ORGANIC FARMING- READYING FOR THE RAINS – The Sands Thinking Green

We harvest daily with some emphasis over busy weekends

For the majority of people trying to farm the rainy seasons are when one plants the seeds carefully stored over the hot, dry spells. Not many have access to boreholes or wells and as one nears the beach the water tends to have higher Chlorides. Some plants are better at dealing with these chlorides than others, we have found there to be considerable stunted growth in more sensitive greens and herbs once our water harvesting tanks are empty and we are watering from the well.

Now, with the Short rains approaching we have been preparing ourselves on the Nomad Farm with compost being removed from the piles, we have made new mixes of topsoil, compost and sand to get the correct soil characteristics ready in our beds before the onset of the rains.

Cape Gooseberries ready to be planted out.

Basil seedlings in a polystyrene apple box

Now is the time for planting some of the more sensitive plants seeds into nursery areas where they are protected from pests and any harsh environments, interestingly many people may not realise how easy it is to plant nurseries around one’s house. If you have a balcony or a small garden space with sunshine for some of the day you can grow. If you only have concrete floors it is still possible, see below for ideas or look up Urban Farming on Pinterest or the Web.

Capsicum seedlings in a cardboard box.
Just put it on the ground and the cardboard will rot.

Rucola in a rough cardboard tray,
long leaves are used to mulch and provide support.

Photos (Above and Below) are some examples of the free and repurposed planting items we have used in one of our nurseries, once the rains have started we will be moving these seedlings into the waiting planting beds, or jacuzzis in two cases.

The obvious one- water bottles as planting pots- Basil

Removed and discarded 20L plastic lids,
growing Dhania.