GIY Challenge
I hope my hard work is on full display as I was unable to share all the long hours I spent organizing the Barrels, soil, trellis, labels and decorations etc...
I hope I win so I can expand my garden even more.
This has been a big financial investment but its one that I am glad I made.
I aim to continue growing natural and healthier foods that have minimal toxins to improve the health of TnT.
I also aim to continually share my knowledge and help others in their own gardening as I improve.
99% organic (no pesticides and fungicides added.
99%and natural sources of Nutrients.
Insects love HEALTHY plants. If insects are attracted to your plants its SAFE to be eaten.
Recycled Materials and Sustainability
1.Collected rain water to wet plants.
2. 500ml Plastic bottles with pin many holes for drip irrigation during dry spells and 5L plastic bottles to store rain water and to mix organic pest control.
3. Steel Barrels for the beds.
4. Waste vegetables and grass for composting.
5. Upcycled Bamboo for the trellis and blue string for line.
6. Plastic plates and stickers for the plant labels for authentic appeal.
7. Natural woodchips and coconut husk to prevent water evaporation and prevent fungus forming on plants.
8. Used buckets for planting
9. Recycled stones and flower decoration were used for decoration.
10. Old spray bottles to spray for pest.
11. I used buckets to catheter during the heavy rains and used this to wet the plants when there was no rain. (Rain water is ideal for plants)
Sanitaton and Toxin Management
1. I cleaned my tools used to prune with alcohol before and after. I washed my gloves after every use.
1. No pvc/Styrofoam used because they are more toxic than other plastics.
2. No artificial fertilizers used because there are traces of toxic heavy metals and they don't add REAL nutrients to the plants and they also deplete the soil of its natural nutrients. (It is called Artificial fertilizers for a reason)
3. No coloured woodchips used because they have toxic paint and pesticides.
4. No added pesticides and fungicides herbicides (estrogenic mimicking chemicals)
FRUIT FORMING PLANTS
Tomaotes/Melongene/Cauliflower/Cucumber/Pimento/SweetPepper
ADDITIONAL FERTILIZATION
1. Epsom salt (MAGNESIUM).
I watered the soil with salts dissolved in a watering can.
I sprayed the leaves with a mixture of Epsom salt in water.
2. Hydrogen peroxide (OXYGEN) was sprayed unto the leaves at night because it adds oxygen to the plants. Oxygen is critical for CELL RESPIRATION which only happens at night.
3. Additional VERMI-Compost was added after flowers were forming; made up of many vegetable waste and worm castings. (MICRO-ORGANISMS, CALCIUM(eggshells), banana peels(POTASSIUM), wheat bran(PHOSPHOROUS) and many more minerals and nutrients.
4. Manure (NITROGEN) was added in smaller amount than the compost. This helped with leaf development.
5. Talking and exhaling (CARBON DIOXIDE) on your plants as I wet them or pruned them during the day helped boost PHOTOSYNTHESIS because carbon dioxide is one of the main ingredients for Photosynthesis. (Your grannd-mother was right; speaking to your plants helps them grow; this is backed by SCIENCE 😉 ).
FRUIT AND POLINATION
1. I manually pollinated the some of the tomatoes using a toothbrush.
2. I pruned the lower leaves and shoots between the stems so the plants would focus on flowering and grow larger produce.
3. I also watered the plants with diluted vinegar and added limestone which helped the plants absorb more nutrients and produce more flowers and it ensured a larger harvest.
DISEASE PREVENTION
1. I pruned the lower leaves to prevent disease forming and I sprayed the cuts with neem oil and tumeric to speed up healing.
2. I used coconut husk to prevent soil from splashing unto the leaves because this will cause diseases to develop on the plants.
3. I sprinkled tumeric powder after pruning to ensure the plant doesn't develop any disease and it can heal faster. Tumeric has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect on humans as well as plants.
PEST MANAGEMENT (bush bugs)
1. I mixed ammonia and neem oil and cayenne pepper and sprayed the stem and soil.
2. I used tumeric and neem oil to spray leaves for insects and then manually remove with gloves as they'll be stunned.
YIELD
1 Cherry Tomato🍅 Plant
8 young small sized tomatoes have formed so far.
