MY ROUND TOMATOES FRUITING, CAMEROON PEPPER SPROUTS...

My round tomatoes are fruiting! When I saw these on Saturday I twirled round dancing. Why? It's sort of been difficult growing round tomatoes in past seasons since I started gardening - they  don't just fruit unlike the snake tomatoes (tomato pastes).

This time around I've been very  intentional with manuring after tilling the two bags of soil I planted them in.

I made a post last week making enquiries about a certain plant sprouting in my garden. Check 2nd photo 

Finally I have been able to identify partly with plant identifier app and also careful observations and reading.

The unknown plant (now known) is Cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum), often called Cameroon pepper in our clime! I was wondering how the seed got there - I even initially thought it may have been a bird that brought the seed.

It was after all the hassles of identifying I later remembered - I think it was around November last year - I was shopping for soup ingredients  and I got these two orange coloured fruits for N100 to use as spice. I've heard about the pepper but never really used it in my own cooking.

I didn't get around to using them and in the usual nothing wastes concept, when they appeared to be getting spoilt, I packed them with other kitchen wastes and went to deposit them in the soil in some sacks as irganic manure.

I forgot completely about them until  after identifying  the plant. So looking forward also to Cameroon pepper harvest as I tend the plant. Hopefully more will germinate.

Between last Monday and today I have been able to re-bag/re-mix soil in five sacks, two buckets and two basins.

Call it tillage or re-bagging of soil, that's what I've been busy doing in the garden in addition to the regular watering, weeding etc.

Apart from the wear and  tear of the old sacks,  the soils in them need rejuvenation by re-mixing with manure.

Packing out soil from torn sacks and gradually putting in new sacks with addition of manure at different layers is certainly a whole lot of work.  I had to use the dreaded shovel because it's faster. Seems the shovel is no longer as heavy as it used to feel 😀.

I will massage my body with the Organic Body Lotion I made from agricultural materials  for soothing relief.

Thankfully, I wouldn't need to till the soil in the  new sacks, buckets or basins until at least one year -  I plan to finish all the tilling, remixing with manure of soils in old sacks into new sacks before the onset of rains.

Why do these things excite me? -  quite a number of reasons e.g. it's indication of my good health, I am doing some findings correlating pure  agriculture  to good health which I believe would prevent any form of ill-health in humans  - this Mini-Garden researcher is thinking deep!

#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#unknowngardenplant
#identifyingunknownplant
#agriculturalmedicine
#Harmattan
#GardeningduringHarmattan
#growingcropsinsacks
#growingmaizeinsacks
#growingokroinsacks
#growingtomatoesinsacks
# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingeweduinsack

HELP IDENTIFY THIS PLANT WITH BIG LEAVES

This Morning In the Garden...

This plant (the 1st & 2nd photo) has been growing in the same sack I planted Ewedu. 

The plant identifier apps are great but sometines they don't actually identify some plants. 

The apps come up with something similar based on what is seen in the photo. So it is good if one already has a very good idea what the plant is from experience or experienced people.  Would be really glad if you can help identify

OTHER GISTS

As the Harmattan haze gradually bids goodbye, it's time to start planning earnestly if you want to grow garden plants.

If you use containers like sacks, you may think you have escaped the task of land clearing or preparation.

 Well, not actually o - the sacks do get worn out  and tear due to weather elements after some months - I am still hoping to get sacks that can last up to five years before tearing🤔

Meanwhile  when a sack gets torn to the point it needs replacement, don't wait till the rains start before replacing. This Dry season is the best time.

So I have to pack the soil in the torn sacks into other sacks -  newer ones, hopefully these ones are more durable.

 I started this morning - I used the dreaded shovel again😀. I was able to do just one sack soil  transfer since I also seized the opportunity to enrich the soil in the new sack very well from the base.  

At different levels, I added wastes - plantain peels, dry leaves, the remains of maize plants  in the garden.

 I will also be adding nitrogen source like soya bean chaff. I would be adding the peels of beans as well  when I remove peels to make moin-moin or  beans cake -akara. 

