GROWING FOOD AT HOME

 

 

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rowing food at home is becoming more and more popular. This is because there is a growing awareness among consumers about food and its relationship to human health and environmental wellbeing. Hence most people now want food that are grown without chemicals that are harmful to their health and the environment, they want food that are fresh and nutritious and they want food that are packaged without misleading and deceptive labels. In a world where population growth is constantly on the increase, finding growers and companies that satisfy the above demands is a tall order. As a result more people are opting to grow their own food at home.

Home gardens involve utilizing the space around a house to grow food particularly vegetables and fruits. Incorporating food crops such as yam, beans or cassava is possible but their production is limited.

Growing food at home eliminates the need to travel long distances to get food, it reduces food miles, which is the distance food travels from farm to table. Foods with short food miles have been proven to retain about 95% of their nutritional and edible values. What’s more? Growing food at home beautifies the home landscape and guarantees that nothing injurious to health is ingested.

GETTING STARTED

Starting a home garden can be intimidating, especially for those without much gardening experience. Preparing land and plots can take a lot of time and hard work,     but, once established, home gardens can flourish with minimal labor or inputs. 

Careful planning is important for a successful home garden. There are a number of factors to consider:

1.      Space

The amount of space around a house will determine what techniques can be used and how many vegetables and other food crops can be produced. It is important to note that it no longer matters whether the land in your house has soil or not, what really matters is space. Houses with small space or concrete floors can build home gardens. 

With careful planning, a garden can maximize the efficient use of every available space by deploying innovative technologies used for growing in small spaces. For example, vertical garden, container garden, hydroponics etc.

2.     Style of Garden

Before you start a home garden think through on the kind of garden that will suit your person. Just because you saw a garden somewhere that you love does not mean that it will suit you. When designing a home garden you need to decide how much time you will want to spend working in the garden daily or weekly, what you would prefer to grow, the scale of production – whether it will be subsistence, commercial or both. These will determine the size and layout of the garden and the features you will put in place. I will suggest you visit other home gardens to look at their design, structure and materials used to see what you can incorporate into your style.

3.     Site Assessment

When starting a new garden or revamping an existing garden, it pays to your take time to familiarize yourself with the site. The fact that it is where you live does not mean you are familiar with some important factors that will 

contribute to the success of a home garden. Here are some factors to put into consideration when assessing your site:

·         Observe the soil structure and the existing vegetation for vital clues about soil condition and fertility. Is the vegetation on it healthy? Does it remain dry or soggy after rain? Is it free of debris and stones?

·         Observe the position of sunlight throughout the day. Most plants require full sunlight to grow; vegetables need at least 5 – 6 hours of sunlight per day. However, some vegetables and crops like some shade. Identify the hot spots and cool areas. The hot areas may require some trees for shading and cooling the garden during the hot season. Take note of the prevailing wind direction to see what will be suitable to act as windbreaks. Take note of these features.

·         Watch out for cables, pipes and drains and take note of where they are. You don’t want to plant where an underground cable or water pipe is laid just in case you need access to them some day.

4.      Trees and Competition

While trees are good for shade and moisture retention, they require a lot of water and can rob the garden vegetables of vital moisture and nutrients. 

You may therefore consider other forms of shading or plant trees away from your vegetable plot but where they can still provide some shade.

5.    Access to Water

While the techniques used in homestead gardening are designed to enhance moisture retention in the soil, water is still a vital ingredient of any garden. Plants need to be watered regularly, especially in dry areas. Therefore, access to water must be considered when planning a homestead garden.

6.   Household Labor Capacity

Building and maintaining a home garden requires a lot of work. While many of the technologies and techniques used for urban gardening today save time and labour, it is appropriate for an intending home gardener to identify how they will maintain their garden before starting.

By planning ahead, home gardeners can better utilize the limited space around a house and maximize the production of vegetables and other food crops. The layout of the garden is especially important.

