Lady’s Finger Lickin’ Good!

Okra, best cultivated in tropical regions, can be easily grown at home throughout the year.

Okra reminds of one of the childhood stories passed on to us by our grandparents. The potato and okra, as the story goes, were best friends to each other until the potato proposed to the latter. The arrogant okra thought she was quite slim and smart compared to an unattractive, bulky potato and thus rejected the proposal right away. Doing so, okra also body-shamed him to an extent that he started crying his heart out. Feeling sorry for the poor potato, other vegetables made friends with him and since then the potato is mostly cooked and served in combination with other vegetables or meat, but the okra remains single.

Sometimes referred to as ‘lady’s finger,’ okra is biologically classified as a fruit with a flowering plant with edible seed pods. It is best grown in warm climates of South Asia and Africa and consumed as a vegetable.

In Pakistan, the best time to sow the okra seeds is from January to March. Take a plastic cup which is filled with soil for more than half of its capacity. You can place 2 to 3 seeds on the soil and then cover it with a layer of soil. Water it very lightly just to make sure that it is wet enough and wait for the seedlings to grow. Seeds are likely to sprout within a week of sowing. The reason for sowing more than one seed is that there are chances that not all may sprout. Similarly, if all or even two of the seeds sprout, we tend to remove the weaker ones. This process is called thinning, whereby we retain the strongest seedling only. The removed seedlings can be turned into compost.

By the second week, it is highly likely that the third or the true leaf of the seedling may have started to grow. You can now transplant this healthy seedling into a much bigger and permanent space to help it grow into a fully mature plant. A single okra plant requires an area of one square feet on the ground but in case of space limitation, a pot or a container of at least 10 inch diameter is needed for the plant to grow to its full size of more than 4-6 feet depending upon the variety. Easily available nursery soil (bhal/bhalu mitti) can be used. You need to soften up the soil of the pot before beginning with the transplantation. You have to be very cautious while transplanting because it is a very delicate process.

Crushed egg shells, used tea leaves and dried banana peels are also added to the soil before transplanting to make sure that it has enough potassium content in it. After transplantation, plants tend to go in a state of shock with the new environment for a week or two, which may result in slow growth of the plant. This can be avoided by directly sowing the seed in the larger pot or container. To retain water and keep the soil wet, mulch may also be added to the plant after transplanting.

Okra flow is aesthetically colourful with attractive shades of yellow and violet and is used in many cuisines. Okra flowers, for example, are used to garnish Caribbean Salads while adding colour to the healthy diet.

The okra plant needs a sufficient amount of nitrogen, especially when the true leaf begins to grow. Decomposed cow manure is the cheapest source of nitrogen. You can cover the soil with one inch layer of the decomposed cow manure. During the flowering and fruiting phase, you need to add potassium in place of nitrogen.

You are likely to begin your first harvest after two months of seeds germination. Make sure to harvest it when it is still chewy and soft and before it begins to turn hard and stout, because if a mature pod is left for one more night, it is believed that it turns woody in taste. You may leave an okra pod or two to grow on the plant until it turns brown and brittle at the end of the season. These pods will then provide you with the seeds that you can later grow in the next season.

From 5 to 7 okra plants, you can easily get 250gms of okra weekly during the harvesting season. The taste of freshly harvested, organic okra pods, cooked in local curry versions, is absolutely amazing. There are a number of okra varieties grown in Pakistan, and the most common examples include spineless, spine, green, white and red okra.

Last but not least, one can employ one’s gardening endeavours and hone one’s skills with fewer resources and less expenditure along with numerous health benefits. Similarly, it is easy to learn how organic fertilizers, pesticides and cheap growing alternatives can be prepared at home with minimal effort. It is your time to start now! -Ends

The writer is a physician and avid traveller. He hosts a programme on a YouTube channel, DocTree, promoting organic farming in Pakistan. He tweets @Ali_Shahid82 and can be reached at [email protected]