I have read recently that apart from soya chaff, any legume or pulse plants  are superb for enriching soil. I was not interested in growing beans in my mini garden because I felt the harvest would be too small to be of any consideration due to space constraint. But having read  that  beans are about the best enrichment for the soil because of nitrogen content, I will plant beans soon. 

 If I don't get considerable harvest, I will at least  enrich my garden soil - aaawwwwn!

Already when I want the ewedu I planted to become greenish when the leaves are turning  yellow I add soya bean chaff.

Ewedu is now very expensive o. But thankfully I have been able to pluck twice and cook. 

My first harvest was on 24th December - about one month after planting. 

See that picture with Pounded  yam and Ewedu soup with with stew and turkey and beef seasoned with garden secrets? That was Christmas Eve supper!  - only the ewedu was from the garden. Wish I could start rearing turkeys and chickens soon - it would have to be on smallest scale possible and they will have to be caged.

 What I   prefer though is free range - let them waka about on vegetation. Sighs - space constraint ! But no problem- in life, we just have to make the best we can out of what we have before we get what would be more ideal  - at the very least we are learning even on a small scale so we can handle well the bigger when it comes. Meanwhile there are other benefits as well from the very small scale!

#unknowngardenplant

#identifyingunknownplant

#agriculturalmedicine

#Harmattan 

#GardeningduringHarmattan 

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#growingokroinsacks

#growingtomatoesinsacks

# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

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

#intercroppinginsoilsack. 

#growingeweduinsack

DREAMING OF HAVING BOTANICAL GARDEN OF AT LEAST ONE ACRE

Doing gardening on such small scale has been so much fun - it's healing/health  - any symptoms in my body, I go to the mini- garden and there's something to pluck and take for rejuvenation. 

Well, it's been a whole lot of mini-researches - so many, if not all plants in nature are so very useful - not surprising as the Almighty God doesn't create junks. 

Everything health-boosting from from head to toe including eye- health, oral health, anti-poisoning remedy, antu-cancer etc can be grown in a garden. 

I dont intend to use eye-glasses  even in very ripe old age so I am exploring the natural ways of keeping the eyes healthy and sharp. 

I will be sharing these findings in books very soon by the grace of God. 

How I wish there could be a field of medicine called Agricultural Medicine. Why not? There is already Naturopathic medicine I know but I think there should be a field of human medicine based specifically/directly on  agriculture. 

Africa should have comparative advantage in that but grateful for the scientific advancement by the Western.

I thank God and my family for the opportunity of having that basic university education to study agriculture - I almost didn't go through university due to stupidity but for the grace of God and support provided by my family.

Even while dreaming of a much bigger garden, I am still excited at this very little one.  

I said sometime ago that I didnt actually plant potatoes but often use the peels and remnants of potatoes in manuring the soil but the potatoes would still sprout.

 

I just usually cut the leaves and feed the snails I keep for observation on snail-rearing. So I didn't expect potatoes to grow.

 But recently, I sighted potato in the soil. I gave that potato raw to the snails - they chopped it ehhn!!

I will be checking in the New for more potatoes and cocoyam in the sacks.of soil . 

The ewedu in another sack is now calling for plucking  - the snake tomatoes (natural tomato paste) are blossoming even at this period.

 If you have those in your garden, you can use in enriching your Christmas Jollof rice😘. 

As for the  snake tomato seeds, I have used for medicinal purpose but I will not give details until there are more  structured researches.

 There's so so much in this body of knowledge which I have chosen to call Agricultural Medicine!  So even with a mini-garden, I have become absorbed in Agricultural Medical Researches...

#agriculturalmedicine

#Harmattan 

#GardeningduringHarmattan 

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#growingokroinsacks

#growingtomatoesinsacks

# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

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

#intercropoinginsoilsack

WISHING YOU A VERY HEALTHY, MERRY CHRISTMAS

From Farm Cafe: Agribusiness Information Services to you...

GETTING PEPPERS, ROUNDED TOMATOES TO FRUIT DURING DRY SEASON WITHOUT GREENHOUSEi

Last year November  I planted peppers in two sacks. I just poured the peppers not used into the sacks. They started growing.