  

 

 

LET'S TALK ABOUT HOME GARDENS

LET’S TALK ABOUT HOME GARDENS

For centuries in Africa, home gardens was an important part of not only our agricultural landscape but also our cultural and social landscape. It was nurtured not only by farmers but also the house wife, the children and even residents in villages and towns. It was important not just because it was a major source of vegetables but equally it was also a source of herbs, spices, an excellent hobby and it even lays claim to a certain therapeutic quality.   In the last two and half decades or so, home gardens was almost going into extinction and the few people who keep them are regarded as “old school”. This is primarily because of the massive rural-urban migration in search of “opportunity” and the belief of many that if they make money they would rather buy their groceries than keep a home garden.

However, in recent years its importance is being rediscovered not only as a source of vegetables but also as being important for supplementary nutrition and additional income.

If you do a survey today to find out how many households have any form of garden that cater for their vegetable needs, which by the way happens to be a vital source of supplementary nutrition, you will discover that the backyard gardens which most households back in the days used to maintain for a regular supply of vegetables for their families are fast vanishing.

Most urban households have no backyard garden and what this means in practical terms is that only families that could afford purchasing them from the market had vegetables and fruits as part of their regular diet. This is one of the reasons behind the high malnutrition of the family today.

The shrinkage of home gardens particularly in Nigeria has led the country to facing serious malnutrition problems at both ends of the spectrum. On one end, Nigeria still struggle with under-nutrition and children who are not growing well. At the other end of the spectrum, a large number of adults are battling with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, arthritis, hypertension etc. Studies reveal that 4 out of 10 chronic diseases can be linked to what is called the modern diet.

IMPORTANCE OF HOME GARDENS

1.   Home   gardens   can   arrest   the   trend   of declining diversity of vegetables and lead to greater local diversity and local consumption of vegetables. We stand the chance of completely losing our indigenous seeds and become slaves to foreign seed companies if we don’t revive home gardens. Don’t forget this: whoever controls the seed controls the food supply and whoever controls the food supply controls the future.

2.  We can cultivate vegetables that form an important source of supplementary nutrition.

3.   Income can be increased due to decrease of expenses in the purchase of vegetables. In other words, another way to increase your income is to reduce your household expenses particularly on essentials such as vegetables. This can be achieved by having a home garden.

4.   Home gardens has been known for ages as a vital source of herbs, which is the first pharmacy people visit whenever there is a health challenge. Home garden is therefore important for primary health care and also results in savings on health related expenses.

5.   Supplementary income is also possible to a small extent through the sale of vegetables and production and sale of vegetable seeds. Home garden is a form of home-based business that can provide additional income urban households.

CONCLUSION

Simple guidelines for a well-balanced nutritional diet recommends at least two and a half cups of vegetables and two cups of fruits each day. How many people do meet these recommended daily allowance? For those who can afford to buy their fruits and vegetables from the regular market to meet the recommended daily allowance, are you aware of what is included (and maybe what is not included) in the cultivation of the vegetables and fruits that you buy? Except you are buying strictly from an organic source, you may be at risk of ingesting dangerous chemicals used to grow these foods. The growing malnutrition among children and the increasing rate of terminal diseases among adults and the danger of ingesting vegetables and fruits grown with chemicals can be abated or even avoided. Home gardens can play a crucial role to combat this menace.

Why don’t you consider starting a home garden or reactivating your abandoned home garden today?

GUIDE TO CREATING YOUR OWN ORGANIC GARDEN 3

Are you aware there is difference in taste between foods grown with chemical inputs and those grown grown without chemical inputs? Do you know they have different nutritional and health values too? If you are serious about your health and healthy living, I think you need to be concerned about the source(s) of your food. If you are the type that have secretly or openly desired to take control of your health by taking control of your food source then this article is for you. This is the concluding part of the guide to growing your own healthy food. I will now outline the other steps towards creating your own organic garden: 
4. Choosing Plants 

Choose plants that will thrive in your environment. Knowledgeable seed sellers in the market or other vegetable gardeners can help you to ascertain which types of plants do particularly well in your area and which will fare badly. Don’t forget Guide 1 as you choose the plants to grow. 

