HOME-GARDEN FARMER CLIMBS ROOF TO ASSESS DRUM- GROWING ALMOND TREE

...seeds brought into my garden by flying birds grow faster, vigorously...

This morning while working in the garden I noticed that my almond tree growing in a drum appears set for fruiting. 

I am not so sure but I just hopped onto the store roof to check. The sun was beating hard on my face but I was still able to take selfies while on the rooftop😀 - that's part of the fun-catching I recommend people to have while doing any tasking work  particularly farming.

So will this Almond tree  initially planted in a sack by a bird start fruiting in its third year? It is now  growing in a drum with other plants also growing in the drum yet the almond tree  growth has been so vigorous.

Recently I discovered that birds bring very potent seeds.  If you create a friendly environment  for them to perch in, the birds will likely bring you seeds from plants in the forests that are still very vigorous  because humans have not altered  them. 

If you are fortunate to get such seeds to plant, those plants would survive under almost any condition.  I have cut the leaves of this almond tree so many times to boil as tea, to  use in wrapping food and to manure other plants in the garden yet it continues to grow so vigorously.

 Likewise the fig tree also growing in a sack in the mini-garden - the seed or planting  part was sown by a bird.

 Also the seed of the Neem  (Dongoyaro) tree was also brought by a bird. I have attempted about four times to get rid of that Neem tree because it is planted directly in the ground and pose threat to built structure. 

 But even when cut to the base and engine oil applied to kill it's roots, once  seasonal rains start, the Neem tree would sprout again and start growing vigorously. I am always decapitating it by cutting off it's vital parts aggressively so it wouldn't grow too big but the tree has stubbornly stayed alive and it's vigour undiminished.

For  some plants though, got or bought in human circles, the story is not same. When the seeds are planted, apart from taking so long to germinate, when transplanted it is usually a very big struggle for them to survive naturally. This has happened to the Avocado seedlings, Soursop seedlings and black star apple seedling in my mini-garden. 

Yet recently I  transplanted  a seedling I believe to be cashew.  Most likely the seed was also sown by a bird. 

After a week of transplanting,  it's still doing fine - it has not dried or lost it's vigour like seeds or seedlings  that have passed through humans and most likely tampered with through using inorganic growth boosters to grow the plants they were procured from.

Recently I planted another Avocado seed and tamarind seeds - I bought the fruits. I know Avocado should take longer to germinate(hopefully it would). But in a week I can see a sprout I believe is tamarind seedling - tamarind is not as commercialised - it's demand is not as high as avocados, soursops and apples, so  it's not likely it has been tampered  with by humans.

The less altered or more purely-bred a fruit  or plant is, the more vigorous it's seeds or cultivated parts would be when planted. 

Abeg o, we human beings should try as much as possible to let plants grow naturally - apart from the safety to human health, it also helps the plants to maintain their natural vigour. 

I believe and I will prove through research that humans that mostly eat edible parts of vigorously growing  crops will live longer and not lose their natural vigour if they don't get killed through other unnatural means such as accidents. 

A major reason you need those growth boosters like chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides etc is because most seeds and other planted parts of crops have lost their natural vigour through their plant lineage being subjected to such inorganic treatments.

Can you see how an almond seed sown by a bird in a sack and replanted  in a drum has continued to grow vigorously simply by adding organic matter - kitchen wastes and garden wastes? Third year, it's already set for fruiting. 

So, 

STOP TAMPERING WITH NATURE!

#vigorousplants 

#birdsbringseeds

#purebredseeds

#pureagriculture

#agricutureversusgoodhealth 

#minigardenresearch

#growingcornindryseason

#growingcornallyearround

#throughbredseeds

#purebredseeds

#agriculturalmedicine

#gardeningindryseason 

#growingcropsindryseason 

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingtreesindrums

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

 #minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening

#intercroppinginsoilsack.

HEALTHY COST-CUTTING TIPS IN GROWING, PROCESSING, PRESERVING FOOD

One of the things that improves the quality of a person or people's lives is not only having more money or resources but very importantly also managing effectively/efficiently what they have. 

