I'm taking a frog leap since I initiated my project as I am starting my blogs way late from my activities. The project started in March. Much of the work was first done cleaning the project sites of grass, sedges and brushes. Nearly a hectare-wide land has been cleaned using sickles, grub hoes and shovels. The debris has been collected and composted with Trichoderma. About three tons of grass and different sedges have been collected. This will yield about 1.2 tons of organic fertilizer. The vegetable garden areas are located in three different sites in the project location.
Twelve students and seven farmers are working with me on the project. The number of students involved is limited as March to May are the vacation months. We expect to have 20 more students by the first semester on June.
We have planted one area of 1,000 square meters with white potato and another lot some 2,500 square meters with Scorpio cabbage and brocolli while some 700 suare meters are planted to succhini mixed with early maturing Romaine lettuce sidecropped with onion leeks. These crops were the choices of our customers.
There is no major difficulty in our activities with the exception of land clearing which is labor-intensive and limited water supply. We have solved the latter by digging 5 x 6 x 7 feet deep water holes draped with plastic to harvest water from rain and run-off from canals. The impounded water is used to irrigate the plants. Because gravity cannot be used to draw water, we irrigate overhead, manually with the use watering cans at least three times a week.
Twelve students and seven farmers are working with me on the project. The number of students involved is limited as March to May are the vacation months. We expect to have 20 more students by the first semester on June.
We have planted one area of 1,000 square meters with white potato and another lot some 2,500 square meters with Scorpio cabbage and brocolli while some 700 suare meters are planted to succhini mixed with early maturing Romaine lettuce sidecropped with onion leeks. These crops were the choices of our customers.
There is no major difficulty in our activities with the exception of land clearing which is labor-intensive and limited water supply. We have solved the latter by digging 5 x 6 x 7 feet deep water holes draped with plastic to harvest water from rain and run-off from canals. The impounded water is used to irrigate the plants. Because gravity cannot be used to draw water, we irrigate overhead, manually with the use watering cans at least three times a week.
Land preparation was done manualy using grab hoes. After the land was tilled, compost, chicken manure as well as lime were spread over the land to serve as basal fertilizer and neutralize soil acidity, respectively. The soil was was tilled once more to mix the fertilizer and the lime. Plots measuring 1 meter by 20 meters were then prepared.
The succhini was planted directly at a space of one foot apart. The cabbages were transplanted to the field 25 days after sowing, with a distance of one foot per hill per row . Potato tubers were planted at the same distances. The field was irrigated through overhead system using watering cans.
For all three crops, some 1.5 tons of compost was used as basal fertilizer. No inorganic fertilizer was applied.
No pesticide are used on all crops. As of now no insect pest has attacked the succhini, lettuce and potatoes but a few diamonback moth (Plutella xylostella) are attacking the cabbages. We have prepared a botanical control of sunflower extract (Tithonia diversifolia) to be used against the pest.
Next Posting: Controlling Insect Pests
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