You can start from seeds bought in a packet from or with seeds from the local market or from local gardeners in your area. Depending on the plant, the seeds may need to be started off in nursery before transplanting to the beds. Sow your seeds in rows to allow air to circulate in the soil which minimises fungus.
5. Tending to Them 

➧ Water – The optimum time to water your plants is early morning prior to sunrise, as the water will be available to the plants during the day when it is needed. However, this is not always possible especially for people who are not gardening full time. But it is a sacrifice you must make considering the purpose for which you are gardening in the first place. During the hot dry season, it is probably best to water in the early evening. This gives the plants enough time to dry out, but there is still the chance of overnight water uptake by the roots. But if you prefer to water in the morning during the hot dry season then start very early – before the sun is shining. Water your plants first thing in the morning for best results. The water won't immediately evaporate as the temperature should still be low. Avoid watering at night when it will be cold for the next few hours because the roots of the plants will be soaking overnight which can cause rot. 

Aim the flow of water at the soil rather than the plants to keep the soil damp so that the plant can soak it up through the roots. Test the dampness of the soil by sticking a finger into the earth to decide if they need to be watered. If your finger is damp below the second ring on your finger it means that the soil is still okay. Then leave watering until next time. 

➧ Weeding & Pest Control - When you garden organically there is no short way around weeding, it just has to be done. Keep on top of it by plucking out the whole weed as they appear. 

The best way to control pests in your garden naturally is by growing a range of different plants to encourage insects that feed on pests into your garden. Praying mantis are one such example, by planting flowers that they enjoy they will feed on the pests that would otherwise devour your vegetable. Welcoming birds into the garden will also help keep pesky bugs from wreaking havoc on your plants. 

➧ Fertilising - Mulch can be added to the soil to ensure that it is nourished along with reducing the need for water and decreasing the ability of weeds to thrive. Mulch acts as a protective covering over the soil locking in nutrients yet preventing weeds from thriving. Wood chips, grass cuttings, and dead leaves will decompose over time nourishing the soil in addition to keeping weeds at bay. 

Do a thorough weeding before adding mulch to your bed and make sure you don't cover any new seedlings or they won't grow.
6. Harvesting 

When you are harvesting vegetables and picking your fruit take a few from each plant at a time rather than focusing on just one plant.

Keep an eye on them so that you can cut the vegetables or remove the fruits when they are ready to be plucked as the more you harvest from a plant the more it will produce. Use scissors to harvest those vegetables with strong stem to prevent damaging the stem.

GUIDE TO CREATING YOUR OWN ORGANIC GARDEN 2

Have you secretly questioned the source of your food particularly fruits and veggies? Have you ever dreamed about tending your very own little veggie garden complete with wholesome food? In this article, I will share with you simple introduction to the practice. I will show you how to get started even if you don't have a vast wealth of gardening knowledge or a large expanse of land. As a matter of fact and from practical experience, I will share with you how you can start growing your own organic garden with or without land.

Why Garden Organically

There are good reasons why you should consider growing your own food. Knowing exactly where your food has come from is comforting, you can rest easy in the knowledge that you and your family are not ingesting pesticides in your vegetables. Buying vegetables grown without any chemical input can be expensive, especially when shopping for a family. By growing them yourself you not only reduce your food bill, but you also contribute to the well-being of the environment and tap into the great tradition of cultivating nourishing food from the earth. You can see the article “Growing Your Own Foods” http://organicplanetng.blogspot.com/2016/09/why-grow-your-own-foods.html for more information on the subject. Growing your own vegetables and herbs to use in the kitchen also gives you a great sense of achievement. From watching over your little plants to harvesting fresh and healthful vegetables at harvest time is both exciting and amazing. From personal experience, nothing is more peaceful than working with nature.

