To grow Okra in Terrace garden we can use 12 inch garden grow bags and we them with equal amount of soil and cattle compost.
Sow the Okra seeds about 1 inch deep and spaced about 3 inches apart. Make sure Okra are planted during spring season. Okra grows well in very rich soil that's packed with nutrients. You can enrich your soil using compost, bagged organic fertilizer. If you want to speed the germination of your seeds, you can soak the okra seed overnight before planting..
After sowing the seeds, water the grow bags thoroughly. Make sure the soil is moist all the time. It's best to water okra in the morning so that the plants have time to dry before night. If the water stands in the growbags overnight, it could cause okra plants root rotting.
After 7 days, most of the seeds have germinated and true leaves will start coming out.
After 15 days , more leaves have started coming and the Okra have started growing well. Now thin out the smaller seedlings and leave the strongest ones standing.
After 25 days, weeds will start developing and we need to cultivate the bed to eliminate the weeds. Then cover the area around the seedlings with a heavy layer of mulch. This will prevent additional weeds from sprouting and also retain moisture in the grow bags.
After 30 days, we can supply Fish Amino Acid for the Okra plants. Fish emulsion is an organic garden fertilizer that is made from waste parts of fish. It is used as liquid fertilizer and sprayed over the leaves to provide a quick nitrogen boost for the Okra. You can also side dress with more bagged fertilizer or slow release fertilizer
Okra flourishes under a bright sun and requires proper sunlight at this stage. It also needs regular watering specially during the flowering stage and pod development. If you do not keep Okra watered, they will stop flowering
After 60 days of planting the okra, pods will mature, you can start regularly harvesting them. Harvest the pods when they are 2 to 3 inches. Use a scissors or a hand pruner to cut the okra pods. You can keep harvesting the okra every other day throughout the growing season.
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