Okra update and first harvest

I wish I had gotten the time to take a picture of the okra seeds after their soaking.  We had to get them planted in a hurry prior to leaving on an out of town trip, so I skipped a step.  They started rooting right away in the water/bleach solution.  Who would have thought?  I was hoping for at least one plant so that I could at least keep the seed going since I really didn't think that they would sprout being old seed. 

I thought that I had read somewhere that okra does not transplant well so I had some peat pots in my potting shed and thought that I would try those since I couldn't get them directly into the garden.

 Close ups of okra seedlings.

I had my first harvest from my garden the other day.  Radishes and beet greens.  I radishes and beet greens in my salad last night and they were so good.  My husband thought the beet greens tasted too much like beets themselves (he is not a lover of beets).  I have a lot more thinning to do.  I will have to be looking for other ways to use them also.  I am wondering if they can be cooked like spinach.  I can't see why not. 

I found such an easy way to clean the greens.  I put them in my salad spinner, ran water over them, and them spun them.  No crunchy bits of dirt.  :)

 

Soaking okra seed

I had received some Cowhorn okra from my aunt in Alabama a couple years ago that I have never gotten planted.  I love that this is the okra that my family in Alabama, including my Grandma, has grown this variety for more years than I have been alive....truly an heirloom.

She had told me that she keeps hers in the freezer and then soaks it in bleach to soften the seed coat.  That just seems not right to me...  I kept thinking straight BLEACH??  The organic in me couldn't wrap my arms around that.  I went online and found many different formulas for softening the seed coats with bleach.  Hmmm....there must be something to this?  I decided to go for it.  Especially with my older seed.  I need every bit of help I can get to get those seeds sprouting.  I decided not to use straight bleach.  Instead I used a mixture of a pint of warm water with a few tablespoons of bleach.  It is supposed to rain here for the rest of the week, so I may push it and try to get them planted tonight.  We'll see what happens.