YOUR GUIDE TO CREATING AN ORGANIC GARDEN

1. Decide What You Want From Your Garden

The first thing to do when planning an organic garden is to decide what you want from it. Consider the vegetables that you include most in your diet. Aim to source these from your garden in future. This plan will help avoid you planting a vast variety of veggies that you never eat. Stop reading this article now, get up, take a sheet of paper and write down the names of the vegetables that you include most in your diet. Perhaps there are some vegetables that your mother or grandmother used to prepare when you were younger which you like but find difficult to get now, include them in your list. You can get in touch with me to see if I can help you source for them.

2. Choose a Site for Your Garden
Observe the area or spot that you intend to use for a few days. Check the amount of sunlight it gets on a daily basis. Most vegetables require full sunlight, they need at least 5-6 hours of sunlight during the day. Check whether there are high winds in that part of the garden. High wind increases evapotranspiration, which is the loss of water by evaporation. If the rate at which crops lose water is much lower than the rate at which they get it, they become desiccated. However, light wind is good for crops because it increases the supply of carbon dioxide to them resulting in greater rate of photosynthesis. In choosing a site therefore, consider the wind speed. Also check if the soil drains well there. Soils that remain wet after rain is not ideal because damp soil lacks aeration and the root of vegetables need oxygen. The ideal soil is deep sandy loam. Lastly, in choosing a site for your garden, check if it is not an area that is composed of “fill dirt.” Such a place usually consists of rocks and debris, avoid it. On the other hand, if you do not have a site that has soil, I mean if what you have is a concrete floor or balcony, do not worry, I will get into the concept of “Container Gardening” in subsequent article.
Let me also suggest that you do a soil test to help you determine the quality of your soil. To begin, you will need good soil. If the soil you have is a poor one like the one I had at the beginning of my journey of Growing Your Own Food, you can whip it into shape before planting. I will share with you in another article tips on how to make your soil fertile and how to maintain it afterwards.

3. Prepare your Bed

Vegetable beds come in all shapes and sizes. Depending on the space available you can choose to plant directly into the earth in a designated space, create a raised bed or plant in containers or sacks if you do not have soil or of you have a concrete flooring in your compound.
If you are planting directly into the ground, then check your soil quality first. 

As a general rule of thumb, when moist the soil should hold its shape when you squeeze it in your fist, but should crumble when you poke it. If it doesn't crumble then it is too wet, or if it doesn't hold its shape at all then it is too dry. Dry soil can be enhanced with organic soil or compost but soil that is too wet highlights a drainage problem. In this case, try the soil in a different part of the garden. 

Measure out the bed to be at least 1.3 meters (4 feet) wide, by any convenient length depending on the space that you have. Put pegs round the four corners that you have measured. Then measure 0.65 meters (2 feet) from any of the pegs and erect another peg. This space is called furrow, which will serve as the walk way between your beds. Dig the soil in the furrow onto the bed on all side to a height of about 10 inches. Do not dig the bed directly to avoid disturbing the microorganisms in the soil and more importantly to avoid exposing weed seeds that may be present in the soil to sunlight, which will help them to germinate. Break up the large clumps of soil and remove any weeds, thorns or large stones. Let the edges of the bed be a little higher than the center in order to hold water during and after watering. Watch the bed after you have planted your seeds and pull out new weeds as they emerge, making sure to get the roots too. 

Watch out for the concluding part

GUIDE TO CREATING YOUR OWN URBAN ORGANIC GARDEN

What if you stop relying on other people including food manufacturing companies for all your food supplies?

What if you stop living in fear of what was in your food – all the secret toxins, pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, GMOs etc.? What if instead of these suppliers you could get most of your vegetables, some fruits and a little more from your backyard? What if you can save some money from growing your own food and cut down on what you spend on drugs as a result ill-health that arise from consuming foods grown with chemicals? 

