Okra—King of the Southern Garden

My Tiny Garden Paradise

Intro to Fried Okra

As I have mentioned in past blog posts, I grew up in Kansas and my parents (mostly my mother) maintained a massive garden. One entire field was in sweet corn alone. We had fruits and berries and tons of vegetables. However, one plant known as “okra” was never found in our Kansas garden.

As a young married, I followed my air force husband to west Texas, and there I first learned about one of the favorite foods of the South—fried okra.

I discovered later that usually people either hate okra or they love it. I loved it immediately! The other young marrieds (all air force compatriots of ours), taught me how to fix fried okra. But as yet, I knew little about growing it. That would come years later.

Learn to Grow Okra

It wasn’t until we had settled in a house (apartment days behind us), that I started a garden and proceeded to learn to grow okra. By then my home was Oklahoma.

Okra is a hardy plant—almost like a weed. It’s that hardy. BUT, I learned if you plant it too early, it will not germinate. One thing okra does not like is cold. What it loves is heat. Oklahoma heat. The flowers are reminiscent of the hollyhocks that grew around grandma's outhouse on the farm.

I’m always amazed at how fast it grows.

The photo below was taken in my small garden in mid-May of this year. Potato plants to the left, two bell pepper plants to the right.

The stalks remind me of bamboo; they become hard and woody. I’ve had them grow to over 10’ tall, forcing me to bend the stalks over in order to pick the pods at the top. And do they ever produce! If they are not picked every day the pods get large and tough and stringy. (To the compost heap.)

This photo was taken one week later. Notice the soil is dark because we'd just had a nice rain. This is now looking from the opposite side with the potatoes on the right.

Preserving Okra

As I pick okra through the summer, I fill my freezer. Some plain, some breaded.

For plain, I slice the pods, lay them out on a cookie sheet, flash-freeze in my chest deep freeze, then bag. These I use in soups and stew.

For breaded, I use an egg-milk mixture. I first drench the small slices in that mixture then coat with seasoned corn meal. Like with the plain, I lay them lay them out on a cookie sheet, flash-freeze in my chest deep freeze, then bag.

Even if I fill my freezer, I still have lots of okra to give away to neighbors and friends.

And that’s yet another benefit of my tiny garden paradise, sharing the harvest!

I've always felt that gardening is the perfect complementary pastime for my novel writing. It's restful, creative, and productive!

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