What is your take on okra, the young seed pods of Abelmoschus esculentus?
For some, this warm-weather vegetable also knowns as lady's fingers, is particularly slimy in texture, but for others this finger-shaped pod is versatile and delicious, with a mild almost grassy flavor. Okra is part of the mallow family along with cotton, hollyhock, and hibiscus. It is popularly grown in tropical climates around the world, including Asia, Southern Europe, and the southern United States. I also grow lots of okra every year and pick when the pods are small and tender. It adds a wonderful crunch to soups, stews, and so much more.
Enjoy these photos.
This year in my new and very large vegetable garden, we grew a variety of okra seeds. Many were from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. We also grew seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds, a seed source I have been using for quite some time.
My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, planted the okra seeds in early June. These seeds should be planted about a half-inch to one-inch deep in nutrient-rich soil.
We dedicated an entire bed for our okra crop. These plants need lots of room to grow. Ryan made two big trenches and spaced the okra seeds at least 10 inches apart.
Here, okra can actually be seeded directly into the garden in an area of full sun as late as July and still produce a good late-summer crop. Ryan rakes over the trenches, covering all the seeds.
Just a couple of weeks later, we had a bed full of young okra sprouts. Ryan then assessed the condition of each one and pulled any that were weak to give the others more room to mature.
By the beginning of August, these plants are already waste high with giant leaves. Okra plants mature in about 55 to 65 days. It’s good to keep the soil moist, but not soggy, and water plants deeply once a week if there’s no rain.
Okra leaves are very large – up to eight inches across. They are also heart-shaped and lobed.
Depending on the variety, okra leaf margins vary from slightly wavy to very deeply lobed.
And last week, the okra plants were more than six-feet tall. Okra will continue to grow until the first frost.
Here is a view of the two rows. We grew green okra on one side and red okra on the right. There’s not much difference between red and green okra other than color.
Okra is self supporting and rarely needs staking. The strong stems are about an inch in diameter.
Upon close inspection, the stems can be either bristly or hairless depending on the variety.
Okra flowers begin to appear 50 to 60 days after planting. The flower petals are generally pale yellow to white with purple to red ring markings midway down each flower petal.
The okra flower opens for one day only, after which a small pod forms and grows behind the dead flower.
Pods appear approximately four to five days after the flowers. Once the pods reach two to three inches long and are vibrant in color, then it’s time to harvest.
Here is one of the red okra pods. Okra is also very healthy – it’s high in fiber, vitamin-C and full of antioxidants.
In ideal conditions, okra plants can produce up to more than 30-pods per plant.
A common mistake is harvesting the pods when they are six to eight inches long, when most will have a woody taste.
Okra is a “cut-and-come-again” vegetable. Keep cutting the pods every day or two, and they will keep on growing. Because okra roots have a fragile hold on the ground, it’s best to snip rather than snap the stems cleanly above each pod, leaving a bit to grasp
Ryan harvested a trug bucket full of okra. We’re looking forward to many more bounties of this delicious and interesting fruit through September! What is your take on okra? And how do you enjoy it? Share your comments in the section below.
Autumn is still officially one week away, but one of our favorite fall activities here at my Bedford, New York farm is picking pumpkins. It's hard to resist harvesting when one sees lots of gorgeous, colorful fruits growing under the vines.
Pumpkins are cucurbits, members of the Cucurbitaceae family, which also includes squash, gourds, cucumbers, watermelons, and cantaloupes. Recently, I asked my housekeeper, Elvira Rojas, to pick some beautiful pumpkins from the garden - a number of them were ready. In just a short while, we had an excellent variety of shapes, sizes, and colors to display in front of my home.
Enjoy these photos from our first pumpkin harvest of the season.
Many of you already know, this garden is where I grew the majority of my vegetables. Now that I have a new and giant half-acre vegetable garden closer to my home, I decided to designate this area for our pumpkins. Pumpkins are one of the last crops we plant because the soil must be thoroughly warmed to at least 70-degrees Fahrenheit – pumpkins are very sensitive to the cold. This is why the seeds are also planted on mounds or small hills, which warm up fast in the spring, hastening seed germination.
This is our pumpkin patch now – filled with vines. Pumpkin plants grow on long vines, which can easily reach 20 to 30 feet long in the course of a growing season. The pumpkins are ready to harvest when the foliage on the vines begins to wither and turn brown. These leaves are beginning to turn – indicating some are ready to pick.
The large leaves cover most of the cucurbits as they form, so it is hard to see the beauties underneath.
Pumpkin flowers are large orange or yellow-colored blooms that grow on the long vines and produce pumpkins.
Under all the foliage, there are many wonderful pumpkins. This variety is a round, medium-sized jack-o’-lantern type with well-defined ribs.
The name pumpkin comes from the Greek word ‘pepon’ which means large melon.
Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year.
Elvira is pleased with some of the great pumpkins that grew this year – there are lots of good sized fruits.
Elvira carefully snips the pumpkins from the vines with pruning sheers. It’s important to leave a stem. Leaving at least a couple of inches of stem will increase its keeping time. I also think the pumpkins look much better when the stems are intact. And never pick a pumpkin up from the stem! It may break off.
Here’s a dark green pumpkin. Green pumpkins are select cultivars of round Curcubita winter squash with green-colored skin. Green pumpkins range from dusky-green heirlooms to mottled or striped varieties.
There are also pumpkins that feature warts. This type of pumpkin is called a knucklehead, and as the name suggests, is reminiscent of the knuckles on one’s hand.
