28 July 2014

Okra in Ontario

The coolish summer we're having has been testing for my okra-growing experiment with the 'Clemson spineless' seeds I received from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.Of the eight or so plants I put outside, only two have survived and this is the healthier-looking one. It's reached the giddy height of four inches: rather shorter than the six or eight feet I'd been reading about!


The two plants I put in the greenhouse are doing slightly better and I've picked a few okra pods from them already. They are still only eighteen inches (50cm) tall, but at least they are showing me how okra is supposed to behave.

The flowers are rather like a morning glory and, like morning glories, they only last for a single day.


 The flowers are self-pollinating - I love the velvety appearance of the stigma.


By the end of the day, the flower has shrivelled and the okra pod is ready to form.


On this plant you can see a flower bud before it opens at the top of the plant, an okra pod just forming on the right and a fully-formed pod at the bottom.


In a hotter summer it might be worth growing these outside, but I think from now on I'll treat them as a greenhouse crop.

3 comments:

Linda aka Crafty Gardener said...

I received some okra seeds at Canada Blooms. I planted all 12 and they all germinated, but only a few have shown progress. I'm just getting some blooms now so fingers crossed a few little okra will appear. I think the plants should be much bigger but it was such a cool and wet start to the season, not sure it was hot enough for them.

Susie said...

I have grown Okra for about 5 years now (Annie Oakley Okra) but they have never gotten bigger than 2 feet or so. I'm not sure if it is the variety, or just Ontario growing conditions. But I still get enough to enjoy.

Pearl said...

wow, crazy. I didn't know it bloomed so ornamentally, or could be grown here.