I strongly believe that many people want to be growing their own food. The rate at which many people went back to the once forsaken neighbourhood gardens in the last two years or thereabout in Nigeria is proof of this. Moreover, many people now want to know what is in their food and maybe more importantly what’s not. This is coming as a result of the alarming rise in terminal diseases all over the place. Diseases that were once associated with old age are now very common among young and middle age people. But if you didn’t grow up knowing how to raise your own food or if you don’t have anybody to teach you it can be really hard knowing where to start, what is feasible, what the best practices are, how to make it work with what you have where you are right now and how to create the time to do it particularly if you are the busy type. That’s why I decided to do these series. 

Hopefully I will be able to encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that I will be presenting to begin a journey in which you can take control of what constitutes your diet and what you put in the plate for your family. Have you ever dreamed about tending your very own little urban garden complete with wholesome food? Have you ever dreamed about playing an active role in ensuring healthy food supply for your family as opposed to chemical contaminated food supplies? Have you ever dreamed of playing an active role in proactive health whereby you prevent your body from illness via your diet as opposed to reactive health whereby you allow your body to come down with illness because you refuse to take control of your diet and then you start looking for cure? Have you ever desired to cut down on your food expenses but do not know how? 

In these series, I’ll be guiding you practically on how to create an urban food garden or forest as the case may be. I have done it. My dream was to be self-sufficient in terms of food production. Although I’m not totally there I can tell you that I have come a long way. Today, I grow all the vegetables my family eats and really, I grow a few.

 

I grow spices that we use in the kitchen to replace the MSGs we once consumed. I grow herbs for daily detoxification. I raise my own chickens and I raise my own fish. I also grow some fruits because I firmly believe that every house must have at least one fruit tree. By the way, I do all of these on a plot of land. I use every available space I find to grow food. Now it’s your turn to take control of your diet and ultimately your health and that of your family. 

A CASE FOR THE SOIL

The rains are here again – the time of the year when most small holder farmers go to serious work, at least in this part of the world (Sub-Saharan Africa) where many farmers practice rain-fed farming. For many, it is a time of joy because of the refreshing that rain brings and the harvests that are expected in not many months from now.

But for me and those who really care about food security and sustainability of agriculture’s most important resource – the soil, the rains bring mixed feelings – joy and sadness at the same time. Joy because of the promise of abundance that it holds and sadness because it is that period of the year when the soil is mostly maltreated and abused.

The soil is farmers’ most important resource and the world’s hope for continuous food supply. Unfortunately the soil is often taken for granted – treated like dirt – and for the most part, by the very people whose sustenance depends directly on it.

Each passing minute the soil is assaulted, suffocated, contaminated, exploited, poisoned, mistreated and depleted by people. 

In addition, chemical agricultural inputs manufacturers also encourage farmers to abuse the soil  

assuring them of higher yields and higher returns on investments if they would just use this product or that product to fertilise the soil, kill pests or suppress weeds. 

Whether we realize it or not, by our choices today we are stealing the future from the unborn generation. What happens if we keep having extreme rain, unusually strong winds, and our farms are unable to keep up with our food needs because our soils can no longer hold nutrients due to the destructive effects of chemicals?

My case for the soil is to encourage us to begin to:

1. Take proactive steps towards eliminating the toxins we add to the soil because they will end up in our bodies thereby increasing the risks of contracting terminal diseases

2. Take proactive steps towards preserving and conserving soil biodiversity – big word eh? – I’ll break it down for you in a subsequent post

3. Take proactive steps towards recycling wastes rather than just dumping them on the soil

4. Take proactive steps towards feeding the SOIL, not the plant. I hope you read that. Most of modern farming practices are tailored towards feeding the plant at the expense of the soil and they are not sustainable.

ORGANIC IS LIFE!