Here is another knucklehead pumpkin. These more textured and unusual pumpkins are very popular for decorating.
Josefa Palacio, who helps with some of our television and book shoots, also picked pumpkins – she found this bright orange knucklehead.
When picking, it is also important not to injure the rind as decay and fungi will attack through the wounds. Here is a traditional orange pumpkin – great for Halloween carving.
And here is a very smooth, bright orange pumpkin. All pumpkins are a good source of nutrition. They are low in calories, fat and sodium and high in fiber. Plus, they are loaded with vitamins A and B and potassium.
Modern pumpkins grow commercially in the United States, China, Mexico, and India. Farmers in the United States grow more than a billion pounds annually, with Illinois growing the most.
After a good selection of fruits is harvested, they are placed in the back of one of our Polaris vehicles and brought up to my Winter House driveway.
I am always trying to grow different and unusual specimens along with the more traditional varieties. We grow some pumpkins and squash from heirloom seeds. Heirlooms are old-time varieties, open-pollinated instead of hybrid, and saved and handed down through multiple generations of families.
Up outside my carport, Elvira wipes each one down with a damp cloth to remove any dirt and debris left from the garden.
And then the fruits are all carefully arranged on this stone wall – all clean and intact. No ‘decorating’ is required. Just lining them up makes a wonderful display. I can’t wait until our next big pumpkin harvest!
My vegetable greenhouse is ready for the next season of indoor growing.
We're still growing and harvesting from the outdoor vegetable garden, but with autumn just around the corner attention is also directed toward my vegetable greenhouse and planting its first crops for the coming cold season. Doing this now ensures we will have fresh delicious vegetables right into fall. I constructed this special greenhouse so I could grow organic vegetables in the ground all year long. The structure, which is essentially a cold house, was inspired by writer, Eliot Coleman, an expert in four-season farming. To start, this week my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, planted a collection of vegetable plant plugs that were started and grown in individual cells filled with soil. We are always trying different ways to plant our crops to see which methods work best. He will also plant seeds in this greenhouse in the coming weeks.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
We spend a good amount of time preparing the soil before planting. This includes cleaning the beds and adding organic, nutrient-rich compost. Recently, the beds were all topped with a fresh layer of compost.
The beds are all turned and raked. In this greenhouse, I like to grow lettuce greens, root vegetables, bunching onions, and brassicas, plus other vegetables I use for my daily green juice and for cooking. These beds do not have bottoms; they are open to the ground, which allows plant roots to go further down for available nutrients. It is a great way to plant. Underneath the boxes, there is about two-feet more soil.
Ryan also sprinkles all the beds with a good quality fertilizer.
There are 16 wooden garden boxes in this structure. They fit the entire length and width of this vegetable greenhouse. Raised bed gardening allows good drainage, prevents soil compaction, and provides protection for those plants that may otherwise get trampled.
Inside my main greenhouse head house, which is a separate room that serves as a work center, Ryan sorts out the plant plugs that arrived from Bonnie’s Plants, a leading provider of plants for the vegetable garden, herb garden, and flower garden.
Here is one of the clam shell plant plug containers. The principle advantage of using plant plugs is that they arrive ready to plant into the growing soil. They are less expensive than larger potted plants. I prefer to grow vegetables from seed in my greenhouse. I have lots of room to grow many trays of seeds, and we are able to start growing them in winter, but it is always good to test what else is available for gardeners.
This delivery contains plants for herbs, brassicas, and a variety of lettuces. Ryan takes a selection of plant plugs into the vegetable greenhouse and plans which ones will be planted.
Ryan uses this bed preparation rake from Johnny’s Selected Seeds to create furrows in the soil. Hard plastic red tubes slide onto selected teeth of the rake to mark the rows.
The furrows don’t have to be deep. In general, seeds should be planted at a depth of two times the width, or diameter, of the seed. A seed that’s about 1/16-of-an-inch thick should be planted an eighth-of-an-inch deep.
These are Swiss chard plant plugs. Swiss chard comes in vibrant colors with stems of red, yellow, rose, gold, and white. Chard has very nutritious leaves making it a popular addition to healthful diets.
Here are two healthy individual plants removed from the cells. These plugs are simply smaller versions of the plants seen in the garden nursery.
Next, Ryan uses a special seed and seedling spacing ruler to place the plants in the furrow.
When the roots of a seedling like this have grown sufficiently, it can be easily transplanted into the garden or into a larger pot.
Ryan places all the seedlings first, so he is sure they are all equally spaced in their designated rows.
Then, he gently pushes the plants into the soil, carefully tamping down around each one so there is good contact.
He plants the seedlings deep enough so that the soil comes to the crown of the plant, or where the leaves extend from the main stem.
Once the plants are all in the ground, he places a small identifying marker at one end of the bed.
Ryan also plants a bed of dill. Similar to caraway in flavor, dill seed is widely used in northern Europe as an ingredient in pickling seasoning and to flavor breads, cheese, meats and vegetables, especially potatoes and cabbage.
He also plants sweet basil, the aromatic annual herb of the mint family, native to tropical Asia and popularly used in Italian and Asian dishes.
And here’s a bed of parsley – I like use parsley in my daily green juice.
Once planted, everything is given a thorough drink of water. Ryan waters every bed gently so as not to disturb the young seedlings.
In several weeks, we’ll have gorgeous, nutritious vegetables to eat, share, and enjoy. There is still lots of time for gardening – I hope you get to spend some time in your green spaces this weekend!
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