Greetings Dear Gardeners! Wishing you a happy 😊😁 new month of July! The month of June has been more blessings. The Rainfall pattern has been very good. We anticipate more blessings in the month of July. Today I want to take you to a friend's farm I visited today. Farming has always been advancing so there is the need to also improve our system of farming to mitigate the challenges we sometimes face. Well it was morning around 10 am, a little late than the usual time I used to go to farm.
We first went to the cabbage farm he just cultivated on the field. The stands of each of the plant look very blossom. I felt like staying here for the whole day to observe the beautiful nature of the entire cabbage population. They were very green. Plant Nutrition has sorted them out. He has been on fight of almighty pests that harbour and suppress their growth. At this early stage it's not all that visible. But when the balls begin to form we see the big in impact of holes created on the balls.
Over here the the cabbage look dim and weedy. But don't worry, one work at a time. He wants to finish spraying the whole farm with pesticides spraying before attending to the weeding. This would be manual handpicking or weeding with hoe. But careful is done not to hurt the cabbages since they are fragile.
Due to the frequent downpour pour he doesn't often supply the 3 days intervals of rain to these young cabbages. Even though this is the stage the plants need a lot of water to thrive and having that kind of vegetative growth spout. 4 basic requirements here are very necessary when it comes to growing cabbages; these are pest control, fertilizing, weeding and watering. If all is done you are good to go to harvest bountiful.
The planting distance of 40cm by 60cm is good for ball formation. At least it shouldn't be too close and too wide. Cabbage is one of the temperate vegetables which like excess rain and humid area. When the temperature exceed 30°C,they will be under stress. The heat would also encourage microbial actions. That's why at tropic regions, water should one of the frequent activities to intervene the action of pest and disease invasion.
There are a lot of complains about excessive usage of chemicals on some of these vegetables like cabbage and carrots. Yes, this is true. But some times it's very difficult to bear upon seeing your vegetables destroying by insects or being attacked by pest. Of causes we have to do something to cut down the losses.
We climb a little to the top of the landscape where another farm with carrots have been started. This is just closed to where the cabbage has been cultivated. The orientation of the also determines the growth nature of the crops. The soil here is very hard in ascending to the top. But this is obviously not a big challenge if water is able to supply frequently. Carrots prefer growing on ridges after tilling the soil and well harrowed with all stumps being removed.
The whole farm land is about 2 acres. The first set of seeds have been nursed on the ridges as it's done. Let's delve into what is entails about the whole process. Unlike any other ordinary seeds like okro and tomatoes we can buy from market to nurse, carrots seeds are well treated since it's not our native crops. The seeds are difficult to germinate if not having the experience in carrots farming.
Once nursed on the ridges, they are covered with grass straws to keep the place cool. Watering is very common thing we shouldn't forget to supply to the nursed seeds. After 1 week, good and viable seeds begin to sprout from the ridges. If the ridges are too hard, it delays the germination and it can prolong the germination to 3 weeks.
After the germination has taking place,the straws are being removed but watering is done continuously. At least 3 days watering is very important if the place is too hard and in case there is no design of irrigation system. Over here, the germination has taken place with few seeds having sprouted. He is looking forward to see more seeds germination. The rain hasn't watered the carrots today. If it continues tomorrow and we there is no visible sign of rain, then he has to supply water to the whole farm. It has been so good visiting these 2 vegetables farms. They are my best vegetables that I like. That's why I'm taken my time to learn.