There are 4 main stems with 5 flowers each.
4 Hybrid Tomato 🍅 Plants
There are 10-15 medium sized tomatoes formed on each plant so far.
There are many flowers that will be pollinated.
3 Cucumber🥒 Plants
4 cucumbers reaped so far. Average 6-7 inches long. The largest is 10 inches long.
There is one small Cucumber on the tree and 15+ flowers cucumber that will be pollinated.
6 Melongene 🍆 Plants
Some of the small fruits were blown off in the strong winds and some were damaged and fell off. There are many flowers still formed that will be pollinated.
I staked and tied them to protect from sorry winds.
4 Pimento Plants 🌶
The plants were transplanted on the 4th of May and so they didn't grow enough to have large peppers at the final video. There are about 5-10 small formed peppers on the plants.
8 sweet pepper Plants
I picked off the flowers during the first 3 weeks so the plant can focus on growing so I'd have larger sized peppers a more bountiful harvest in the long run.
There are at minimum 10 polinated flowers on each plant that will form large peppers over the next 2 weeks.
Cauliflower
The cauliflower started to form the head after 6 weeks of growing.
LEAFY VEGETABLES
Lettuce/Celery/Chive/ShadonBeni/Cabbage/Parsley
ADDITIONAL FERTILIZATION and WATERING
1. Manure (NITROGEN) was added in a larger quantity in the mixed soil and it was topped up 3-4 weeks later. There was more manure than compost.
2. Epsom salt (MAGNESIUM).
I watered the soil with salts dissolved in a watering can.
3. Hydrogen peroxide (OXYGEN) was sprayed unto the leaves at night because it adds oxygen to the plants. Oxygen is critical for CELL RESPIRATION which only happens at night.
4. Talking and exhaling (CARBON DIOXIDE) on your plants as I wet them or pruned them during the day helped boost PHOTOSYNTHESIS because carbon dioxide is one of the main ingredients for Photosynthesis. (Your grannd-mother was right; speaking to your plants helps them grow; this is backed by SCIENCE 😉 ).
5. I used 500ml bottles with water and bore many tiny holes in them and placed it in the beds during the dry spells in May. As rain fell i no longer used this irrigation.
DISEASE PREVENTION
1. I used coconut husk to prevent soil from splashing unto the leaves because this will cause diseases to develop on the plants.
2. I removed the lowest leaves that began to wilt to prevent disease forming.
PEST MANAGEMENT (caterpillars)
1. Neem oil and cayenne pepper and sprinkle on top and below the leaves and soak the soil.
2. I used tumeric and neem oil to spray the plants after I pruned the leaves.
YIELD
8 Lettuce plants (4 varieties)
I harvested 8 lettuce heads
11 Celery plants
I reaped 100 and more stems of celery (after counting)
90% were thick and a few smaller stems in between
16 Chive Plants
I reaped 40 leaves/stems during the competition period.
(I only cut the ones that grew atleast 5 times the initial size largest ones)
8 ShadonBeni Plants
I only reaped the largest leaves that I needed at a time.
I reaped 30 leaves throughout the competition and I will have another 12-18 leaves to pick next week.
8 Parsley plants
I had one harvest of Parsley which were
40 stems which varied in size.
4 plants remained and will be harvested next week.
2 Cabbage Plants (green and purple)
They formed the heads but they were not developed at the time of the final video.
The green cabbage is 3 times larger than the purple and I believe this is because of the crowded tomato bed.
I kept an additional Journal on my phone where I wrote down setbacks, measurement for fertilization, watering methods used and also pest management and additional fertilization. The main pest was bush bugs but the cayenne pepper kept them away at night and I'd wash it off during the day so the 🐝 would polinate the 💐.
I hope to improve on my methods of water preservation, natural pest management, recycled and upcycled materials as well as garden design using bamboo with string trellis going forward.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my gardening experiences that has allowed me to enhance my gardening skills. I was able to adopt natural techniques and materials found in most homes to preserve the health of my garden. I prefer my garden with natural nutrients and pesticide free because "you are what you eat".
