Okra 2019

I agree, Wheelgarden. As with every other veggie, I keep trying new varieties, but all other okra varieties I have grown get fibrous, when they get over 4", some less, and it makes it almost essential to pick them twice a day, otherwise, you get fibrous okra. Emerald is ok to 6", maybe more, and I've even skipped a day, without getting fibrous okra. And emerald branches out some, while some just grow a single stalk, and, unlike many plants, when I tried to cut the stalk, to get the plants to branch out, they just stopped growing! Anyone else notice this with okra?

I have a new variety, which I got in a trade, and everyone who tried it on this other forum loves it - Little Lucy. I had never seen it, but it is supposedly very productive, and a branching variety. I have 8 of those, and 4 emerald - originally I had another variety, that I also got in a trade - Cowhorn - but not a single seed sprouted, even when I put them in my seed sprouter, while every little lucy I put in there sprouted, so that's what replaced the cowhorn. I used the last 8 emerald seeds - a 2016 packet - and all of them sprouted in that first planting! Unfortunately, okra seedlings aren't easily separated, in my experience, and I had planted 2/pellet, since they were the oldest! This is probably why you will often read that okra does not transplant well - from a typical plastic pot, the roots get broken easily, when taken from the pot. This is why I start them in jiffy pellets, along with cucurbits, and things I won't grow very long, before planting.

lisaann we thankfully don't fry things like we used to, but boy-howdy fried okra is good. I love okra stewed in soups and such too, but she doesn't care for it that way, and she's the chef. Ah well.
The ultimate fried-vegetable triumvirate (done well, and if they're in season together) is okra, yellow summer squash, and green tomatoes all together with onion and garlic.
Mmm-UMM!

I use okra in soups, curries, and stir fries. When I want fried okra I go to Church's Chicken - better than fried okra that I can make! Just the other day I drove past that place, and it was a test of my will power, to resist stopping! I don't deep fry any more - not worth the trouble and cost, given all of the options out there.

With only 3 productive plants, and 2 somewhat productive plants last year, I got 8 pints of okra for the freezer, plus what I used fresh, so it can produce a lot!

pepperhead212, Wheelgarden,

Little Lucy plants are really pretty! I took the milk jugs off this morning. The plants look good. Hope all stays good. Birds clip off plant tops here and I can't bird net these plants.

It is amazing how you can live in a town and grow stuff and have critters torture your stuff more than if you lived in a rural area where you expect critters to live and eat stuff.

I got my first okra today, on Little Lucy, definitely the earliest I have ever gotten any. And a number of flowers forming on the larger plants.
First okra of 2019, 6-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Okra flower 6-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I am planning on saving some Little Lucy seeds from these first okra, since there are no Emerald flowers yet, so I don't have to isolate any flowers.

100_3315 by shallon stryker, on Flickr Wheelgarden, pepperhead212, tom 🕊,

My plants are CREEPING along. The closest plant in the picture is the lucy plant.

My goodness, I don't remember okra ever getting off to such a SLOW start here. BUT, while okra is slow, I have had better luck with PEAS! And the cool crops. SO, like it always works in the MID ATLANTIC region, ya never know what will work best each year, so be happy with what ya get!