Hello Dear Gardeners, I am back again with some more field preparation work. This week, I decided the complete greater part of my field preparation for my vegetable cultivation. Mechanization over here is very expensive; only few commercial farmers are able to afford the use of machines. The alternative method is to use manual labourers for this field preparation. I hired some labourers to do the harrowing, this would enable the crumps of soils to be broken into fine particles. This was easily done by labourers using hoes. We are in the first week of March, hopefully by the middle of March sowing can be done. The area would be good for melon so I have decided to sow some part for melon and the other portion for green pepper.
Manual harrowed field ready for growing vegetables
The soil isn't all that moist even though had experienced rain on two consecutive days. This enabled us to harrowed. So we are waiting for the third rain. For the area, the orientation of the landscape is on gradient (gentle slope) different from where I have cultivated my lettuce. We would needing a deep rainfall to be moisten the soil for easily sowing. The profile nature can support vegetable cultivate. The soil colour is a little red. we know mostly the topsoil should have being black that really shows that it contains a lot of organic matter. But, this isn't the case, since some soils have that nature of red colour, yet they are rich in organic matter. But, according to soil profile rule, topsoil is mostly black in colour, sub soils being red, parent materials being clayish bad bed rock which contains stone particles in that order. Some topsoils have very light organic matter, which is only good for shallow rooted crops carrots, lettuce, cabbages and legumes cultivation. So, when you want to cultivate deep rooted crops it means you have to support the soil with some organic or inorganic fertilizer. And we shouldn't forget that this area is a plough land. I have turned the soils for 4 years. This is the reason why the soil is gradually losing its nutrient content. I make sure to apply poultry droppings or inorganic fertilizer to support my vegetables growth.
I would want to pause with my harrowed land and take you to a different site where I have my lettuce. last year I had a fruitful harvest of lettuce on this area, but different part of the land. This year I have began early sowing after preparing for stock of lettuce seedlings. This land is well-drained and very moist. It closed to the river side we I can easily tap water and supply to my lettuce. First was to make my long beds about 20m length and 3m width. All stumps were removed. Because lettuce is a temperate crop, I made sure the beds are very wet.The first sowing has been done on only 4 long beds to see how the lettuce would respond to the weather conditions. Even though this is my second time of growing lettuce, and I have acquired some experiences, but I need to be careful studying the changes of the weather conditions especially it too hot despite the fact that we had experienced rain.
The first planting of my lettuce on beds is at experimental stage on only 4 beds
Upon seeing the first phase of my lettuce growth, I extended the beds preparation for the second growth of my lettuce. By this time the beds are 8. I have already began the transplanting from the nursery bed to the field beds. At early stage watering and feeding them with plant nutrition like NPK fertilizer is very important. Watering is done for every 3 days. If it rains then I break irrigating the lettuce for about 2 day when I see that the ground is becoming dry. pest and disease control is also monitored, at early signs of any observable patches on the leaf I will begin my recommend insecticide. For most humid areas it is likely to see some of these insects like Aphids, grasshoppers, crickets, armyworms and flea beetles in the field of lettuce.
My second planting of lettuce extended to 8 beds
The third phase of beds for lettuce has been commenced, only 2 beds have been completed. I want see if I can extend it to 10 beds. Planting would done soon after each 2 beds are prepared and watered.
beds preparation for lettuce cultivation
Farming is my passion. So watch out as I bring you more updates on my farm. There is going to be more intensive farming this year with lots different types of crops. Thanks for your attention and reading.