Chinese Climbing Okra

Welcome to Saturday Stories, an opportunity for me to write about life and the lessons we learn along the way.

This year I expanded my garden, practically turning my backyard into a mini farmstead. I ordered my seeds for a company in Missouri late in the winter after I received their catalog which had a lengthy list of various vegetables and flowers. I became interested in the oddities, the plant varieties not normally grown around here.

One of the seed packets I ordered was for Chinese Climbing Okra.  I didn’t do any research about what that was. I just assumed it was a different variety of okra I had never tried before. When the time came, I put a few seeds in two mounds of dirt in a row near a row of tomato plants I had started from seed as well.

The Chinese okra plants eventually sprouted and that is when I gave some thought to exactly what it was and what I should do to help it grow successfully. I wondered if it needed a trellis since it said it was a climbing plant. I did a little online search and found out that it indeed did need a trellis. So, I quickly cobbled together one from some fencing and a couple of tall wooden stakes I had lying around.

What I also learned is that it is not really okra. At least it isn’t in the way a southern boy thinks of okra. It is actually the plant from which luffa sponges are made. And, yes, you can eat them if you pick them early enough.

Well, the two plants took off. When I say they took off, I mean they took over. The leaves became the size of an elephant’s ears. The vines grew over the top of the trellis, extending themselves into my tomato plants, and wildly running every which way, turning that back corner of my garden into a veritable jungle.

Now, I am facing the inevitable collapse. It has become obvious to me that my cobbled-together trellis isn’t going to be able to withstand the size and weight of this plant and its fruit. I’m sure I will walk out there one evening and find it all lying on the ground, having finally given in to the forces of gravity.

There is a life lesson here. Growth and fruitfulness is a good and desirable aim. It is what we should hope would come from every seed we plant. But while you hope for growth, be sure and build a proper support structure for that growth. If you don’t it will eventually all collapse catastrophically.