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Growing Cabbage
Cabbages are one of the more popular vegetables consumed in Kenya. They are relatively easy to grow and manage and mostly require adequate water for optimum growth. There are many varieties of cabbage in the market. They prefer cool climate with fertile, well drained soils.
A head of cabbage
It is a dietary source of potassium, calcium, vitamins A and C. cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable and are thought to fight and protect from cancers such as colon, skin, breast, stomach, liver, bladder and lungs. I have tried growing a few of them and here is my experience.
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Growing beans
Beans are one of the staple foods in Kenya. The only one that is more or equally grown food crop is maize. I think this is because in most homes there is a food made by combining the two called githeri. It is usually boiled when cooked in its simplest form but can later be garnished or fried and reconstituted into other dishes.
Among the beans there are many varieties that are grown and these will be determined by the altitude and climate of each place.
Beans growing in the field
Among the beans that are grown in my area are chelalang', nyayo, red kidney, mwitemania, wairimu, rosecoco among others. All the above are good for commercial venture as they have production of between 6 to 10 bags weighing 90 kilos per acre.
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Growing boma rhodes hay
Hay is a type of grass that is grown to feed livestock. It is usually a type of grass that grows tall and is usually cut, let to dry and then kept in storage. This can usually be bound with some type of tying material like string by hand or by machine.
Boma rhodes
We decided to grow hay so as to have feed for the cows during the dry season. The most common hay grown in Kenya is boma rhodes. It grows relatively well and can be quite tall when it receives adequate rainfall and fertilizer. It can also be cut at least twice a year in ideal conditions. I believe the other reason it is popular with farmers locally is also because it is palatable to the cows and nutritious especially when cut at the right stage.
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Macadamia Farming
My farming journey into macadamia nut growing began with my mother. She thought it would be a good idea for us to broaden our income source. Once we agreed, we got the tree seedlings from our agricultural research institute KARI(Kenya Agricultural Research Institute) then but now known as KALRO(Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization). It is while we were here that we were told that they have two varieties of macadamia tree. one One produces smooth nuts while the other rough. We decided to try each. We bought half and half. We got 70 seedlings.
A macadamia tree
Growing the macadamia trees from nuts is possible, but it takes at least 8 years for the tree to start producing any fruit. Also the yield may be little as it inherently passes on the genes that affect production(heterozygous). Grafting is the preferred method of propagation as you can select the best qualities.
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