Grow Your Own Food

Top Tips

Strictly follow the directions on the label when using any pesticides or fertilisers.
For best results and to prevent resistance development, it is advised to frequently switch to a pesticide with an alternative mode of action.

Vegetable Seed

There are not many things that can beat harvesting fresh vegetables grown by your own hands. Lots of people from all walks of life have their own vegetable gardens as it can be an extremely rewarding activity.

Vegetables are an important part of a healthy eating pattern and are excellent sources of nutrients. These nutrients are vital for your overall health and the maintenance of your body.

Carrots, radishes, beans, sweet corn, beets, sliced beets, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, etc. can be sown in situ every 2 weeks.

Peppers, cauliflower, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. should preferably first be sown in seed trays and then transplanted into the vegetable patch, as per the instructions on the back of the seed packet.

Herb Seed

Herbs are usually grown for their aromatic, culinary and medicinal uses. Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow and they can grow profusely. Plus, dried herbs can last well past their harvesting.

Basil, parsley, dill and thyme can first be planted in seedling trays after which they can be transplanted into herb beds. Herb seeds such as coriander, fennel, rosemary and rocket can be sown directly in the herb bed.

Remember your pets

Don’t forget your pets, they will appreciate herbs such as dog grass and catnip.

Nutrition for your food garden

Feed leafy vegetables and herbs every 4 weeks with Lawn & Foliage Fertilizer 7:1:3 or NutriGreen Gro Green and fruit bearing plants like tomatoes and peppers with Rose & Flower Fertilizer 8:1:5 or NutriGreen Flower Power.

For quick results, apply Guanoflo as a foliar application every 2 weeks.

Protection against insects

There is a vast variety of insects that can destroy your vegetable and herb garden. Look out for whiteflies that can be found at the base of leaves. They occur in small colonies and suck the plant sap. Complete is ideal to get rid of them. Aphids, thrips and caterpillars on vegetables can be treated with AviGard or with Kemprin.

Both are contact insecticides with a short withholding period. Cutworms hide in the soil by day and attack plants at night. They damage the stem of young seedlings at the base, causing the plant to collapse. Control them with Cutworm Bait. Snails and slugs can attack most crops and chew holes in leaves and kill seedlings. They are most active at night, especially in moist weather. Control them with Scatterkill for Snails.

Protection against fungi

Your veggies can also succumb to fungal diseases. Rust and Botrytis blight often threaten bean crops. Diseases such as Alternaria leaf spot and downy mildew afflict brassica crops such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower.

Carrot tops are also affected by fungal disease like blights and if the tops are unhealthy the carrots do not develop properly. Cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and summer squash are attacked by diseases such as anthracnose, Cercospora leaf spot, downy mildew, gummy stem blight (black rot), leaf blight, powdery mildew, scab, and target spot. Potatoes suffer from the diseases like early blight, late blight and Botrytis vine rot. Even though potatoes grow below ground, diseases can harm their foliage which affect the edible tubers as well.

Numerous diseases such as anthracnose, Alternaria fruit rot (black mold), Botrytis, gray mold, early blight, gray leaf spot, gray leaf mold, late blight, Rhizoctonia fruit rot, and Septoria leaf spot attack tomatoes.

Protect your vegetables against fungal attacks with Copper-Flow-Plus, a copper containing solution – contact bactericide and fungicide. Also use Mycoguard 720 SC contact fungicide which offers preventative protection and Tenazole 350 EW, a systemic fungicide which offers preventative and corrective control.