GIY Challenge
Growing in the wet, hot and humid conditions of the rainy season, with somewhat compromised seedlings, didn’t help with the Brassicas, String Beans and Celery being hit the hardest by fungal and bacterial attack.
The Kale Stack had to be abandoned with only two plants being salvaged for a remodel. The remodel was also encouraged by the fact that my String Beans were a bit too enthusiastic and broke at the main stems due to the weight of foliage, fruits, wind and rain.
I uprooted all but a few of the string beans, leaving the last stack to produce fruits. I repotted the now empty stack and planted a new set of celery and lettuce seedlings.
My remaining long-term crops finally reached maturity with the Green Cabbage being harvested, and the Cauliflower and Broccoli beginning to produce florets. I guess the application of fungicides and bactericides on rotation finally began to take effect.
I shied away from the use of products containing Carbendazim and Mancozeb or any other determined to be potentially hazardous to us – either carcinogenic or affecting reproductivity – and adopted more organic compounds. My initial rotation included Sting, Bellis and Oxi-Cup, but later evolved to include Phyton.
The lettuce replanted in early August are ok, but the Patchoi came under heavy pest attack and some of these have since been removed.
All in all, I would like to thank the Ministry of Sport and Community Development for the opportunity to reach the completion of this year’s competition and say Good Luck to All.
