A touch of gardening with prepacked foods; How to.

Why are you studying agriculture? Is it not just going to the farm and planting? You are just there wasting your time studying what our grandparents already taught us.

These were the words of an elderly family friend to me when he came visiting and was opportune to meet me for the very first time and have a conversation with me. Honestly, I didn’t know why I studied agriculture to start with, but thinking about it a few days ago, I think I have an answer.

Evenings and mornings used to be my favourite parts of the day growing up because it was harvesting time in our not-so-little garden, and that process was always championed by me. I love fruits and vegetables so much, and I was ready to do the work to get them freshly harvested. My dad had unused spaces beside his house where he had planted cucumbers and watermelon. At the backyard, we had a local apple tree, coconut trees, pawpaw, and pineapples. Plantain trees were not left out. It was an agrarian community.

What’s your secret to this freshness? I was always asked. But, when I tell them the secret, they come up strong with the “it’s a lie” excuse without having evidence to back it up, so, I showed them the truth one day. What did I do?

All my evening fruit harvestings were always neatly diced into nice cuts, plated according to the number of people present at home, and iced till the next morning. I loved mornings because I always looked forward to finally consuming the result of my efforts, the fruits. To show them the little secret behind my freshness, I gave my curious friends plates of the packed fruits for days. Proudly, I invited them to my dad’s farm. I couldn’t wait to show them how many children the pregnant soil could produce when well nurtured.

The fruits from the farm were robust and very healthy because they were planted on a land that has never been cultivated. And, with some fallow period in between, they continued to do well, but at some point, the growth process changed.

Maybe this was the reason I studied agricultural science. I wanted to find solutions to the sudden stunting growth of the garden fruits and learn other ways to garden without having to stress much. And, maybe one day, I could return home to plant rice. Lol.

One day, I came back from school with treated tomato seeds, got some manure from my dad’s little poultry to fertilize the soil, and planted this seed. For about three months after I had left home, they wouldn’t stop calling to thank me and ask what I had done to their soil. I did nothing much though. Just a little knowledge added from my agronomy class.

Moving out of the community where I had access to an expanse of land where I could successfully plant my tomatoes and pepper and not have to deal with intruders because it was my father’s land, I had to find other means to garden. Even though I don't have the chance to plant all that I eat, having a vegetable garden has never failed me.

• The first method I tried was filling one of my broken bowls with soil deep enough to accommodate the depth of the tomato I wanted to plant and placed it on my balcony where it could get much sun. I planted once and never bought the seeds again, rather, I cut a part of the mother plant and replanted (try it and thank me later). You can also just harvest some seeds, dry them and replant.

• When I didn’t have enough bowls to use, I used pierced polythene bags. In fact, you have nothing to worry about at all. As long as the soil is nutrient-rich, and there’s water in the required quantity and there’s access to sun, just watch your plant grow well.

These methods are suitable for plants like tomato, pepper, and leafy vegetables. Other fruits like cucumber and watermelon are crawling plants, so, you may find it stressful using these methods except you can attach a stand to them, so, you’ll do vertical gardening instead of the container gardening as described above.

PS: One important thing you'll get to enjoy seeing when you practice gardening especially at evening harvest time is the sunset.

This is my entry for the #mayinleo prompt for today. You can check the details here
https://inleo.io/threads/view/leogrowth/re-leothreads-yjafbwld.

Images are mine.

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