For instance, a person may work very hard, make a whole lot of money and save  and invest so much. But if ill-health especially the sort that are prolonged and so serious that the expenses go beyond health insurance happens, it could gulp all or large chunks of the savings or investments.

 God forbid! most of us would quickly say. Indeed God forbid, hence God  provides means for people to know  how to prevent such happening. Ill-health is most often not demonic- it is caused by the activities of human beings ignorantly or even deliberately in food, drink, body care, environmental pollution etc. 

Ensuring good health through food and drink need not be expensive though it would cost people something. But we can ensure it is cost effective by preventing   wastages and carelessness, using what is available maximally. 

These would be explored more  extensively and made available in  online trainings. 

Let's explore some  things now:- 

WATER

Water to be used in watering plants need not be treated - it should be as natural as possible. Hence, reason rain water is so very  good for crops. While we shouldn't depend on rain-fed farming, let your crops get adequate rain water-  ideally rain water  has natural boosters  for crop growth. 

WASTES

We have already explored previously the use of  remnants of foodstuffs or kitchen wastes in manuring. It  also includes some of the wastes from the garden or farm itself.  

Stop the use of inorganic elements in growing food, even in livestock production - STOP IT! The future health of human population is at stake with this widespread seemingly harmless but actually dangerous practices of using even small quantities of chemicals in food. 

PROCESSING

When processing, as much as possible, use sun-drying except when it wouldn't work. For some food items you may dry a little in a dehydrator or oven before sun-drying so as not to denature the food - processing should retain the nutrients- essential elements in foodstuffs. 

PRESERVATION

When preserving, use natural preservatives like turmeric powder and ginger-powder but be sure they are organic-grown. 

CONTAINERS

If doing home farming or gardening, use containers that are idle in the home but suitable for growing crops. If using plastic, try to line the plastic container with organic materials like leaves. 

As the sun eventually, gradually melts the plastic, the leaves or organic matter will absorb the inorganic elements in the plastic so they they won't leak into the soil.

 Inorganic elements mixing with soil would likely be absorbed by roots of growing plants and transmitted to the parts of that plant to be eaten or used on the human body. Such food is even not appropriate for feeding livestock especially those to be eaten by humans. 

RECORD-KEEPING 

Keep records or taps on expenses. For instance, when I arranged for a bigger tank to replace the former tank used in our premises, I already calculated that the difference in litres between the new tank and former tank would be more than enough to water my garden crops for at least two days or even longer if it rains. 

A vital reason to keep records is so that you can track wastages and block loopholes.  If crops in any section of the garden or farm are not doing well, keeping records can go a long way in helping to detect the  cause(s) of the problem.   

IDLE SPACE

If there's any unused space  in your home, or in an office, school or hospital premises, consider growing something useful for human use.

A lot of city-dwellers who genuinely don't have any space at all in their current abode, likely have parents or grandparents living in premises with some patch of land. 

Why not seize the opportunity of visiting your folks regularly to help cultivate some foodstuffs in such space? 

Parents, if you have grownups still asking you for money or food, and there's land in your premises or nearby, encourage them to come and help in cultivating such land for healthy food or some other useful crops. 

While we should keep in holding the government accountable, we  should also be doing what we can to safeguard ourselves from hunger and ill-health 

#costcuttingmeasures

#keeprecordsingardening 

#pureagriculture

#growingmaizeindrum

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

 #minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening

CONFIRMING IDENTITY OF THIS PLANT - A SEEDLING THAT SPROUTED IN A BUCKET IN MY MNI-GARDEN

From Plant app search and Google search - this seedling in the Photo appears to be the cashew tree seedling.

If it's indeed Cashew seedling, I'll have to reactivate  my Super-Gecko Muscles to provide adequate soil and organic matter for it. I would also need to deploy resources to get a very big container for it to grow in .

How did the seedling get there? How did I get the seed?  I will share a secret very soon on how to get very highly prolific seeds without spending a kobo, a penny or dime or whatever. 

Meanwhile the Avocados I have been spending money to buy so as to extract the seeds and plant are having tough time growing.

