Her background includes landscape and floral design, a BS in business from Villanova University, and a Certificate of Merit in floral design from Longwood Gardens. Canning equipment: While not okra-specific, you may want to pickle some of your okra; to do it right, youll need canning equipment to make sure you follow best food safety practices. People seem to love or hate okra, with no middle ground. 2023 Updated Herb Scissors Set - Herb Scissors With 5 Blades and Cover, Cool Kitchen Gadgets for Cutting Shredded Lettuce, Cilantro Fresh, Green Onion Fresh and etc. 57 mg of magnesium. His Vegetable Garden Growers Masterclass is available online. Gently rinse and pat dry before use in recipes. Some folks use an egg batter before dredging, and others use milk or buttermilk. Ways to Store Okra after Harvesting Label a paper bag with the seed variety and date harvested. Cut the stem just above the cap with a knife. Okra needs to be harvested when it is four to five inches long. Before transplanting, mix bone meal into the soil. Flowers and pods first appear at the base of the plant and then keep producing upward. For a nice stewy dish, simmer fresh tomatoes and onions and perhaps some pre-fried bacon pieces. Copyright 2020 Hoss Tools. Okra blooms do not last more than a day before falling off, leaving behind the small green nub that will eventually turn into the okra pod, which will be ready to harvest in a few days. The major growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa. Just remember to add another thickener to your gumbo if youve prepped your harvest with another cooking method first, to reduce its gooeyness. Healthy Purple Produce: Should You Eat More Purple Fruits and Vegetables? These are what you are after to harvest and cook. Over-ripe pods are tough and woody. Okra pods are best when picked young. The results shown that the new tool could harvest 297-318 okra per hour (10.0 - 10.9 kg/hr) without damaging pods and also provides better protection to the hands of workers. To at least try to keep ahead of things, you can start watching for flower buds about 45 days after you plant your okra. While tedious and even sometimes difficult to do with a watering can, you might want to consider an irrigation method for keeping your plants slowly and deeply watered. The blade is fixed and only sharp on the inside making it safer to carry and use around the garden. Pods form quickly during the peak of summer and you should look to harvest every 2-3 days. To enhance germination, soak okra seeds in water for several hours or overnight before sowing. Okra is a delicious vegetable; it is easy to grow and easy to harvest. Were here to help! So here we go with step by step instructions. Yet for okra you want small pods. The handy twine knife comes in five different colors that vary based on your finger size. After blanching okra, you can freeze the pods whole, cut them in slices, or dice them. event : evt, If youre growing in a warm climate, you may cut plants to the ground mid-season to let them grow up again for a fall crop. Space seeds 4 to 6 inches apart within the row. Set your fresh okra in a strainer and place it over a large bowl. Each time you pick, you encourage more growth, so harvest regularly. For the planting medium, use a seed-starting mix and keep it constantly moist until seeds germinate usually in a week to 10 days. 80-90F (27-32C) for fast germination. Don't yank the fruit and damage the stem, as it can introduce harmful bacteria while storing. Slimy, seed-filled pods just arent for everyone. Okra ( Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) is a vegetable crop of high nutritional value, which presents great losses after harvest when stored under poor storage conditions. The longer they grow, the tougher they are. Get yourself a good-sized watering can, and have some fun finding a watering can with an interesting design that fits your personality. Having both hands free. All repel insect pests (like cabbage moths and spider mites) and also attract beneficial insects and pollinators. Or wash and blanch okra beforefreezing. An advocate of organic gardening with native plants, shes always got dirt under her nails and freckles on her nose. The Ultimate Tool for Harvesting Okra Hoss Tools 224K subscribers Subscribe 16K views 5 years ago The Handy Twine Knife is the ultimate tool for harvesting okra in your vegetable garden. Sowing and planting okra. Or, try roasting okra bring out its natural nuttiness. A useful garden tool, the garden trowel is handy when filling your containers and when mixing compost and worm castings. There are a