Plant edible crops to keep your compound attractive
What you need to know:
Planting a few crops in the compound, especially vegetables, has become a trend. However, observation of good methods is sometimes ignored. Racheal Irene Nalubega explores which plants to plant and how to go about it to achieve good yields
For some people, there is a longing for you to cut on your home costs especially on food and the only ideal thing to always consider is planting crops that could sustain you and your family. But for some, the space is usually not enough hence planting in the compound.
As much as this may be a good move, it is also important to know what crops to plant, how to plant and care for them. This will not only give you good yields but also leave your home compound neat and appealing.
Proper planting
Mini orchards, vegetables, herbs and leguminous crops are part of the extensive line of different crops you can plant in your compound because of their quick harvest and require limited space but how you do the planting and caring for them is an issue many people have ignored. According to Carol Natukunda, a landscape and gardening designer, at Nuwell Impressions Limited says when considering planting, it is important to consider the size of the space you are to use as it will give you an idea of what to plant.
Proper planting entails the right design being used so as to leave your compound both attractive and rewarding.
Different designing methods such as use of logs, hedges can be used depending on the crops you are thinking of planting.
Demarcation
The space you are to do the planting first of all needs to be demarcated and this is done to give you limit on how far you can go with the planting or else you may end up planting in the walkways as well.
Logs and pegs can be used to create the borderline by chopping them and using them to fence off the designated area. Natukunda advises that these pegs or logs should be one foot to ensure that the beauty from you garden crops is exposed and also for it not to block the sunrays that are helpful to crops.
Aside the logs, hedges also come in handy, however, unlike most of them that are edible such as lemon grass and rosemary flowers hold firm in the ground, are long lasting and pests resistant.
However crops such as cabbages, spinach and beetroot do not require you to hedge or fence them as their leaves are attractive and easily mistaken for flowers.
Designing
Natukunda advises to plant these crops in phases so that once one crop is harvested then another is left in the garden to occupy the space instead of leaving the area empty until the next planting is done.
“If your edible garden is to look and remain attractive, then it should never be left empty and the only way this can be done is by planting one crop half way in the space first and once it sprouts, then another crop can be added.”
Wooden boxes, sacks and plastic containers are also often used to plants some edible crops. The beauty about this kind of planting is that the materials used can be adjusted into different designs to keep your compound attractive.
Boxes or containers can be organised in a staircase kind of design where one is on top of the other. This leaves the crops to grow in a staircase format just like you would do with flowers.
And to enhance the beauty of your garden, what better way to do it than to mix plants with different colour leaves or fruits for example the dark green spinach colour can be mixed with the light green cabbage leaves colour will create a beautiful vibe to your garden.
Pegging whereby a stick is put in the ground for climbing plants like passion fruits, straw berries and beans to climb will help create space in your garden for more crops as instead of them creeping from the grounds which would look untidy and congested, the crops will grow upwards and will be confined in one place.
Maintenance
Natukunda recommends being keen on fumigation as these crops are expected to have pests invade them and spraying them with appropriate pesticides and the right way will help your plants grow healthy and eye-catching.
“It is advisable to do the spraying during a rainy season or early in the morning when the morning dew is still on as this will reduce on the acid concentration in the pesticide chemicals.”
Other common crop maintenance activities like prunning, mulching and weeding should be considered even with the edible garden because of the role each plays for a healthy yield.
Prunning enables the proper distribution of minerals, mulching will leave the soil moist and keep weeds out of your garden while weeding is aimed at uprooting the unwanted weeds to reduce on mineral competition.