Okra is the vegetable I love but hate as I am not a fan of eating this vegetable. The only way I prefer Okra is fried as I am not a fan of the texture when this vegetable is boiled. In Short, I do not like the sliminess of this vegetable. However, this is one of the superfoods out there, and I grow it for my wife.
Living in the Arizona desert, this is one of the most natural vegetables to grow in the summertime. That's right! This plant loves the heat and can be planted once the soil temperature is above 65 degrees. In my personal experience, it does not start growing fast until the day time temperature is over 90. That being said, this plant drinks a lot of water, making it heat but not drought tolerant.
I have grown Okra for the last five years and have a crop of about four to five Okra daily. This is only a 4-foot by 4-foot garden, which provides about 20 to 30 Okra a week. This is enough for a few people to enjoy the vegetable, the more you grow, the more you can harvest daily.
Let's talk about the health benefits of eating this vegetable as it is considered a superfood by some. The plant is high in vitamin A, vitamin C has anti-inflammatory properties, and can help diabetics with blood sugar control. There are also many other benefits listed, such as a good source of fiber and aids in acid reflux. This makes this particular vegetable something that should be encouraged to be grown.
Okra also has delightful flowers and a bushy green appearance, making this plant both useful and attractive. This plant would look good as a seasonal plant, even in yard settings. This is one of my favorite things to grow, yet I am not a fan of eating it. They are straightforward to get started from seed, and you can save seeds from the previous years' harvest.
Sometimes you get a surprise, in which the last year's seed sprouts and become the best producer of Okra in your garden this year. Funny thing is this Okra grew as a surprise plant in the corner of my pepper garden but is 3X the size of my other Okra plants. Thank you for reading my short blogs, and it is time to get planting.
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