Greetings everyone!
Among all the plants I have in my garden since last year, it's the bitterleaf plants that I have credited to be very productive, but they decided to take a U-turn some months ago, and I want to give you a report.
I met a friend last year who has an excess of bitterleaf plants in their compound. All I needed was to cut some stems to plant because it's planted through the stem. Although it also has seeds, I don't know if the seeds can grow when planted — or let me say, I haven't tried, and I haven’t seen any place where it’s practiced. Although, a friend of mine once argued that since it has seeds, it can be planted via seeds too.
So I planted it, and it picked up quickly because there was rain, and I also watered it. The plant didn’t need manure because it was growing very well — the soil was so suitable for it. It grew to a stage where the leaves, which are the consumable parts, were growing so well.
At a stage, I got tempted to pluck some to make soup. The plucking was necessary because it spreads its branches from the cut spot. After the first cutting, just as I intended, it grew more and had many branches.
Then, something happened:
Over here in my hood, goats are not common because it's a city-like area, but hey — I started seeing goats visiting the place. One day, I got to the garden and saw all the leaves chopped off to the point where even the hard branches were plucked. At first, I wanted to go and query the lady who usually sends her children to pluck some bitterleaf whenever they’re cooking soup that needs it. I was thinking the girl did the chopping off of all the leaves and dragged down the hard, grown branches.
But when I checked well, the ground and the grasses at the sides of the plant looked struggled — as if there was a fight between animals there.
Covering or fencing the space has been a big issue for me. The bitterleaf plants have been left like that. The goats still come occasionally to chop off the grown leaves. They target it very well — say every one week, they come and eat off the grown leaves.
This is my Hive garden journey.
Thanks for reading.
Photos used are mine
