6. Fruit, Leaf and Root Vegetable Guidelines
A) Onion - Surface Composting Technique
Onions are popular additions to most African dishes. They are high in Vitamin C and Folate and they also have a high peptide content which helps fight against osteoporosis.
Onions are ideally grown in temperatures between 12-25°C and are more suited to cold snaps rather than extreme heat. Onions take a long time to reach maturity (from 4-7 months), therefore in a “small scale home nutrition garden” there are better crops to use in that space, including spring onions. Plant onions from the end of summer through autumn and remember they need a lot of water in their vegetative stage of growth, so in “summer rainfall regions with dry winters”, make sure you have a suitable irrigation option.
Layout
If you are planting on field scale, then prepare double rows 20cm apart to allow enough space for access. In a small home garden, widen the band to 45cm wide and plant triple rows 20cm apart to make best use of your limited space.
Lay Strings for Planting Band
Place a top string or measuring rope from one 75cm permanent peg to its adjoining peg on the opposite side. Next place temporary pegs 25cm down from the permanent pegs and place another string there to establish the surface composting band. Make sure both the ropes are taut and straight by lifting and dropping them.
Remove God’s Blanket
Move God’s Blanket downslope of the 25cm planting band, to ensure none of it gets buried. If you bury the blanket which has not yet decomposed, it can cause the soil to go through a negative nitrogen period and reduce crop yield.
Soil Fracturing
Push the fork 30cm deep and pull it backwards a little, until you see the soil loosen or fracture. Remove any stones or rocks that you feel with the fork, but don’t be tempted to lift or turn the soil, you should be merely fracturing it. Keep on repeating this every 10cm along the row line.
Correcting Acidic Soils
To correct acidic soils in the 25cm wide band, evenly sprinkle one handful of woodash per meter.
Surface Composting
Onions are light feeders so place a thin 2cm layer of surface compost on top of the 25cm wide band. It is not necessary to work the compost in to the soil. This system of surface composting is following exactly what the Lord of all Creation has shown us since the beginning of all time, where He designed for plants to feed from the top.
Furrowing and Direct Seeding
Press a 2cm deep furrow into the prepared 25cm wide band and repeat again at the next 20cm row down the slope. Plant Onion seeds 2cm deep and 5cm apart. It is very important to get good Onion seed to compost contact, so cover the seeds by pinching the compost closed and then firm up the compost by walking on the broad side of a wooden plank. After emergence, thin Onions down to 10cm intervals between plants and use the thinned onion sets in other areas.
Don’t put the blanket on top of the planted bands until after germination has taken place, whereafter the blanket can be brought up against the plant bases. Ensure the blanket in the walkways is at 100% cover and 2.5cm thick to suppress weed growth and conserve moisture.
Onion Seedlings
Onions are best suited to planting as seedling sets. After about 7-8 weeks, the seedling sets will have reached pencil thickness in the nursery and are ready to transplant.
Put the 2.5cm thick blanket on top of the surface compost then use a dibble stick with a depth marker on it, twisting it through the blanket and pressing it into the surface compost band, to the required depth with 10cm between plants and 20cm between rows.
You must ensure the seedling roots are not bent into a J shape which will adversely affect the plants growth, so make sure the dibble stick hole depth is sufficient but not too deep either. If the hole is too deep, it will cause there to be an air space under the roots which is also not desirable. To ensure you don’t have that, hold the seedling in place and press with the dibble stick or your fingers at an angle, pressing the compost gently around the seedling roots. This ensures the seedling roots have no bend and ensures that there are no airspaces around the root zone.
Onion Harvest
Onions take long to mature (4-7 months) and should be dried properly before storing. Firstly once leaf yellowing begins bend the leaves over, without snapping them off which will speed up the drying process. After lifting the bulbs, store them in a shady, dry, well ventilated place. Use any damaged bulbs first and inspect the drying crop frequently for storage diseases.
B) Onion - Manure Technique
Onions are popular additions to most African dishes. They are high in Vitamin C and Folate and they also have a high peptide content which helps fight against osteoporosis.
Onions are ideally grown in temperatures between 12-25oC and are more suited to cold snaps rather than extreme heat. Onions take a long time to reach maturity, from 4-7 months, therefore in a “small scale home nutrition garden” there are better crops to use in that space, including spring onions. Plant onions from the end of summer through autumn and remember they need a lot of water in their vegetative stage of growth, so in “summer rainfall regions with dry winters”, make sure you have a suitable irrigation option.
Layout
If you are planting on field scale, then prepare double rows 20cm apart to allow enough space for access. In a small home garden, widen the basin to 45cm and plant triple rows 20cm apart to make best use of your limited space.
Lay Strings for Shallow Planting Basin
Place a top string or measuring rope from one 75cm permanent peg to its adjoining peg on the opposite side. Next place temporary pegs 25cm down from the permanent pegs and place another string there to establish the shallow basin. Make sure both the ropes are taut and straight by lifting and dropping them.
Remove God’s Blanket
Move God’s Blanket 10cm downslope of the planting basin, to expose the soil.
Soil Fracturing
Push the fork 30cm deep and pull it backwards a little, until you see the soil loosen or fracture. Remove any stones or rocks that you feel with the fork, but don’t be tempted to lift or turn the soil, you should be merely fracturing it. Keep on repeating this every 10cm along the row line.
Preparing Shallow Basins
Due to the closeness of the 20cm row intervals, it is very difficult to dig furrows for these narrow row crops. Instead, prepare a shallow basin by digging out 5cm of soil in between the 25cm strings and placing it downslope.
Correcting Acidic Soils
To correct acidic soils in the 25cm wide basin evenly sprinkle one handful of woodash per meter.
Manure
Skim a 1cm layer of manure into the bottom of this shallow basin and rake it in lightly.
Seed Depth and Soil Separation Layer
Cover the manure with soil making it level once again. This will ensure a good separation layer between the seed and manure which is vital to avoid seed burn.
Furrowing and Planting Seed
Press a 2cm deep furrow into the prepared basin and repeat again at the next 20cm row down the slope. Plant onion seeds 2cm deep and 5cm apart. Onion seeds are very small and so it is very important to get good seed to soil contact. Cover the seeds by pinching the soil closed and then firm up the soil by walking on the broad side of a wooden plank. After emergence, thin Onions down to 10cm intervals between plants and use the thinned onion sets in other areas.
Don’t put the blanket on top of the seed planted basin until after germination has taken place, whereafter the blanket can be brought up against the plant bases. Ensure the blanket in the walkways is at 100% cover and 2.5cm thick to suppress weed growth and conserve moisture.
Seedlings
It is far better to plant Onion seedling sets rather than seed. Cover the basin level and replace the 2.5cm thick blanket on top of it. Use a dibble stick with a depth marker on it, twisting it through the blanket and pressing it into the prepared basin, to the required depth, 10cm apart and with 20cm between rows.
You must ensure the seedling roots are not bent into a J shape which will adversely affect the plants growth, so make sure the dibble stick hole depth is sufficient but not too deep either. If the hole is too deep, it will cause there to be an air space under the roots which is also not desirable. To ensure you don’t have that, hold the seedling in place and press with the dibble stick or your fingers at an angle, pressing the soil gently around the seedling roots. This ensures the seedling roots have no bend and ensures that there are no airspaces around the root zone.
Harvest
Onions take long to mature (4-7 months) and should be dried properly before storing. Firstly once leaf yellowing begins bend the leaves over, without snapping them off which will speed up the drying process. After lifting the bulbs, store them in a shady, dry, airy place. Use any damaged bulbs first and inspect the drying crop frequently for storage diseases.
