Plants get most of their nutrients (food) from the soil. With the help of microorganisms (tiny living particles in the soil), the mineral and organic matter in the soil is processed into a form that plants can use. These nutrients dissolve (break down) in the water in the soil and are taken into the plants through their roots.
Plant foods: your guide Plants need many different kinds of nutrients to grow properly. Three of them are known as the macro (main) plant foods. These are:
Nitrogen (N) is what makes plants grow quickly and gives them healthy, green leaves and stems
Phosphorus (P) helps with the development of strong roots, flowers and fruit
Potassium (K) is like a tonic. It helps to strengthen the cell walls of plants, which improves their colour and taste, and means produce lasts longer once it¹s picked.
Micro (minor) plant foods act like vitamins and are needed in very small amounts. Some of these are calcium, boron, zinc, iron and magnesium.
Fertilizers
There are two very different groups of fertilizers organic (natural) and inorganic (chemical or artificial). It is best to use organic fertilizer whenever possible, as chemical fertilizers can cause an imbalance in the soil if used repeatedly.
What is organic fertilizer? Organic fertilizers come from the earth originally. By using them to feed our plants, we are returning them to the soil and completing nature¹s cycle giving back to the earth and not just taking from it. The different kinds of organic fertilizers contain the macro and micro nutrients in varying amounts.
Examples of organic fertilizer are:
Manure the dung of animals that are herbivores (eat only plants). In other words, manure is plant material that has been digested by animals
Compost decomposed (broken down) plant material
Leaf mould decomposed leaves
Seaweed decomposed sea plants
Bonemeal powdered animal bones
Wood ash ash from burnt wood (coal ash is not the same and shouldn't be used)
Why organic fertilizers are best...
They are not polluted with chemicals and poisons
They cost very little
They improve the soil structure
They improve the soil¹s fertility and help to make humus (partially decomposed material), which in turn is food for healthy plants
They help to fight soil diseases.
Using the different kinds of plant foods
To prepare plant beds with compost and manure, use one to four buckets per square metre. Once the plants are fully grown, extra compost and manure can be used to feed them.
Guano, bloodmeal, hoof and horn meal, bonemeal and rock phosphate are also used for soil preparation and feeding of plants, as well as for building compost heaps. They are usually applied in grams per square metre, from 100g to 500g (half a cup to two cups) per square metre.
Liquid manure is a tea made in a bucket or drum, using manure and water, or seaweed and herbs like comfrey and stinging nettle. Chicken manure is good as it contains lots of nitrogen. An application of liquid manure once a week is good for young vegetables and flowers.
Wood ash can be applied during soil preparation or added to compost heaps in small amounts (half to a full cup per square metre). It also helps to kill cutworms if applied to the soil before planting.
Legumes are plants that belong to the bean family such as peas, beans, lupins and lucerne. They are used as green manure crops. They are sown in gardens and fields and are dug or ploughed back into the soil, adding organic matter and nitrogen at the same time.
Complete organic fertilizers that are sold at cooperatives and nurseries are often made of chicken manure and enriched with other nutrients. They are good for applying to young and established plants. A few of the products available are Pop Up, Bounce Back and Kraggroei.
GARDEN CALENDER: MARCH
This is a good time to clear out old vegetables and flowering plants that are coming to an end. Use the materials you¹ve cleared out to make compost. You can prepare your beds for winter crops. Sow winter flower and vegetable seeds such as carrots, turnips, beetroot and peas (sow directly into your beds).
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This information is brought to you courtesy of Jet Club Green Corner by Dave Golding, a founding member of Abalimi Bezekhaya. Abalimi Bezekhaya is a non-profit organisation focusing on urban agriculture and greening on the Cape Flats in Cape Town.
If you have any gardening questions, send them to Dave at: Jet Club Green Corner/Ask Dave, P O Box 16607, Vlaeberg 8018.
Cook the whole cauliflower in a little bit of water until it is just tender. Smother with the zesty tomato sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and serve with crusty brown bread.
2 tablespoons Marmite, mixed with litres hot water
1 cup sunflower oil
6 large onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
3 green peppers, seeded and diced
8 – 10 cups chopped greens (carrot tops, spinach stalks, and leaves, turnip leaves, lettuce, Lucerne, outer leaves of cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, pumpkin and squash leaves)
4 cups diced butternut, carrots, turnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and whatever else is available from the garden
1 tablespoon dried origanum
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 kg chopped tomatoes
3 tins tomato puree
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
27 September 2006
Food from the home garden
Eat five servings of fruit and vegetables every day
Most of us know that to be healthy we must have a balanced diet. This means that we should eat something from each of the three food groups every day; body building foods (proteins), energy foods (carbohydrates, fats and oils) and protective foods (vegetables and fruits).
Climate change is arguably the most crucial issues of our time and is the biggest environmental challenge that we face. While many of us agree that we must do something, it seems too vast a problem for any one of us to tackle, until now.
The Carbon Standard Consortium has been formed to make it easy and affordable for government, individuals, corporations and communities, their office buildings, schools, homes, meetings, events, conferences, celebrations, a business unit, product or brand to offset carbon emissions by planting trees.
There's much more to gardening than just growing vegetables or pretty flowers. There are many benefits that come with growing a garden. What we are doing is bringing nature into our homes and lives. By creating a garden, we develop skills and gain knowledge. We also create a beautiful, peaceful and even productive environment that benefits the health and wellbeing of the whole family or community.
As part of an organic gardening practice, companion planting is used. This is the art of planting certain plants together – because they are good for one another, and avoiding planting certain other plants together, because they don’t grow well together. As with relationships between people, certain plants like and dislike one another, so we plant certain herbs with vegetables to improve their growth and flavour – and some of the herbs also have strong scents which repel harmful pests or may attract beneficial insects.
For very little money and effort, you can have the healthiest soil around. Here¹s how to make lovely compost that¹ll give you prize fruit and veggies. In our last article "Don't Panic - It's Organic" we gave you a taste of what materials should go into a good compost heap. Now here is the nitty gritty.
Organic gardening is the best way to get the most out of your soil and crops after all, it¹s the way nature designed things! Dave Golding tells you how it works.
Did you know that all life on earth is sustained by only one percent of available water. Isn¹t that a miracle? While most of the earth¹s surface is covered in water, 97 percent is seawater. Most of the remaining three percent is locked up in ice caps and glaciers, deep underground or suspended as vapour in the air.
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