The Okra

Twelve days ago, I gave up on the tomato seeds that had failed to sprout. I don't understand why the tomatoes wouldn't germinate, but I suspect that there may be something about the climate here that is not conducive to the growing of tomato plants. After all, I have yet to see really nice looking tomatoes here in any market or grocery. My wife says large, juicy tomatoes are available, but you can't prove that by me.

In place of the tomato seeds, I attempted to sprout okra seeds. I was a bit more hopeful about the okra. I know that okra grows here. My wife's father has okra growing in his garden.

Sadly, my okra isn't doing so well. It's been twelve days and none of the seeds have germinated.

I've just done a web search on sprouting okra and came upon this page at garden.org. The site lists a couple of "tricks" to getting okra seeds to germinate.
1) Some people soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hours.
2) To get them to germinate faster, place your okra seeds in the freezer overnight.

I can see the first trick working........but putting the seeds in the freezer? There is some disagreement as to the geographical origin of okra, but whether okra originally came from West Africa or South Asian, those aren't places usually associated with any freezing temperatures. If, like tulip bulbs, okra seeds need a period of frost in order to grow, okra would never have prospered in West Africa or South Asian. I'm sure my wife's father has never put his okra seeds in the freezer.

Never the less, I'm going to give both methods a try. I'm soaking a few seeds and I've put a few in a (blue) sandwich bag which I've popped into the freezer.

I saw no point in posting a photo of the ungerminated okra seeds; they look pretty much like ungerminated tomato seeds. Instead, I've posted the okra seeds in their (blue) sandwich bag. Needless to say, I'll post updates.

I hope the excitement isn't too much.