couple of different ways to control these nematode problems in the garden area. For okra seeds, a sowing depth of 1 cm is sufficient. The device has been described as used for cutting an okra pod or flower from a plant. The Star of David produces shorter and thicker pods that are excellent for frying in the kitchen. } OKRA.ai wins prestigious Deloitte Fast 50 Women in Leadership Award - OKRA.ai ranked 9th in Deloittes fastest-growing tech companies in the UK 2022. If you feel like a wheelbarrow is just a little over the top for your gardening needs, a 5-gallon bucket may suffice. Do you have any okra harvesting tips and tricks? Okrathrives in warm weather and is traditionally grown in the southern U.S., though there are varieties for northern growers, too. It is relatively easy to grow okra for beginners but the key is to monitor the harvest. Okras BB-pellet size seeds have a hard shell. The Handy Twine Knife fits on the top of your finger and allows you to harvest with the flick of. The best tool for harvesting okra in the garden is our Handy Twine Knife. The Jambalaya okra is a hybrid variety that produces green pods that have heavy yields that are great for pickling, frying, or stewing. Okra, sometimes called gumbo, is a summer and fall crop. The best time to harvest okra pods is when they reach around 3 to 5 inches in length. Slip it on the upper part of your finger, just past the first knuckle. This is one thing you can go basic onno need for anything fancy, as a simple plastic spray bottle is fine. Refrigerate okra pods after harvest. long. Since okra is self-pollinating, you can save some of the pods for seeds for the following year. General Information. Well walk you through the process and give you all of our tips and tricks, and then finish up with some preparation and recipe recommendations. Hingham, MA 02043 Okra plants will continue to produce fruit if the pods are harvested frequently. If you let them grow to their full, mature length, you'll have a harvest of decorative pods or pods full of seeds for next season. Simply use pruning shears or a sharp knife to cut the stem, leaving about 1/4 inch of the stem at the top of the okra pod. callback: cb When your chosen varieties approach maturity, pods begin to form. My Mother tried to cook some okra years ago and it turned out SLIMMY! How to Save Okra Seeds this makes a good side dish just like that or proceed to make stew or gumbo. The pods that you will want to keep are the ones that are 2 to 4 inches long. Use a hand pruner or twine knife to slice ripened pods from the plant, and you'll be in and out of the okra patch in record time. Okra lasts less than a week in the refrigerator. You can freeze okra pods without blanching them, but blanching them destroys the enzymes and kills the bacteria that would cause the color, flavor, texture, and nutritional value of your okra to deteriorate. The way to harvest okra is to wear gloves and long sleeves when picking pods to prevent the possibility of getting a rash from the small spines, and use garden shears or a sharp knife to gently cut the pods from the plant without bruising them. 23 mg of vitamin C. 0.2 mg of thiamin. Don't be surprised if your red types turn green, or at least a paler shade of red, during cooking. How Do You Know When Your Okra is Ready to Harvest? On the stove, cook for 25 minutes and the soft insides of okra will help create a nice thick savory broth to serve overrice. 'Take a 6 inch piece of stem from the actively growing tips of the plant, and remove the leaves from the bottom two thirds of the cutting,' explains Hyland. Just remember that harvesting okra needs to be done often. Bigger than this and you will find that the pods are woody and not as tender as they could be. When picked regularly you are able to get multiple harvests off one okra plant. Okra grows very quickly. Heat about a 1/2 a cup of oil in a skillet on medium to high heat. If youre not a fan of a heavy cornmeal coating, feel free to substitute half of it with flour. Prior to planting, soak the okra seeds in water for 12 to 18 hours to soften its hard seed coat. Water the plants about an hour before transplanting, so the roots will bind and be protected. He holds graduate degrees from the University of California and the University of Iowa. The Global Okra market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2023 and 2029. Storing. There should be enough space for this tropical crop to grow and thrive. Okra not only produces pods quickly, but the pods also grow and mature quickly. If the pods are left on the plant too long, they can begin to split and become