My personal garden is practically on hold for now, though I have plans to get it revived soon. In this Hive Garden Journal, I would like to share the growth stage of a relative’s garden, which I visited two weeks ago. Although it’s technically a farm, it can also be regarded as a garden due to the manual labour involved and its manageable size.
Some months back, the owner told me about his plan to venture into pepper farming, and I was excited because I had a garden where I was growing peppers at that time. He kicked off the project, tilled the soil, made ridges, mounted nylon sheets on the ridges, and also installed irrigation pipes. All these stages, I was only told about; I didn’t get a chance to visit because I had been so occupied.
The man kept updating me on everything because he discovered that I have a strong interest in farming, and coupled with the fact that we are very close, I often help him with some farming ideas as well — the same ones we usually use in my hometown on our mixed-crop farm.
A Visit to the Garden
When I finally got there, I was totally surprised! The pepper plants had grown so big and had already started producing fruits.
I remembered when I was told that most of them were almost burnt off by the pesticides that mistakenly touched them while they were still in their nursery bed.
The plants are in great condition now, and water is being applied regularly on days when rain does not fall. Manure is also being applied consistently to support growth.
Apart from pumping water and applying fertilisers, the major task in the garden at the moment has been weeding. I was surprised to see that he is not using pesticides to clear off the weeds. Instead, he has been doing manual weeding, which definitely takes a lot of time and effort. According to him, he was advised not to use chemicals for weed control because the chemicals might spread and harm the pepper plants — just like what happened in the nursery bed. That is understandable and quite reasonable.
From what I observed, I am very sure that by the end of this month, the peppers will be ripe for harvest.
Thanks for reading.
Photos used are mine