Do you like your present state of health? If yes, what can you do to maintain it? If no, what can you do to get it to where it was before now? Many people are frustrated in their journey to reclaim their health. And so they are asking the question: “Is it possible to turn the clock back and go to the point in my life where I wasn’t sick?”

It could be 5 years ago or 10 years ago, that point where the body hasn’t broken down yet. The answer is YES!

HOW DO YOU DO THAT?

Keep your body cells at their normal level. The basic unit of human life is the cell. The entire human body is a bundle of cells. The body that God created for us is a phenomenal one that has the power to heal itself if its cells are kept at their normal levels.

WHAT NORMAL CELLS ARE EXPECTED TO DO

Normal cells perform great functions essential to maintaining good health.

Normal cells must be able to take in nutrition. Normal cells must be able to eliminate waste and toxins. Normal cells must defend themselves from unfriendly intruders like bacteria, fungi, viruses and free radicals.

Normal cells must repair the damage done by these intruders i.e. heal themselves. Normal cells must work together as a team communicating with other cells to achieve optimal organ and immune system function. When cells fail to achieve ANY or ALL of these functions, a disorder occurs, which if not corrected properly and timely will lead to cell damage.

WHAT DO CELLS FEED ON?

The answer to this question is the key to a healthy life. Cells must get the right nutrition for them to perform normally. When cells perform normally they will naturally do the things highlighted above. If cells perform all these functions then you can be sure of good health. So what do cells feed on?

The food of cells is known as nutrients. Nutrients are naturally occurring bio-chemicals essential for cell formation and cell health.

Doctors have known for years that in order to maintain optimum health, we need at least 90 nutrients. These nutrients include a minimum of 59 minerals, 16 vitamins, 12 amino acids and 3 essential fatty acids. Since our bodies don’t produce these, we must get them from our diet. Diet refers to our nutritional food intake.

The BIG question however is...

WHAT CONSTITUTES OUR DIET IN THE LAST 60 YEARS?

Our diet in the last 60 years is a combination of the following: refined sugar and sweeteners, refined flour, carbonated sodas and fruit juices, homogenized dairy products, pasteurized foods, hydrogenated oils or trans-fat, chlorinated water. For the purpose of space I have put them under those broad categories. I encourage you to look them up in your search engine so as to gain a knowledge of the particular foods under each category.

Are these naturally occurring foods? No they are not.

Naturally occurring foods are those that have not been altered by man through the addition of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, growth hormone, genetically altered material, or chemical food additives. Another name for naturally occurring foods is organic food.  

WHAT IS IT ABOUT ORGANIC FOODS?

Natural foods or organic foods supply “life-giving energy.” When food is chemically altered, or genetically altered, or highly processed, or contains chemical additives the "life-giving energy" of the food is dramatically altered. When the "life-giving energy" of food is radically altered by chemical additives, processing, or genetic engineering, consuming and eating that food actually causes the body to go out of balance and CAUSES disease to develop.

So what do we eat and drink? Well, ideally you should eat all-natural things, fruits and vegetables, and get them organic. You may not be able to get all these natural foods from the food markets or grocery stores so I suggest you look for organic food growers and markets or start growing your own food – organic, free of any additives.

Organic lifestyle I must confess is a journey and we all should try our best to start and continue the journey no matter how challenging it may seem. By that we will save ourselves and our planet at large a whole lot of “unnecessary” troubles. Let me conclude with this: As we go through everything that we put in our mouth, whatever we eat and whatever we drink, let’s always ask ourselves: “Is it as nature intended?”

Organic is life, embrace life!

DISCLAIMER

The author says, I am not a doctor; I have no medical training; I am not a health-care practitioner; I am not prescribing medical treatment; I am not treating any medical condition; I do not treat patients; and I am not making any attempt in this blog to prescribe, diagnose, or treat any illness, or treat any patient. I present all this information simply for educational purposes only.

You and only you are responsible for your health. You must do what is right for you while consulting with a licensed health-care practitioner.