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Gardening to save life – Part II

By Sereba Agiobu-Kemmer
21 May 2022   |   4:03 am
Gardens are important to the planet because despite being human made, represent a natural environment.

Growing potatoes in pots

Gardens are important to the planet because despite being human made, represent a natural environment.

Gardening by virtue of the human made nature of their construction, allow us a mean to connect to nature in a sort of self-determined way. There is something about the presence of gardens in our lives that brightens our some sometimes abysmal, modern world much of this has to do with something intrinsic in human beings, an innate appreciation of the natural world, which we are a part of. This might have to do also with the psychological to mental benefits we experience just being in nature

HOME GARDENS
Whether they are known as home, mixed, backyard, kitchen, farmyard, homestead garden, family food production system are found in most regions of most countries worldwide.

They may be the oldest food production system known and their very persistence is proof of their intrinsic nutritional and economic merits. Traditional tropical gardens typically exhibit a wide diversity of perennial and semi-perennial crops, trees and shrubs well adapted to local microclimates and maintained with a minimal of purchased inputs. Studies on traditional means gardens emphasised their ecologically sound and regenerating characteristics, by which they “recreate natural forest condition and minimize the need for crop management.
The dynamic role of home garden in family nutrition and household welfare

How Does Home Garden Contribute To Nutrition And Food Security?
Home garden contribute to household food security by providing direct access to food that can be harvested, prepared and feed to the family members of a daily basis. Fresh foods that improve the quantity and quality of nutrients available to the family. households with gardens typically obtain from them more than 50 percent of their supply of vegetables and including secondary staples of plantain, cassava, yam, and sweet potatoes, medicinal plant and herbs those house hold having garden system that include animal-raising also obtain their primary and often their only source of animal protein. Very small mixed vegetable gardens can provide a significant percentage of the recommended dietary allowance for protein (10-20 percent). Iron (20 percent), calcium (20 percent), vitamin A (80 percent), vitamin C (100 percent).

In 2013, the USDA reported more than 49 million American were living in food insecure household and 15.8 million children in these impoverished households were especially lacking nutritious food, such as fruits and vegetables, which are vital for proper child development. A healthy well balanced diet during the first few years of life determines long term mental and physical health outcomes, as well as academic achievements.

Even very poor, landless, near landless people practice gardening on small patches of homestead land, vacant lots, roadside or edges of fields, or in containers.
Gardening may be done virtually with no economic resources using locally available planting materials, green manure, “live” fencing and indigenous methods of pest control. Thus, home gardening at some level is a production that the poor can enter.

Economic And Other Importance Of Home Gardens
The garden may become the principal of household food and income during the periods of stress e.g. the pre- harvest lean season, harvest failure, prolonged unemployment, health or other disabilities suffered by family members, or agricultural and economic disruption caused by war or conflict. Home gardening is good for a great many things. It can be good for your health. It is a great way to relieve stress, and having good exercise or workouts, boosting your immune system.

Your backyard becomes a safe haven for all manners of wildlife that might have been otherwise displaced by the endless urban sprawl of the modern world. It is good for the soil. A dense cover of plants and mulch holds soil in place, reducing erosion and keeping sediment out of streams storm drains and roads.

We are improving the environments via the addition of plants, trees. Flowers, fruits and vegetables. Plant act as highly effective air cleaner absorbing carbon dioxide, plus many air pollutants, while releasing clean oxygen and fragrance when we garden – especially organically as in home gardening we improve the air and soil quality and reducing our carbon footprint. We are beautifying our space, instead of taking something away from the natural world and destroying instead we are adding and tending to something green and beautiful. On top of all that growing your own produce is a great way to becoming more sustainable.

Now you must be eager to start your own garden.

How To Start A Home Garden
How do you start your own home garden? It is actually pretty simple follow the step below

1. Start small

2. Finding The Proper Spot – If you plan to grow vegetables, you need to choose a spot that get about six hours of full sunshine every day if you do not know how to tell how many hours of sun your chosen space gets, you can use a sun calculator (which is a device you just push into the soil and leave there for the day)
Do not place your vegetation garden bed next to tall tree as the root may interfere with success of your garden. Also, make sure that it is in a position that is convenient for you to reach every day.

3. Access To Water – Make sure that you have access to water nearby .if you do not have tap that is right next to your intended garden space you will need to invest in a long hose with control nozzle, watering your garden daily is important and if you plan to do all your watering with watering can, you might get frustrated with all the back and forth

Carrots are high in vitamin A nutrient

4. Preparing The Soil – Next, you have to prepare the soil for the plants if the soil for the plants. If the soil is quite compacted, you have your work cut out for you. You should loosen the soil so the plant can grow easily and so that it also drains well a broad fork, a tiller, or a regular digging fork

5. Add Organic Compost – Once the soil is loosened put in some organic compost, simply spread the compost on the outer layer of the tilled soil in the areas where you will plant

6. Create Beds – Now you need to do a bit of grading of the beds. A home garden bed needs to be about 1m wide, unlike farm produce rows, which seem to be much narrower. A wide bed will allow your voggie plant’s root a lot more space to grow and spread

8. Water The Garden – Water the entire garden and allow some time for the bed to settle. It is common for weed seeds to germinate and start to grow in the days to follow tilling –this normal hold off planting for now and rather visit the garden space every few days and remove the young weeds from beds

9. Plant your new seeds – Plant your new seed into the bed if you are like me and like to scoop seeds out of the vegetables that you eat make sure that you do a little research into how to grow and nurture the plant for the best yield.

Following these step will have your first home garden set up in as little as a week remember that you will be considerable amount of time in the garden nurturing plants as well as maintaining the space in the weeks, month , and year to come

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