GROWING POWER-PACKED FOODS

...guard against soil pollution, boost crop nutrients

Do you know if you plant food crops on a polluted land, the toxins might be ingested by the plant and can constitute danger to the health of the consumer?

Even if you do organic farming - i.e. you don't use chemical fertilizer,  pesticide or herbicide.

Let's say for instance there are factories that release polluted wastes to the soil in the vicinity of the land where growing of food crops is done. The toxins in the wastes can get mixed with surface and/or underground water and be carried to the location of nearby farms or gardens.

The roots of the crops can ingest the toxins and may die. But the plants may still live and produce fruits with traces of the toxins in them.

This is not to scare you o - chances are that the traces of the toxins in the plants may not cause ill-health in consumers except over a very long period of time of constantly eating such.

OTHER GIST
In this my mini-garden, I thought since plants can ingest elements from the soil, since I have soil in sacks, let me put nutritious elements in the sacks of soil.

Lemon grass for instance has a whole lot of health benefits, so this mini-garden researcher today started manuring some sacks of soil with lemon grass - if the nutrients in lemon grass are ingested by crops such as corn, pineapple, pepper etc,  wouldn't that be great?

As you see me so, na scientific . experiments I dey  do for this my urban mini-garden. 

If I must farm, it must be farming to provide solutions to health issues - food should heal us, not hurt us.

#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

IF YOU NEED IT AND YOU CAN GROW IT, DO

My first planted Aloe Vera is ready for use!

I use Aloe Vera as one of the ingredients in my bathing soap, also in my hair wash. 

Why So important?

I discovered that commercially grown Aloe Vera sold in the market may have been planted with fertilizer or some other chemicals - well such Aloe Vera causes very serious itching in my skin when I use it. 

Example 

I have already written many times how I developed skin lotion with edible agricultural raw materials to prevent skin problems.

Very few days before the 1st Covid19 Lockdown, I went in search of a packaged lotion I had been using for many years. 

The Lotion had the plain white variant and later the producers started other variants including some agricultural ingredients.

 Some months before then I had bought and used the variant with Aloe Vera. I used to have skin itching at that period due to Eczema which I had suffered from for many years. 

So as a result I started researching on what to do to permanently solve the skin problem. I noticed that some lotions, creams and soaps as well as some foods and drinks aggravated the itching problem I was having. So my observation was very keen. 

I didn't  have too much itching from using other variants of the lotion- just some rashes with mild itching. But whenever I used the variant with Aloe Vera, the itching would become so very intense. So I avoided using the variant. 

But when I needed to urgently shop for necessities few days before Covid Lockdown, I discovered that the shelves of most supermarkets and provisions stores were almost empty - people had shopped ahead. 

So I couldn't get  any of other variants of the lotion I wanted. I had to buy again this variant with Aloe Vera. It had the same serious itching effect. So it was around that Covid Lockdown petiod  I seriously  started compounding and using my own skin lotion with edible agricultural raw materials. I had of course been doing some research several months before then. 

I decided not to use Aloe Vera in compounding the skin lotion. But when researching on agro ingredients for my bathing soap and hair wash, I realised Aloe Vera would be essential since I didnt want to use Palm oil. 

But I was worried about buying Aloe Vera in the open market because I wouldn't know how it was grown - compounding these cosmetics have helped to tackle the skin issues I was having.  So I couldn't take chances with using the wrong quality of that ingredient. 

Making my bathing soap

Later I discovered a very Dear Lady also into gardening has a lot of Aloe Vera plants grown through organic means. She always gave me the Aloe Vera I needed for the soap-making. 

Some months ago - I think it was towards 4th quarter of last year, I asked myself - why not start growing mine? - It was so much easier to collect the freebies but even though my garden is so very small I could still grow few Aloe Vera plants. 

So I  started - incidentally - this very Sweet Mummy that was giving me Aloe Vera freely has just travelled to USA and would be staying for awhile. 

So if I had  been  enjoying  the freebies so much that I didnt  make plans to grow or get by myself, wetin I for do now o?

 Would I have started going to open market to buy what I am unsure of? So if you can, always make plans to do by yourself, what others do for you.

#Aloevera

#plantingAloeverainsack

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

MY SAUCE DOES NOT LACK TOMATOES EVEN IN SCARCITY

I heard tomatoes are currently  scarce and expensive? Is that so? - I didn't even know until  someone mentioned it in passing- I've not needed to buy tomatoes for weeks now but still been enjoying rich tomato sauce - the goodness of snake (paste) tomatoes   (Trichosanthes cucumerina)  which I planted few months ago. 

Some years ago, it was during the period of serious tomato scarcity. I was at a prayer meeting with my grown-up niece.

The person leading the prayers was a very sophisticated lady in her 70s then. One of the prayer points she raised for people to pray and which she  prayed very loudly, fervently was, "Oh God, in this period of tomato scarcity, my sauce will not lack tomatoes o.!....

After the prayer meeting my niece laughed and laughed as she recalled the prayer point and  the sophisticated  Mama's  prayer- didn't know such matter could be brought to the church pulpit.

Well, virtually every year in Nigeria in recent times especially during the rainy season, the price of  the rounded tomatoes skyrocket- for many people, buying so much tomatoes as they normally do at such high prices is outrageous, very annoying and even not worth it and that is if you get to buy.

So people buy less and make do with lesser quantities of tomatoes in their sauces for stews, soups, jollof rice and other delicacies enriched with tomatoes.

Many also turn to packaged tomato pastes -sachets,tins  and bottled which are not as fresh and healthy but can add colour to their sauces. But you see this snake (paste) tomatoes is the rich goodness of tomatoes at its peak.

The beautiful part is that it matures and ripen even during rainy season in open gardens and fields unlike rounded tomatoes which would need expensive greenhouses at such period to grow, mature and ripen. 

Now I am enjoying the paste tomatoes I planted in January ending/February.  Prayer answered - Oh God, I thank you o - my sauce does not lack tomatoes!

It's a whole lot of work removing the relatively big seeds from the paste but so well worth it - there are many good things in life but they usually require some sacrifice.

This tomato sauce  with just a little addition of pepper and natural spice even tastes like ketchup -  this sauce is a good friend to fried yam and cocoyam.

No need to worry about  chemicals used in growing tomatoes and preservatives used in preserving the packaged ones.

So if you can, make una farm for farm-fresh foods, but  our people go still  dey do shakara- lifestyle terminal diseases no dey kuku respect  even big people.

#richtomatosauce
#snaketomatoes
#harvestsize
#cornsize
#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

INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' DAY

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!.

#harvestsize
#cornsize
#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

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