Hello Hive
It seems like we were only able to grow vegetables by the riverside this year. The gardening I started at home encountered a lot of challenges. From excessive dryness of the soil to having a very layer of sand for growing crops. Some of the time I often give the soil a good viability treatment with manures and fertilizer before vegetables can survive on the dry land.
Earlier this year, I had given the soil a viability treatment before planting some vegetable seeds, but I was surprised that not a single vegetable was able to germinate. It was so bad that I had to abandon gardening at home.
Erosion is another thing that often washes away the little soil available for growing anything here. The soil is steep and shallow with not much soil for any plant to grow their roots deep into the soil.
We were left with no option but to grow vegetables by the river side. I have earlier booked a spot by the river from a friend, who helped me clear the land and make the bed. Since that river location is far from where I live, I often visit the once in a while.
Yesterday I was called upon to come and weed the vegetables as the weeds are fast growing and catching up with the plants already.
I can only carry out hand weeding on the farm since vegetables are planted by scattering the seed; they germinate and get entangled with weeds, and we have to pick up the weeds while avoiding the vegetables. I was there for about 2 hours before other engagements called for my time.
I needed to get back home and make a birthday dress for my niece. Tomorrow will be another weeding day and when we are done, the generator and pumping machine will aids us to get the farm and vegetables well watered. The vegetables are doing well so far, but you cannot compare their growth with one planted during the rainy season, as these ones get watered twice a week with river water that soon dries off compared to rainwater that stays in the soil for a long while, but either way, it is good that we can still grow some vegetables.