‘Slimy’, ‘bitter’, ‘absolutely gross’.
Okra is a vegetable that has mixed reviews from people – a bit like Marmite- you either love it or hate it!
In our case at home- we all absolutely love this vegetable. From young children, our grandmother made okra irresistible and this year we thought we would give this a grow.
It’s the first year we have ever grown Okra and we are now on week 9 and are pretty happy with how they are starting to come along.
From reviews online and reading RHS (https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/okra) around 4/5 plants should be sufficient for a family – I think we have grown around 30 plants – mainly because we were unsure if they would even grow in the U.K.!
To our pleasant surprise, they have grown wonderfully inside our conservatory but we have transplanted some in the garden and at the allotment and we have had a much slower growth along with loosing a few fellows along the way.
Very early on – as soon as we had seedlings, I found that we had some unusual transparent tiny eggs – thousands of them! No idea what they are but every time you touch the underside of the leaves you get a very strange ‘jelly ball’ experience…we are thinking it could be ant eggs as apparently they are big fans of Okra plants but who knows! Crossing our fingers and hoping they don’t annihilate the okra once it gets bigger!
So far, they’ve been a simple grow- quick to sprout and turn into strong little seedlings. We are planning to keep a few in pots and then we have transplanted the rest in two separate areas – one in the garden and one at the allotment.
We will keep this post updated with how we get on but as it stands we are on approximate week 9 (25th May 2020) – the plants that have been kept inside in pots are doing the best and have started to get their first little flowers!
D.O.A.N.G
DIARY OF A NEW GARDENER 
Okra is one of my favorite vegetables, but I didn’t even think about growing it in our garden! I’ll need to see if I can get some seeds locally.
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It’s been a pleasure to grow so far but as we mentioned they seemed to be growing a little better in pots kept inside so far- the ones we put in the ground aren’t growing as well (think it’s too cold for them). Good luck and please let us know if you manage to grow some! 🌱
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Hey, thanks for coming by my blog! I love okra, but being in Virginia, it’s easier to grow. I grow 4 or five plants for myself, so if you’re sharing it out with your siblings, you need more. I have two go-to recipes for it: sliced and tossed in seasoned flour and cornmeal, then fried (heaven); and made with onions and tomatoes–carmelize sliced onions, then toss in sliced okra, followed by tomatoes. Cook until most moisture is gone, add water, and cook down again.Throw in a dash of vinegar at the end. I also just slice them up and toss them in with other vegetables I’m sautéing when I don’t have enough for their own dish–they add a nice flavor and creaminess. Good luck!!!
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Thanks so much! We have around 25 plants in total so hopefully a fair numbe. We also LOVE okra [that’s why we had to give it a try]. Those recipes sound absolutely delicious – fried okra is out of this world! Our grandmother used to make an okra curry which always bring back fond memories!. We will be giving your recipe a go if we have a successful crop [or the next time we are able to get our hands on some!]. Thanks again and best of luck with your crop this year too!!
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Curried okra sounds delicious!!! give me a general idea of how she prepped it and I’ll give that a whirl.
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Basically your recipe with a few addition added spices (and meat- if you aren’t vegetarian)- I also like to add a dash of vinegar at the end to lift the flavours. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions, fry until very golden brown- the well caramelised onions give a really unique flavour and ‘melt away into the curry. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, salt, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste and sauté for a few minutes. Now add boiled meat (if using) and coconut paste / coconut milk and give it a good mix.
Add left over meat stock / soup or 1 cup of water and simmer on low heat until the meat absorbs the flavours and the oil separates at the top. Then add in the okra (or lady fingers as my grandmother would call them) are cook for a few minutes until done! Enjoy!
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That sounds really good. I will try it this summer. My okra seedlings are up. With luck, the rabbits will stay away from them…
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I love okra as well. Not so much as a child, I don’t like it slimy at all. Now I cook it my way. But it is a hardy plant that can stand up to a lot of hard times. They look so healthy.
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I want to know what you do with it once it’s grown because like you said – ‘Slimy’, ‘bitter’, ‘absolutely gross’.
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There are lots of things that you could do – they have a fabulous flavour to them and we personally quite enjoy the slimy part – brings us right back to our childhood when our grandmother used to make a wonderful curries, meat and okra stew and fried okra. When you fry the okra it actually can become crispy so you don’t get that sliminess. I have actually discovered a wonderful crisp [no slime, no bitterness – absolute scrummyness – Other Foods, Crunchy Lady Fingers Snack. I would definitely recommend!] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Foods-Crunchy-Ladies-Fingers/dp/B07TF3GVKH
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My husband loves it . . . me, not so much. The chips cannot be delivered here, but perhaps we have something like it here. I will continue to look and take a chance on trying them if I find them. 🙂
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I’ll have to keep them on my “to try” list because not knowing if I’d like them keeps me from spending from £24.44 to £39.25 on them.
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Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome article.
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Thank you so much – glad you enjoyed the read!
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