Had my first okra harvest today. Okra is obviously old news to most of you at this point... but getting it at all, this far North, took a lot of practice. June was so wet here that I had to start okra as transplants for the first time. I used Jiffy 32's, and thinned to 3 plants per pot. Those triplets were transplanted 18" apart, in two rows 24" apart, over the July 4th weekend. They have begun bearing almost exactly 30 days later! All healthy so far. The variety Pentagreen is the only one that has proven to be reliable here; and having saved 5 generations of seed, they have become well adapted to my soil & climate.
Transplants have worked so well that I may repeat that next year.
Almost 100 plants, the most I've ever grown... which probably sounds crazy to those of you with okra "trees", but they don't get very large here before cold weather puts an end to them. I plan to make a lot of pickled okra, and freeze a lot for the winter.
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