over-mature. window.mc4wp.listeners.push( You can have strip pokraGive me a nice girl and a dish of okra.. Garden Gloves: When harvesting okra, you should always wear garden gloves to protect your hands from the prickly okra pods. Email: hello@okra.ai. Fill the bags or containers to within 1/2 of the top, and prevent freezer burn by removing as much of the air as possible. Leaving them on the plant will slow the production of new pods as the plant turns its energy toward growing and maturing the seeds in the older, longer pods. One of my main memories of my grandmother is suiting up to harvest from the long rows of okra that we would grow. It wont hurt the pods to let them fall to the ground at these low levels. Do you have any essential gardening tools you use that arent listed here? As all the Okra fruits do not ripen simultaneously, harvesting is done once in 3-4 days. Box 520 | Dublin, NH 03444. Choose a site in full sun with healthy soil and a lot of room. For more guidance that will include more visual aids for all the visual learners out there and will also be more entertaining, please save the date for our upcoming virtual Good Food for Thought event, all about getting ready for Livin' la Vida Okra on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm.This fun AND practical event will include a presentation on how to plant your okra seeds with students . Okra pods should be harvested when they are young and tender and no more than 3-4 inches long. Picking okra should be done when the pods are 2 to 3 inches (5-8 cm.) It's not like lettuce, kale, cabbage, etc. Do you have any essential gardening tools you use that arent listed here? Okra is sown when the danger of spring frosts passes, and when the soil at a depth of 5 cm reaches a temperature higher than 59 F. It is sown in the open space, with a row spacing of 23.5-39.5 inches and a row spacing of 8-12 inches, to a depth of 0.8-1.2 inches. Many gardeners are discovering okra and the range of this warm-weather crop has been creeping northward and gaining in popularity. The ideal size to pick okra is 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) long. Remove the okra pods when they turn brown and the sides begin to split. Okra is mainly grown for its green tender nutritive fruits. Prune dwarf varieties of okra in the same way to rejuvenate the plants. Once the plant starts growing and reaches a height of about 3 inches, begin thinning the plant to be 30-45cm apart from each other. Due to these plants loving the warmer weather temperatures they need to be planted in an area with plenty of sunlight. Another heirloom variety is Cowhorn which is an earlier producer that has long tender pods that reach up to 10 inches long. In late summer, you can cut back the top third of your okra plants. Harvest the okra when seed pods are 1 to 2 days old and 2 to 4 inches long; these appear about 2 months after planting. Many plants thrive when watered slowly and deeply. It is a simple garden task you will perform a few times a week. Harvesting Okra Okra is ready for harvest 55 to 65 days after planting. This is also a good way to save seeds from open-pollinated varieties that will produce replicas of parent plants when sown next growing season. Our tools and equipment are designs that have proven invaluable to gardeners for many, many generations. The plants will continue to produce at the lower levels. Pods areready for harvest about 60 days after sowing. Thin to one plant per pot/cell. Put a paper bag over it so if the pods shatter, seeds will not belast. This harvest practice goes against what we sometimes think about when it comes to growing vegetables as bigger is encouraged. 13 Common Diseases, Whats Killing My Broccoli? Once you have your pods and decided on your recipe, consider how you cut the pods. Unlike traditional varieties, the Silver Queen variety has less ribbing which means the pods remain tender at 6 inches long. If you buy from one of our links,we may earn a commission. })(); Join our gardening family to receive the latest tips. How they eat it in the south I could never figure out. You are better off washing the pods closer to when you decide to cook with them. Harvesting okra is easy. Okra pods can grow up to 12 inches long, but those that are over 5 inches long are likely to be too woody and tough to eat. 82 mg of calcium. Here is more about what we do. Each flower will produce a single pod once it has been pollinated. While the okra plant is a single stalk, its leaves take up a far greater amount of room which then makes it that you do need to consider its spacing requirements. Japanese