General Gardening

Harvest and Store Okra

OKra
OKra

After transplanting okra, it is ready to start harvesting in about 60 days.  If you are not growing the spineless variety, you may want to use gardening gloves when harvesting!

A word of advice – don’t pick the okra flower because it produces the okra which comes out after the flower.  As I mentioned the other day, this plant is self-pollinating.  See my sow and grow post for more information and for a picture of the okra flower.

20150816_133516I have been harvesting okra since the middle of July. I’ve been getting a few every day – even now in mid-September. When I harvest, I use sharp scissors and cut the stem about ¼ to ½ inch below the base of the okra. Okra should be harvested often and when the okra is around 4 inches or less. Once the flower blooms, it only takes about 3 days for the okra to mature. It is amazing how fast they grow. If you don’t harvest often, you can stunt the plant’s growth.

I usually accumulate about 8 to10 okras and store them on the counter if the kitchen is cool or in the refrigerator for about one week. Then I get my okra ready to store in the freezer for future frying by coating it in corn meal.  Please see a prior blog for an easy okra recipe.   We love to fry okra during football season.

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