I planted another Avocado seed this morning - the 9th or 10th in the last two years. The way the Avocado fruits  get so terribly rotten  is so worrisome. It's somewhat scary eating those Avocados -I find them so repulsive - if not for the seeds, I wouldn't buy them - I also use the seeds as one of the ingredients in my body cosmetics. But obviously the potency of the seeds have been weakened by the inorganic manipulations in the growing of the Avocados- sighs! 

 Not studied yet how Tamarind seeds are planted but I also planted the Tamarind seeds I had with me the usual way seeds are planted.

If a seed is from a plant that has been grown naturally, once it touches a fertile soil, it will most likely germinate whichever way you place it.

If you have a Garden or Farm, you may have noticed that at this period lots of plants are just germinating naturally. 

 Start deciding which ones you want to nurture to maturity and which ones you want to discard. 

#cashewtreeseedling

#growingavocado

#growingtamarind

IT'S THE PLANTING SEASON -START PLANNING ON GROWING CROPS

Though as a home-based farmer or gardener you can grow some food crops all year round, the planting season around March ending/April to  May  is the best time.  

The timing depends on which part of Nigeria you are, so it may even be June/July   and Climate change may cause some variations. 

The advantage in home-based farming or nearby is that even with the variations in weather condition due to Climate change you can  still tend your crops. 

So if it doesn't rain when it's supposed to, you can wet or ensure the crops are watered.  

I have a relatively small garden so I do the best I can to tend it  -'its quite demanding of course but I cope very well  and it is not normally stressful.

But  stress is  sometimes imposed by people who for reasons best known to them choose to make things difficult for others because they think they can get away with the wrongdoing.

For instance in my premises we have a  big overhead tank -about 600 litres. In the hot dry season, I water the plants in the morning and do some  water sprinkling on them to wet in the evenings.  

Even with that and all the  chores taking place in the premises, the tank/tap water can last for at least two  to three days.

So water was pumped Saturday morning - it was even the excess water that would have poured away when the tank filled to the brim and overflowed I used in watering my plants that morning. 

By evening I thought it would rain because the weather looked cloudy so I didn't wet the plants but it didn't rain. Sunday morning there was no time to wet. Do you know the  tank/tap water  still got finished  the following midday? 

Ideally it should still be about  half tank full. This  issue occurs from time to time and  it seems to be getting more regular. 

There hasnt been electricity and my generator is comatose because the  wires  had been used in repairing  the pumping machine when it had electrical fault. 

So, to have water for some domestic use inside and for the garden plants not to suffer heat stress, I had to fetch water from the well  Sunday evening and water the plants. 

 Afterwards, by night  I started having so much body aches - the aches were so intense that I woke up several times during the night to massage the aching parts of my body. 

It was after 4am I finally drifted off to sleep and got up 7am. The fact that  I was able to get up and move around is a testimony to God's goodness. I went to the garden, cut some leaves and chewed - it brought some relief  minutes later but my body was still so weak.

Afterwards I took some herbal tea and felt more energised and started  taking photos, recorded videos and started writing. The aches are still there but not as painful as last night and during the night.

So that's some of the nature of challenges we face in this country - human-caused problems. 

Anyway it is gladdening that I am still able to achieve the important aims for the day - I will even try summon energy to pound yam with remaining vegetable soup. Even Heaven showed mercies with a light drizzle of rain this morning - God remains good, let humans be what they choose to be.  

So working from home or at home also has it's challenges, so prepare. But do find ways of sorting things out in your work so your  progress isn't  stopped and avoid getting involved with toxic people who tend to ruin good things whether openly or secretly and then tell lies to get away with it.

PLANTING STRATEGY 

If doing home-based farming, it may be better to plant in instalments. For instance if you plant maize or corn March ending, you can plant another set middle of April and another at April ending. If you still have space, you may continue planting in instalments. 

This is so you can have fresh harvests of such foodstuffs regularly. 

I planted maize January ending or early February.  I may plant another set of maize, I will also experiment with growing millet.

 Let's also get notebooks to take down precise dates and other records. The fact that it's home-based farming does not make the work less serious

#planting 

#plantingseason

#startplantingcrops