The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Fruit and Vegetables => Topic started by: Alisdair on September 27, 2011, 07:38:08 PM
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Not sure if this is the best place to put the link, but for Jorun's photos of Abelmoschus esculentus flowering on Crete click here (http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=236.msg1121#msg1121).
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I have tried to grow okra several times without success. Seeds are sown in drills in moist soil in March/April. Emergence is usually excellent and plants are thinned by hand to say 7-10cm. They seem to grow normally with watering but fruits are normally small, pithy and not worth eating. Has anyone any ideas . Perhaps the atmosphere is just too dry since okra originated in tropical West Africa however they are widely used in Arabic cooking.
While on the subject of vegetables what do members sow in the fall? I have grown transplanted lettuce, spinach, garlic, onions and leeks, many herbs, Good King-Henry, Chenopodium bonus-henricus which Capitain Cook allegedly used to ward of scurvy. Any other ideas? Please not Brussles sprouts.
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Has nobody grown okra or autumn vegetables?
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There's a patch of okra growing just above the beach west of Polis. I'm not sure if it is irrigated, but the roots are probably close to the water table (which could be salty, depending on the depth). But the fruits are huge, and held upright, like small rockets, perhaps up to nine inches long. They are quite hard; I have no idea how edible they might be. But set fruit they certainly did.
Runner beans also grow and flower but do not set fruit here, so a few people have commented to me, without explanation. (Wrong bees?, I wonder.)
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On Crete I have only ever seen it grown right down near the coast though this may not be essential.
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I tried okra, but only once as the results were poor. I got 2 fruits!
In the winter I have winter radishes[rose de chine and radis noire], spinach beet, rocket, and sprouting brocolli. I plant garlic and onions and sow broad beans in the autumn for next year.
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Mike, we used to grow "Spainish runner beans", which I think were P coccineus which are also "runner beans". Maybe they are a Spainish selection but they could be P vulgaris, the French kidney bean which is also climbing.
As far as I`m concerned it is simply too hot for UK runner beans as they are said to "run off". Even in the UK you damp them down in the evening to help flower set. If you want to grow UK runnners suggest you plant on the North side of the house in the shade. I`ve excellent raspberries grown like this in Uzes.
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Mike, over the years I've been told by different people that runner beans won't work here because above a certain temperature they won't pollinate. I've never had any proof that this is the reason for them failing but after what David has said maybe there's something in it.
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thanks guys
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Mike,
I can't imagine it's too dry. I've grown okra in Adelaide (550 mm per year, mostly autumn winter) and had success. Used culture very similar to tomatoes in terms of water and fertiliser and found they thrived. A couple of plants were enough to keep two okra fans supplied. It's best to pick the fruit before its longer than finger length or they turn fibrous and horrid. Anita
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We haven't grown okra for several years but this spring one of our neighbours gave Thea some seeds that she scattered in an area near our fruit trees that gets regular irrigation. Some have germinated and are growing on. However, this little chap must have escaped somehow and been dropped into an area of herbs that gets very irregular hand watering. Despite its small size (a few cms tall) it's the first one to flower, although we don't expect it to set fruit.