Natural Gardening: Sustainable Techniques From Africa to Try in Your Garden - Send A Cow

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meeting or event by emailing:
By using our natural resources wisely, we in the UK speakers@sendacow.org.uk
can cut our contribution to climate change and ease or calling: 01225 874 222.
the burden on African farmers. • Read our Foundation Series repo
rts on the
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on
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your own veggies. g.uk
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and packets of beetroot, mustard, and
dwarf French beans seeds.
Send a Cow, The Old Estate Yard,
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families in Africa.
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help poor farmers in Africa grow enough to feed
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Sustainable techniques from Africa to try in your garden
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2. How to make compost:
New life for old soil Magic muck
1. Mark out an area 2m x 0.5m in
“The principles of organic farming are “Feed the soil and the soil will feed a shady
position.
the same in the UK and Africa. It’s just you. Keep livestock and the livestock 2. Hammer 1.5m tall posts firmly
into the
some of the crops that are different.” will keep your crops.” ground at each corner.
Timothy Njakasi, Agricultural Extension Officer, Patrick Fedrick Wangao, Tanzania. 3. Dig the earth about 8cm down,
then till.
Send a Cow Uganda.
4. Layer the following:
Compost improves the structure and • Dry matter: to add carbon and imp
About 70% of Africans depend for survival on rove
water-holding capacity of the soil, and soil structure
the food they can produce from their land. Yet
average plot sizes are getting smaller, soil quality adds nutrients to it. It recycles household • Urine or water: to help the heap
rot
is deteriorating, and climate change is making and farmyard by-products – especially • Ash: to add potassium and aid brea
kdown
weather patterns less reliable. manure – and saves impoverished families • Animal droppings (fresh or dry):
the expense of commercial fertiliser. to add
As well as giving livestock, Send a Cow trains poor nutrients and improve structure
rural families in natural farming methods that Andrew and Rose Odongo’s small patch of land in There are many ways to make compost: • Top soil: to introduce insects and
worms
enable them to grow more food without harming Uganda used to become parched in the dry season. this method (opposite) is taught in the • Green plant materials: for nutrient
their land. The key principle is to integrate semi-arid region of eastern Uganda. In the s
In the wet season, the rain would simply run off. 5. Keep layering until the heap is
livestock and crops so nothing goes to waste – The family ate one meal a day. UK, make sure you keep it well covered to 1m high
stop it becoming waterlogged. – the best height to achieve the perf
whether that’s cow dung, vegetable peelings, or ect
Since receiving Send a Cow training and a cow, composting temperature of 60°C .
washing-up water. Simple – and cheap!
Rose and Andrew (pictured above) use compost es a 6. Insert a long stick (a ‘stickometer
The result: crop yields increase – sometimes four Enoch Pasire demonstrat ’!)
to keep their soil moist. By incorporating it into diagonally through the heap, so it
or five-fold – so families have more to eat and sell. stickometer, Uganda goes
double dug beds, they get 13 baskets of tomatoes through all layers.
They can grow new types of fruit and vegetables. a week instead of two, which they sell to pay for 7. Cover the heap so that importa
Their improved land is less vulnerable to the spells school expenses and clothes. They have introduced nt gases and
nutrients do not escape.
of drought and flash flooding caused by climate other crops to their land to eat and sell – including
change. They can save their soils, and gradually 8. Every week, pull out the stick .
papaya, which they had previously thought If there is
grow their way out of poverty for good. any white on the stick , this is fung
impossible. us. Make
a hole in the heap at the correspon
These tried and tested techniques are based on ding
Now the family eats three meals a day. They are all point, and pour in water.
traditional organic methods updated with modern healthier, and the children no longer have to stay 9. After a few weeks, turn the heap
scientific research. Why not adapt them for your home from school to work in the fields. . You no
longer need to keep it in layers. Mak
own garden? e sure
Their plans for the future? “To widen our knowledge you turn it before the stickometer goes
cool.
of organic technology, ” says Rose. 10. Cover it again, and leave it unti
l it looks
like soil. The time needed depends
on the
Send a Cow is a Christian charity that enables poor farming families in sub- material you have used and the clim
ate.
Saharan Africa to become self-sufficient by providing them with livestock, training
and advice. We work with some of the most vulnerable groups in Africa, including
children orphaned by war, families affected by HIV/AIDS, and disabled people.
www.sendacow.org.uk
1 2

