Kitchen gardening as an option in the COVID-19 lock down

Gallery | Posted on May 22, 2020 by benarokiria

Let’s put a little nutrition in the stay home period as we wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.  Here’s why you should grow a kitchen garden during the stay home period;

• You have the time
• You will soon run out on fresh vegetables
• Gardening is a fun and fulfilling activity to spend time

However, for most of us; gardening sure seems too tedious and quite the blur especially for those that have never done it.  So, ‘how do I get started?’ Well lucky for you, here’s a step by step flow on cultivating your own kitchen garden.

Step 1

You may need to choose leafy vegetables and herbs that take relatively a shorter period to harvest and can be harvested several times; examples include; cow peas, spinach, amaranthus, sukuma wiki

Sukuma wiki ready for harvest
Photo by Fred Nuwagaba

Step 2

Clearing the ground if you have a backyard garden. If not, you may need to fill up some pots or sacks with soil positioning them in the sun light.

Step 3

Work the soil and soften its texture. Mix up the top layers with the bottom. If possible, add black loamy soil to your pot.

Step 4

Plant your seeds in the now prepared soil.

Step 5

Water the plants daily; early in the day or late in the evening and wait.

In relatively five to eight days all vegetables should have germinated. Cow peas should have grown tender leaves ready for harvesting in three weeks. Sukuma wiki should take a month to harvest. Spinach and amaranthus will take four to five weeks.

A kitchen garden with Sukuma wiki
Photo by Apio Benardate

There are some tips you may consider to improve the quality of your vegetables. Weeding is important as you go along. Mulching especially for vegetables planted directly in the back yard is suitable for water conservation. You may consider controlling pests organically or by spraying.

Leafy vegetables such as those chosen above may be harvested several times lasting up to three months.

Amaranthus after three weeks
Photo by Nicholas Opiri

So enjoy your vegetables with several recipes.

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Mulched garden of spinach