NDINDA:How to take good care of your kitchen garden

Hello good people. As always Friday brings in so much vibe, and yeah, we are thankful that it is Friday. It is a great way of getting us to the weekend. I hope you have been keeping well and keeping safe as well.

A kitchen garden 

Here we are again for some tips on how to take good care of our kitchen garden. Well, I know most of us have this small garden by our kitchen side, that most a times we plant vegetables because they flourish so fast since there is so much water used in the kitchen and part of it goes to the garden.

However, most of us start this project but it dies with time. I would like to share some tips with you on how you can take care of your garden if you have it already or you are thinking of starting one or even reviving the one that you had before.

When starting out, check on the location first. Make sure that there is enough sunlight since it is a very essential requirement for any plantation. 

Also ensure that it is a place that receives enough rain water. Once it pours, you will also get some relief time from watering since the soil will retain the water for some days. 

Your location has to be spacious as well just so to avoid congestion and this will be determined by the varieties that you want to incorporate in your space. You do not have to have so much in that small space. Crops need space.

Once you have the suitable location, prepare your piece. Ensure that you have the correct type of soil, make some nice lines that can be able to retain water for quite some time after planting. If you have some compost manure it is very much okay to add some. Make sure that you have your water well reserved to avoid soil from being carried away thus exposing your plantations to bare ground.

Always remember that vegetables require a lot of water since they are always thirsty. You will need to have lots of water directed there. This will also ensure that your vegetables are leafy, ever fresh and green. Who does not want such good-looking vegetables anyway? 

You can also consider mulching so that you can retain water especially if it’s too hot.

Say NO to weeds. These are one of the greatest enemies of any plantation because they compete for water and nutrients with the vegetables thus making them look so malnourished. So, make sure that you do weeding frequently especially if they seem to be poking through your mulch. The best way to do it is once a week.

Check out for pests. These can as well drag you back in as much as you have put in so much effort to see your veggies through. You need to control the pests through regular sprays. Visit an agrovet officer for more advice according to the pests that are attacking your plantations. Visiting your garden and finding pocked Sukuma wiki leaves or tomatoes would be so demoralizing.

Ensure that you crop rotate. This helps in reducing attack by pests because of planting one or two types of crops every single time. This also helps in improving the soil since it won’t be used to the same plants every season.

Practice good sanitation around your garden. Not every water is suitable for the garden because it could contain chemicals that could be harmful to your veggies. 

Again, avoid littering your garden. It’s not a dumping site, it’s a place where we expect to harvest food for our consumption. So it should be looked into with so much care.

Harvest. Be keen to know when it is time to harvest. Do not let your tomatoes, capsicums or even onions over ripe because they will now begin to rot. Check on those spinach and kales leave so that they do not over grow to being so stiff for consumption. In fact, if there is any vegetable that is supposed to be so sweet, it is that we have taken care of because it is not in bulk making it difficult to take care of.

These are just a part of the tips. There is a lot to this. 

If you see anything useful to make your garden flourish, go ahead and do it. If you starting out, feel encouraged. If you are already doing it, keep going. If you had given up, feel encouraged to start again. It’s a wrap for today’s episode guys.

Try these tips out and it is my hope that you will achieve the best of results.

STORY By FAITH NDINDA