3. How to make a keyhole garden: How to make a bag garden:
Unlocking the secrets Bags-for-life
1. Find a sunny area near your kitch 1. Put an empty tin with the two
en. ends removed in
“A keyhole garden has 2. Attach string to a wooden peg, “Now I have seen it is possible the bottom of a sack and fill the tin
and place the peg with stones.
revolutionised my vegetable where you want the centre of your to grow vegetables on my 2. Pack a mixture of soil and com
garden to be. post (two parts
production.” 3. Use the string to mark out two land I want to put bag gardens soil: one part compost) around the
tin, then
circles: an inner
Nicola Hobbs, Suffolk, UK. one with a 0.5 metre radius, and an everywhere!” remove it.
outer one
with a 1.5 metre radius. Béatrice Baraminza, Rwanda. 3. Move the tin up, and repeat stag
es one and two
4. Put posts approx 1.5m high in until your sack is filled with a central
the ground around column of
Keyhole (or kitchen) gardens Bag gardens are multi-storey vegetable stones surrounded by a soil-compost
the inner circle and secure them with mix.
are heaps of soil based around a string – this gardens in a sack, ideal for farmers
is your compost basket. 4. Support your bag with two sturd
compost basket that continually with a limited supply of water and y sticks either
5. Mark out the outer circle with large side to prevent it slumping.
feeds the garden as it grows. rocks – this only a small plot of land. The central
They’re a great way to get the most is the border of your keyhole garden. column of stones provides drainage and 5. Cut holes in the sides of the sack
Add more .
out of kitchen waste. They grow lots layers of rocks to raise the garden aeration. African families put them near 6. Plant your seeds or seedlings in
(good for older the holes and on
of vegetables in a small area, people or those with disabilities). their homes, where they can easily be the top.
all year round. 6. Leave a ‘v’ shaped path approx. maintained by children. 7. Water your garden regularly from
0.5m wide for the top, directly
access to the compost basket. onto the column of stones. This filte
To order your own bag garden starter rs water
7. Fill the basket with a 1m high throughout the bag garden.
pile of compost. kit, see back page.
8. Mix one part compost to two part 8. Harvest a regular supply of vege
s top soil, and tables!
heap around the basket so it slopes Béatrice Baraminza and her husband
down in a
dome shape towards the border. display one of their bag gardens
9. Plant up one section at a time
to give yourself a
continuous supply of vegetables.
Keyhole gardens enable families in the
mountains of Lesotho to grow lush vegetables 10. Add kitchen waste to the compost
basket, and
water regularly when dry.
The keyhole garden at Send a Cow’
s
UK office, before planting
3 4

4. How to make plant tea: Top 10 water saving tips
Survival of the fittest Every drop counts
1. Chop up a mix of soft, hairy and 1. Use compost in keyhole gardens,
“I have never bought fertiliser for my “During the dry periods I used to buy double
leguminous leaves (eg docks, comfrey dug trenches (see over), or just dug
farm. I cannot afford it, and I know and clover). vegetables. These days I don’t buy into
your soil.
how bad it can be.” 2. Put into a bucket until the bucket vegetables even in the dry period.
is 2. Use rainwater by creating a vege
The kitchen garden is fertile because I table bed
Helen Kongai, Uganda. three-quarters full. directly underneath an overhanging
use compost with animal droppings.” roof (if
Plant tea makes crops more resistant to disease, 3. Cover leaves with a mixture of one you don’t have a gutter), or by colle
cting it
is easy to make – and it’s free! Natural pesticides part animal urine to two parts wate Anastasia Awuor, Kenya. in a water butt.
r
mean fewer crops for pests, and more for the family. (or just water). 3. Mulch your plants with a layer
of dried
Remember, bugs can be good for your garden, so 4. Add a pinch of ash, and stir. grasses or leaves to stop the water
only use pesticide as a last resort. 5. Cover and leave. evaporating.
6. Stir regularly until the leaves have 4. Set up a drip irrigation system
by
suspending plastic bottles or bags
How to make natural pesticide: rotted down, which may take a few
thirsty plants. Make tiny holes in the
over
pest.) weeks. Remove the leaves and put
(Ingredients vary depending on the bottom so they release water grad
them on your compost heap. ually,
1. Crush up: letting it seep into the soil rather than
7. Cover the liquid, and leave in the
(to kill ants, shade evaporate.
• Seven cups of marigold leaves for 14 days.
caterpillars, and nematod es) or 5. Dig trenches along the contours
8. Dilute the tea (one part tea to two of sloping
aphids, land. This traps rainfall to prevent it
• One cup of chilli (to kill ants, parts water) and pour one cup onto flowing
beetles) or away and eroding the soil.
caterpillars, and plant roots.
c (to kill ants, 6. Use ‘grey’ water, such as washing
• Seven bulbs or onions or garli -up or
bath water.
aphids, and caterpillars) or
kill caterpillars). 7. Make a bag garden or a mandala
• Six cups of tomato leaves (to Helen Kongai weeds onions watered by
garden,
which consists of double dug vege
2. Add five litres of water. rainfall from an overhanging roof, Uganda table
beds in a ring around a central pit,
der, a few with a
3. Add three spoons of baking pow trench to channel in rainwater.
spoons of para ffin (optional), a piece of
for sucking 8. Plant crops which need little wate
biodegradeable soap, and wood ash as carrots and beetroot.
r – such
.
insects (such as aphids and whitefly)
want it 9. Shade your seedlings – by intercrop
If you
4. Leave it for several days to soak. them with taller plants, or by mak
ping
it
more quickly, boil everything up, and leave covered seed nursery.
ing a
for a day.
10. Make hollows around larger, pere
Is this natural pesticide ‘organic’?
nnial
plants to trap rainwater.
g practices are
Views differ about which gardenin
oach, and
‘organic’. We take a pragmatic appr
locally available
encourage farmers in Africa to use
on commercial
resources rather than spend money
l amount of
pesticides. Many farmers find a smal
tive – but leave
paraffin makes pesticides more effec
it out if you are concerned.
Bernard Osbutey makes plant tea, Ghana
mandala garden, Uganda
5 Nuliat Chanda with her 6