Bhindi (Okra) is another vegetable which can be easily grown in pots/ containers. You can either buy seeds from the market or alternatively you can keep an okra to dry in the sun. Once the okra has dried completely, you can remove seeds from the okra and plant the seeds directly in the pot. I have used store bought seeds (Ratanshi seeds) to grow these okras.
Sow 7 to 8 seeds around 1 inch deep in a pot with good soil and compost in the ratio of 2 : 1. The pot should be around 10 to 12 inches deep and around the same diameter. Water the soil as needed . The soil should be moist till the seedlings emerge. Do not over-water. The pot should be kept in a warm place until the seeds germinate.
Germination takes around 5 to 8 days. Once the seeds germinate, the pot should be kept in a place where it will receive full sun.
After the seedlings grow a bit, thin the seedlings to one plant for each pot if the pot is small, 2 to 3 seedlings for bigger pot. Bhindi requires plenty of sunlight to grow well. You also need to add compost to the soil to provide nutrition to the plant.
After around 30 days, buds will start appearing on the plants.
The flowers will bloom on the plant soon after that. Okra flowers are pale yellow in colour and looks attractive. These are self-pollinating flowers unlike bitter gourd where there are male and female flowers on the plant.
When the flower wilts and dries, okras/bhindis will appear from the flower. The plant yields a bhindi pod almost every second day. The bhindis should be harvested when they are still tender or else they become too fibrous and hard.
If you want to experience the joy of growing your own food, do try your hand at gardening. Start with simple plants like pudina (mint), methi (fenugreek), palak (spinach) etc. To quote Janet Kilburn Phillips, “There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments”.
VIDEO OF ALL STAGES OF GROWING OKRAS:
Happy Gardening !!