 I think by February/March this year the plants started fruiting - very few numbers and tiny sizes initially but towards the end of July/August the sizes were a bit bigger and there were more pepper fruits on each plant. - hardly enough to blend for stew but these my garden  peppers  are so very spicy- in fact using them is one of the SECRETS   of delicious cooking- I would cut or dice them and use in boiling meat, seasoning fish, egg or any food. The peppers bought in the market don't have same effect for obvious reasons - they are not as well-tended as garden peppers. Secondly if the peppers you buy are from highly commercialised farms where they are grown with chemical fertilizers and sprayed with inorganic pesticides, they certainly wouldnt be as tasty as these garden peppers and there's also some human health hazards in consuming such chemically-grown peppers, tomatoes and other crops.

By November ending/December this year,  my pepper plants from last year started drying off.  I thought it was goodbye - at least I had planted new peppers and rounded tomatoes in other sacks. 

But I just decided to keep manuring  the soil in the old sacks  with kitchen wastes and watering - guess what? some of the plants made a come-back and are fruiting again!

 I am going to apply same principle of manuring most with nitrogenous kitchen wastes to the rounded tomatoes to get them to fruit in dry season- snake tomatoes fruit and ripen anytime of the year with minimal support. But those rounded tomatoes we commonly buy have been tough fruiting in this garden. Let's see how it goes with the ones I just planted less than one month ago.

Meanwhile I reserved some snails during this dry season in December to see how they'll fare. I have been feeding them  some corn harvested in the mini-garden - seems they like it just that the corn are dried and hard. But even at that see the pictures snail is clinging to the hard grain of corn😄

 I have soaked the one I will give next in water to make it easier for the snails to eat. 

One of the advantages of a mini-garden - you can do Agric practicals and  gradually learn the ropes of farming  - that is another cap to your feather🤣 sorry another feather to your cap I mean. 

#Harmattan 

#GardeningduringHarmattan 

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#growingokroinsacks

#growingtomatoesinsacks

# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

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

#intercropoinginsoilsack. 

///////////5

DESPITE HARMATTAN DRYNESS, SOME PLANTS DO WELL

A gardener in Western clime shared how her gardening and all farming activities is completely suspended every year for about two months  due to winter.

Some gardeners  in this clime are somewhat  apprehensive that the Harmattan especially if intense would adversely affect their plants.

But do take comfort in this - some plants actually thrive during Harmattran especially if getting needed care, regular wetting with water and removal of weeds.

Important note- those edible plants that still grow well during Harmattan contain essential nutrients needed for good health during the period. 

I will be observing plants that do well and those that don't during Harmattan  - hope other gardeners would do same so we can compare notes.

Last year, my Stevia (plant sugar) crop dried during the Harmattan, made a  struggle to revive after the Harmattan  - I think in February/ March but died completely before onset of rainy season despite regular wetting. 

But take note that certain crops such as lemon grass, mint leaves, waterleaf, ewedu, snake tomatoes still survive and could thrive in Harmattan.  I am watching to see if this maize plant in the picture will do well during Harmattan- I have been giving it Tender loving  Care😆

It's just about two weeks and the ewedu I planted have started emerging for plucking- meanwhile ewedu which is one of the cheapest  veggies is now so expensive! Reason - farmers here generally depend on rain-fed farming so any additional effort put in to grow crops means they will be so at higher prices.

So gardeners, over to you....understandably, space is a constraint but do try to grow something - it would not meet your food needs but just small quantities of such garden crops can meet your health needs. 

I had to go sort out my internet issues today so shortly after wetting the plants and manuring, I had to leave the garden- so couldn't do the usual garden reels - but its so exciting to know that not even the dryness of Harmattan can completely stop farming/gardening in my clime.

So we can still get some fresh crops even if not much- as mentioned earlier - seasonal edible crops contain  health boosting nutrients particularly essential for good health during that season. Our garden can be our closest pharmacy. 

#Harmattan 

#GardeningduringHarmattan 

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#growingokroinsacks

#growingtomatoesinsacks

# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

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

#intercropoinginsoilsack. 

