As I got Home from my usual Wednesday walk,I decided to check our potato garden,Sadly to see that weeds have overgrown the potatoes planted.
Not knowing what to do I quietly sat down on a stone close to the garden and went down the memory lane to remember the statement of Mr. Okra; my Agricultural tutor in college."Ever since man started planting crops and growing vegetables,they have had challenges of weed overtaking the main crops and sometimes result to slow growth of crops. It's quite disheartening that a farmer may have worked on his farm including clearing of bushes , tilling of the soil to soften the garden as well as making ridges or garden bed and then plants his seeds or stem into the soil.
It's quite unfortunate that as the stems or seeds germinate to a seedling ,there could also be an existence of grasses which the farmer didn't plant will also germinate as well with the seedlings or plants.
Weed usually come as grasses, legumes or vegetable leaves etc.just that they are seen as non-valued and unwanted grasses or 'crops' that intends to grow where it is not wanted and most times they outgrow the main or desirable plants or crops. Some weeds are useful plants or edible vegetables but what makes them look harmful is because they grow where they're not needed by the farmer.For instance, waterleaf (talilium triangulae) can grow in a potato garden.Now waterleaf is useful but it can be seen as a weed if the farmer does not want it there.
However, weeds are not always dangerous or harmful as we think,they are also useful to man. Some of them are medicinal and cures various ailments. Most of them helps to check erosion which washes away the nutrients in the soil which plants need for rapid growth.
Since some of the weeds are vegetable leaves,they have become useful for the preparation of our meals.
Weeds are unwanted in our farms or gardens because they extract the nutrients from the soil.Since the crops don't have enough nutrients, the result becomes a slow growth and unproductivity of the crops." He asserted
Now seeing that weed has taking over our potato garden,there is need for urgent weeding because the existence of the weed may have caused stunted growth to the potatoes since they have been like this for 6 months.
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