Diary Of A World Wide Backyard Gardener

 How it began:


Covid-19 and its attendant lockdown occasioned my foray into the world of gardening. During the lockdown and the free hours and days i had on my hands, i looked at the backyard of where i live and thought of what could be done with the space. Meanwhile in 2019 BC (Before Covid, i already had minimal success with sack and backyard gardening. so, with the aid of some hood boys (tipped with cash), we proceeded to cut bamboo (to fence the yard against goats) and construction began.
My first foray was into vegetables, cucumbers, watermelons to add to the banana already present. Note that all the crops planted are for personal and household consumption. The crops that have refused to stick with me or has 'winchy-winchy' as Oga Jidestroud calls it are watermelon and tomato

Where we are

The first foray was great (except the cucumber- i had very poor yields due to not planting hybrid varieties and the watermelon- I've not been able to grow it as it keeps dying off). I decided to step up my game this session/year, so i researched more, bought improved seeds (Darina for cucumber) and venture into other crops (other varieties of eggplants, improved vegetable seeds). Now, i have carrots growing, onions planted and eggplants already been harvested.
To have a better outing, i purchased cocopeat blocks from Solokad at Ibadan, Thema Carrots from FarmSquare (Online seed company in Nigeria) and Premier Onion seeds.
One thing i have noted is that some folks see my plantings as waste of money, time because in their own words 'why spend above 5k on seeds'.
Notwithstanding, I pay no attention to them since i view this as testing ground for future advancements. This year is devoted to sack farming due to space constraints and ground farming on whatever space is left

So distinguished folks, join me in this journey as i proceed this year in another journey into the gardening world. Advise is welcomed, criticisms are welcomed and corrections are encouraged. I don't claim to know it all but i am ever willing to learn.



SPECIAL MENTIONS

The following people have been great encouragement to me in this journey
1.Mazi Okoroemeka (his thread is an higher institution)
2. FarmerAkinloye6 (i have seen ALL his Youtube videos and i constantly engage him on his Instagram also)
3. Ideepaul (his interactions on relevant threads are insightful)
4. emmaachile2 (prompt response to enquiries and logical engagements on threads)
5. Jovar (purchased the onion seeds from him), Seedforthagro1 (the RZ Carrot seeds and RZ Eggplant seeds were bought there)
6. All youtubers i watched their videos and various Whatsapp Agricultural Groups.