Some 

DRY SEASON PLANTING ONGOING AFTER TILLAGE

I do the tilling of the soil in one sack   at time - to show respect for my back😂. I honour this body my Creator gave me while I make it do what is needful.

So I'm able to till one or two soil sack in a week.  After tilling each sack, I plant immediately. 

Apart from transplanting of mango seedling and Aloe Vera each in a sack, I have so far planted ewedu, peppers, rounded tomatoes, okro in four sacks altogether - I intercropped them in each sack. 

I don't know yet if the mango seedlings can grow to a fruit-bearing tree in the sack. Even if not, mango leaves are so very useful - it can be boiled as tea. I have also started using mango leaves in washing my hair.

 I am researching on how to include it in one of my home-made cosmetics. I use the Aloe Vera in my bathing soap. It's also good for hair. Planting them is to be sure the plants I use are not grown with chemicals. 

Garden fruits and vegs are the real deal - it's just the space constraint that's limiting but better grow something than nothing. 

The garden tomato I included in the cocoyam porridge I cooked some days ago gave the meal an exotic taste! That is one of the ways to enrich simple meals - meals can become rich even if not costly  if you know how to apply garden secret!

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#growingokroinsacks

#growingtomatoesinsacks

# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

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

#intercropoinginsoilsack. 

DRY SEASON PLANTING ONGOING AFTER TILLAGE

I do the tilling of the soil in one sack   at time - to show respect for my back😂. I honour this body my Creator gave me while I make it do what is needful.

So I'm able to till one or two soil sack in a week.  After tilling each sack, I plant immediately. 

Apart from transplanting of mango seedling and Aloe Vera each in a sack, I have so far planted ewedu, peppers, rounded tomatoes, okro in four sacks altogether - I intercropped them in each sack. 

I don't know yet if the mango seedlings can grow to a fruit-bearing tree in the sack. Even if not, mango leaves are so very useful - it can be boiled as tea. I have also started using mango leaves in washing my hair.

 I am researching on how to include it in one of my home-made cosmetics. I use the Aloe Vera in my bathing soap. It's also good for hair. Planting them is to be sure the plants I use are not grown with chemicals. 

Garden fruits and vegs are the real deal - it's just the space constraint that's limiting but better grow something than nothing. 

The garden tomato I included in the cocoyam porridge I cooked some days ago gave the meal an exotic taste! That is one of the ways to enrich simple meals - meals can become rich even if not costly  if you know how to apply garden secret!

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#growingokroinsacks

#growingtomatoesinsacks

# growingsnaketomatoesinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

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

#intercropoinginsoilsack

USING TANGERINE PEELS TO MANURE MAIZE (CORN) PLANT

Whether it's curiosity or my science  background or my aspiration  into agromedicine or foodomedicals😁, I keep experimenting in this mini-garden.

So this morning  I am using tangerine peels to manure few maize crops planted in sacks and bucket in the garden.

I have so far avoided using any citrus peels to manure the maize plants due to their sharp taste - I don't want the taste to reflect in the corn😁.  I use them to manure some other plants.

But this set of tangerines I got for N200 are so very delicious (I suppose they allowed them to mature well on the tree before plucking). So I think the peels would contribute to sweetening the few out of the not-many maize plants  - I am aiming for sweet corn😁 so experimenting and critically observing.

I read that citrus peels drive away pests - Big time farmers - take note! This would be good as pesticides even in  commercialised Organic farming.

Citrus peels also have other uses - for example,  after cutting and squeezing juice from lime, I used the juiceless lime  as air freshener at home by placing them in some corners - the fragrance lasted for about two to three  days before the lime got dried.

Let's keep exploring -  some things may appear so little and insignificant now but could be much more beneficial later on.

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigarden #urbangarden #mixedgardening #minigarden #minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces
#urbangardening #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#growingmaizeinsacks #growingmaizeinbucket
#manuringwithwastes
#usingtangerinepeelsasmanure
#usingcitruspeelsasmanure
#manuringmaizeplantswithtangerinepeels