FIRST TIME GETTING FULL-SIZED CORN HARVEST FROM MINI-GARDEN SACK

Well I started growing maize - corn in this mini-garden less than a year ago - just few sacks at a time due to space constraints.

Though the corn are very sweet but their sizes are usually small. Price of  corn depends on where you are buying but I don't think those sizes of boiled or roasted corn can cost any more than N100.

But last week for the first time I got a relatively big sized corn! 

It should cost at least N200 to N300 and it is so very  delicious - remember the technique of manuring with remnants of very sweet fruits, coconut chaff, tigernuts chaff, any sweet food wastes? You get sweet crop harvests in return.

So this morning, from the sack I harvested Cocoyam last week I decided to pour the soil into a new sack. 

I would be planting another set of corn - who no like better thing!- at least the corn should be full-grown latest August, even earlier.

But in a few years from now I must have a full-fledged farm  o- I want bounteous harvests at each harvesting time instead of one or two or  just few corn cobs per harvest. 

But if all you have to do gardening  for now is a small space, be grateful for any harvest

Meanwhile the snake (paste) tomatoes are not disappointing at all  - they usually ripen on time to make stews, soups, jollof rice, porridge or other delicacies - food cooked  partly or fully with farm fresh ingredients sure  taste different to the pallate and help with staying healthy and bubbling with good health.  It's not because I read agriculture, I must farm o!

OTHER GIST
Almond seedling just started sprouting in one of the sacks of soil. Almond tree is a big tree, so not sure if it will fruit in a sack. Still wondering what to do - perhaps fill the sack with more soil so the almond root can have more length ....uuummm... the challenges of a space-constrained mini-gardener!.

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#pineapplenowfruiting
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#intercroppinginsoilsack.
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#purebredseeds
#agricresearches

SEE HARVEST OF COCOYAM THIS APRIL IN MINI-GARDEN

There's this sack in my mini-garden with Cocoyam crop growing - I think I planted it  first quarter of last year.

The sack it was growing in has become worn out. So before moving the soil into a new sack I decided to harvest the Cocoyam.

It's my first time harvesting Cocoyam- It was somewhat difficult getting out the Cocoyams because they were bigger than expected.

Actually after I harvested tuber yams  some months ago and size wasn't impressive at all - I went to do some fact-finding. In a video I watched on YouTube, the promoter said NPK fertiliser should be added to the soil in the sacks the yams are planted.

I didn't want to use fertilizer gor my plants but organic manure. Since  soya bean chaff is a good source of nitrogen, I started using in manuring in addition to other kitchen wastes.

Long and short is that protein sources are nitrogenous - just as protein helps the human body grow, it also helps plants grow. So the wastes from protein foods  in the household when used in manuring, are converted to nitrogen that help plant grow.

Can you see how big my Cocoyam is? From one small sack o -  when I become a full-fledged farmer ehhhnn!, you will see mighty bigger cocococoyams, yams, plantains etc

I will cook only a little  of this harvest, I am going to dry and powder the Cocoyam. What for? Food grown in healthy ways can be used for herbal remedies for curative purposes or stabilising good health. That is all I will say for now.

Meanwhile using the sack gardening to learn practically and grateful for whatever harvests- hence the excitement. Even if outcome ain't right, at least I learn why not  - this mini-gardener is feeling good!

#cocoyam
#cocoyamharvest
#minigardenharvest
#manuring
#manuringwithfruits
#manuringwithsweetfruits
#wateringplants
#climatechange
#dryseasonplanting
#pineappleplant
#pineapplenowfruiting
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#growingcropsinsacks
#growingmaizeinsacks
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agricresearches

YOU CAN DETERMINE TASTE OF YOUR GARDEN CROPS AT HARVEST...

If you want for example your planted corn or any crop to have a particular taste you can determine it? How?

By nourishing the soil you will plant/already planted the crop(s) in with what will give it desired taste/nutrients.

But this will be  better achieved if you plant in containers - sacks, buckets, basins etc.

For instance some days ago I got this over-ripe pawpaw - no doubt still extremely sweet but also somewhat decaying . It was still edible but would likely upset the stomach if eaten.

If you have a garden, such should not be wasted - if you use such sweet over-ripe fruits to manure some crops constantly you will most likely get such sweet taste if whatever you manure with is retained in that soil for a long time.

Hence the need to do this with soil in containers. So I have been manuring the few maize plants I have in the garden with over-ripe  decaying fruits I get in addition to other kitchen wastes.

I also manure the pineapple plant with sweet fruit remnants. I hope to manure the rounded tomatoes if they decide to wake up.

The snake (paste) tomatoes do not really need any support- that is advantage of using pure-bred seeds that have never been treated with chemicals.

I would have manured the pepper plant but I don't want my pepper to be sweet but hot and spicy- so better to manure pepper with remnants like ginger, tumeric- please ensure these dry well before using to manure - when I used the peels of fresh ginger to manure pepper plants- the plants almost died but made come -back and one of the plants have  fruited relatively well - it sure helped a lot during the period of naira scarcity -  by the way is  naira is now available but still being sold. N5, 000  is sold for N500 to N1000.

Back to garden matters jare -  If you plant crops directly into the ground, underground and/or surface water with all kinds of substances which may or may not be nutrients also  move from different locations  in/on the soil to other locations.

So just as what some of what you use in manuring or fertilising your soil  run off to other locations, surface or underground water bring different elements to your location.

Also the soil in containers  is not affected by erosion so  it would retain most of the nutrients in it not taken up by the plants. Uuummm... I am just wondering what will happen if I manure the bitterleaf plant(s) with over-ripe fruits - can there be anything like Sweet bitterleaf? We can try it.

I would have loved to try it but I don't have that much unwanted fruits - not even enough for the crops I like using the over-ripe fruits to manure.

Wish there are nearby big fruits market - I hear that there are heaps and heaps of wasted fruits at such markets - it is a sad reality that unsold fruits are often disposed - but that is Organic Fertlizer that will sweeten your crops if you use consistently. If you can get, please do - if you want healthy foodstuffs, your best bet is to manure with something edible- I.e. even though what you manure with may not be something you will normally eat, it should be something that is not actually poisonous if you taste it.

 So you understand why chemicals are not good for fertilizing soil - would you like to taste chemicals?

By the way, I have continued re-bagging soil  in my mini-garden - wish I could lay hold of large quantities of such over-ripe fruits to manure. Thankfully most of the soil are still nutrient dense from several months of manuring.

#manuring
#manuringwithfruits
#manuringwithsweetfruits
#wateringplants
#climatechange
#dryseasonplanting
#pineappleplant
#pineapplenowfruiting
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#growingcropsinsacks
#growingmaizeinsacks
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agricresearches