw on TV how okra is prepared in India. The pod is cut lengthwise, seeds and mucus are removed, cut across into pieces 0-5 cm wide and cooked in vegetable oil with spices. To be honest, I like okra more, cut into circles, along with seeds, fried in vegetable oil, although a lot of mucus is released. But the mucus settles during frying, and okra cooks very quickly, and the taste is quite pleasant. There is much less mucus in frozen okra, and it is more convenient to cook it.
I tried to pickle in the same way as cucumbers - I didn’t like it: it was fresh. Apparently, because of the mucus, more salt and vinegar are required. Okra leaves are edible and are eaten in Africa.
Growing okra is very simple, it is not a potato: loosen it once or twice and water it abundantly once a week. The flowers are attacked by wasps, and the ants try to breed the aphids. Since my okra grew next to the potatoes, then, when foliar feeding the potatoes, I sprinkled lightly on the okra.
Growing rare vegetables is, firstly, interesting, and secondly, it brings variety to your table. My family at first treated my work with irony, and now with both hands for it.
Yes, I met only two varieties of okra: Juno - up to 2 m and Ladies' fingers - plants up to 60-70 cm.
Okra pods contain not only vitamins A, C, B6, but also minerals: calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, zinc. The mucous substances contained in the pods are beneficial for the gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract. Dishes from okra help to recover faster after illness, hard work or prolonged nervous tension.
Reference by topic: Bamia, growing and how to eat it (photo)
© Author: N. Chernoglazova Lipetsk region
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