Irrigation
Bible Reference Proverbs 3:5-6
Memory Verse “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.
Having spent many hours creating a well dug over area and planting seedlings, it is important to provide sufficient water to the plants so that they flourish and produce a good yield. We also need to provide protection so that the soils are not eroded away by the flood water and winds and that the seedlings are not washed away by the heavy rainfalls. The following information demonstrates how to dig the irrigation channels in the most efficient manner and in the correct direction to be successful in its aims of protecting the plants.
We need the water to flow slowly so not to wash the soils and seedlings away but still drain. Therefore the channels must be created between the rows of seedlings across the gradient of the land.
Tips for Watering
- Set up a drip watering frame over kitchen garden/sacks and polythene gardens using plastic bottles and branches if it is in a shaded area. In addition, water the compost at the centre of the keyhole garden. Watering from the centre enables the water to carry the nutrients from the compost to the plants.
- As a community working collaboratively to dig the irrigation channels in a neighbouring field is much easier than struggling alone before moving onto the next neighbour’s field and is much more sociable!
Below are links to documents found on the internet that you may find useful:
https://horticulture.ucdavis.edu/information/small-scale-irrigation-technologies-horticulture
- Laying tubing from a water tank and lay around plants to water them. Plants should be watered before 9 am in the morning and after 5pm in the evening to avoid scorching from sun. They should be watered at their base avoiding wetting the leaves because the water droplets on the leaves will act as a magnifying glass and intensify the sun’s rays, burning the leaves and damaging the plants. Which in turn would affect the yield of the plants.
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