HOME GARDEN TECHNOLOGY LEAFLET 15

INTENSIVE VEGETABLE PLOTS

An intensive vegetable plot allows different kinds of vegetables and other leafy crops to grow, one after another, on well-fertilized beds. A well-organized vegetable plot can provide a household with fresh vegetables all year round. If water is available, an area as small as 30 to 40 m² can produce most of the fresh leafy vegetables that meet the requirements of most households.

It is important to plan the plot well to ensure consecutive planting and harvesting. Short-term vegetables, such as amaranth, can be available one month after sowing, but a household has only two to three harvests and then must remove the plants and plant others. Other leafy vegetables, including cassava leaves and a variety of kale that grows from cuttings, are ready for consumption two months after planting and supply food to a household for one to two years.

The home garden manager needs to plan the planting pattern well, preparing for times of shortage as well as for a surplus that could go to waste if the household cannot consume, process or sell it immediately.

ESTABLISHING AN INTENSIVE VEGETABLE PLOT

Home garden managers need to take the following steps when establishing an intensive vegetable plot in the home garden.

Step 1

Divide the plot into four planting beds, each one for a different vegetable or root crop, about 1 m wide and 5 m long. Make the beds as wide as possible, leaving paths around them for easy access during planting, cultivating and weeding.

Step 2

Prepare the soil well. Break it up with the back of a hoe until it is fine and loose. Mix in some good compost or manure (approximately 5 kg cold compost per square metre). The precise amount of compost or manure, however, depends largely on the type of soil in the garden and the type of manure added. Chicken and pig manures are stronger than cow manure, so adjust the quantities accordingly.

Step 3

In the wet season or on wet lands, prepare raised beds (up to about 20 cm high) by adding fine topsoil. Sunken beds should be prepared for dry-season planting. Mounds and ridges should be used for root and tuber crops. Ensure adequate drainage and water supply.

Step 4

Plant, but before any seedlings come up, construct a fence around the plot to keep out wandering animals.

FIGURE 1
Intensive vegetable plot

CHOICE OF CROPS

The choice of crops is influenced by a number of factors. One of the important considerations should be whether or not a given crop provides good daily nutrition and is a food a family likes to eat. Other important factors include:

• climate;
• soil;
• water availability;
• availability of seeds and planting material;
• suitability for intercropping.

Remember that tall and ground-level plants can be grown together in a multilayer system, such as beans on poles above pumpkin, or eggplant above sweet potato. Plan the planting schedule according to the growing time for each type of vegetable (see Table 1). Vegetables that can be harvested at the same time should be planted in the same place. Alternatively, plant the fruit vegetables (e.g. tomato, eggplant, maize, chilli) with the leaf and root vegetables (e.g. amaranth, taro, cassava) in such a way that the fruit vegetables can be harvested without disturbing the leaf and root vegetables.

TABLE 1
Cultural characteristics of selected vegetables

PLANTING

As indicated in Table 1, a variety of planting materials can be used for the propagation of vegetables. Small seeds, such as those of tomato, cabbage, kale or amaranth, should be sprinkled in a row and covered lightly. The seedlings should be thinned out after they emerge. Alternatively, small seeds can be germinated in a seed bed or nursery and transplanted to the garden bed as seedlings. In order to use limited land effectively, plants with transplantable seedlings can be raised in containers made from local materials. See also Home Garden Technology Leaflet 16, "Plant propagation and nursery techniques".

Larger seeds (beans, pumpkin) can be planted directly in the garden bed. If there are no trees around the vegetable plot, shade seedlings from direct sunlight in the first week. After the seedlings emerge, the bed should be covered with mulch to reduce weeds and to keep the soil from becoming too hot and drying out the plants.

TABLE 2
Vegetables of the same family

REPLANTING

Plants of the same family should not be planted in the same place for more than two years, otherwise pests and diseases will build up in the soil. Table 2 lists some of the main groups of plants that should be planted in a different bed after one or two growing seasons. It is best to plant legumes before crops of other families because they increase nitrogen in the soil. See Home Garden Technology Leaflet 12, "Multiple cropping".