beetles can thrive and defoliate the okra plant depending on the growth stage of your okra plants. Even inferior metal trowels can bend in hard clay or rocky soil. So your okra plant is flourishing and has started to bloom. Wear. If you dont already have some of these items, please check our Resources about Okra for recommended suppliers for acquiring the right tools and equipment. Get Your Daily Dose of B Vitamins with These Homegrown Vegetables, How to Plant and Grow Daikon: Add Some Zing to Your Garden. You can store your okra in your refrigerator or you can freeze it, can it, or pickle it, but process it for long term storage immediately after harvesting because okra spoils quickly. While the Red Burgundy is a highly-productive heirloom variety that has dark red pods that stay tender at longer pod lengths. Discover how to grow, harvest, and eat good food from your own gardenwith our FREE e-newsletter, delivered directly to your email inbox. Working your okra patch or eating okra means having the right tools to do the job in both the garden and the kitchen. Harvest Okra Harvest okra when the pods are 1 to 4 inches long. Harvesting Okra Okra needs to be harvested when the pods are still soft. Have a basket or bag hung over your arm to put the okra in as you cut it. Of course, the most famous okra dish is probablygumbo. If you can tolerate the slime factor (or if you love it!) Though growing okra from seed is a popular, reliable method, it is also possible to propagate okra through stem cuttings. Leave your email here and we will contact you. Once you have harvested the okra pods, they should be used within a few days for the best flavor and texture. Let us and the other readers know in the comments below! Okra is sometimes calledladys fingers thanks to the vegetableslong, slender, elegantshape. When you harvest Okra wear long sleeves and gloves to protect yourself from the time spines or stiff hairs that are found on some Okra varieties. Cut each pod into 1/4"-1/2" lengths, coat with your favorite breading mix a fry in a pan on medium heat until golden brown. Okra can easily grow from 4 to 6 feet tall or taller in warm, long-summer regions. To avoid having to climb a ladder to harvest your okra, you can trim it back. If you like, you might try dehydrating your own at home the low and slow way, in a food dehydrator. If you grow okra in your garden, collecting okra seeds is a cheap and easy way to get seeds for . His books include Vegetable Garden Growers Guide, Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner, Tomato Growers Answer Book, and Kitchen Garden Growers Guide. Thanks, I live in south Georgia my orka plants are just starting to bloom but the bloom is turning brown and falling off. Your email address will not be published. To speed germination, soak seeds for a few hours in warm water beforesowing. Well best practice is to add a little lemon or lime juice. Severely hot, dry weather or a harsh change in temperature, or poor drainage can cause bud drop. This variety also produces light green to almost white pods that make them unique from other okra varieties. 0.215 mg of vitamin B6. When you are harvesting okra at the base of the plant, you may have your hands full as you try to cut stems while holding back the leaves. One of the main tips that okra enthusiasts will share with new okra growers is when to harvest okra. Once you're done picking okra, store them in plastic bags in your refrigerator where they will last about a week or freeze the pods if you have too much to use. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If you leave a generous length of stem, you may bunch your stems, wrap them with twine, and suspend them upside down to dry in a cool, dry location for use in everlasting floral arrangements. The plants grow back and product another crop ofokra. If you find that theyre already woody when you pick at three inches, toss this harvest into a dish thats going to be cooked low and slow, which may help to soften them a bit. Mequoda Publishing Network Okra grows fast in temperatures that range from 75 - 90 degrees. With wit and hopefully some wisdom, she shares what shes learned and is always ready to dig into a new project! One of the main tips that okra enthusiasts will share with new okra growers is when to harvest okra. [6] 5. Browse 140 harvesting okra stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Our sister site, Foodal, has articles to consult for information on pickling and canning vegetables that you may easily apply when youve got a bumper crop on your hands. Soaking aids moisture absorption and germination.