Description
Growing my own fresh food with bite-sized edible gardening tips— Step by step learning how to cultivate vegetables, herbs, and fruits in small spaces.
A Journey from Soil to Success
I begun gardening with nothing—no tools, no money, just a passion. Below is a story of how I turned that into a thriving garden for Truly Fresh vegetables.
What I Had—and Didn’t:
- A modest plot on the roof-top of my house.
- Borehole water, natural rainfall and sunshine.
- No seeds, no tools—just determination.
My First Steps:
- Scavenged locally – I found seeds from kitchen scraps, vegetable cuttings of Kales as seedlings, collected used plastic 10lts empty water bottles, pots and reclaimed wood.
- Prepared the soil – Loosened it by hand, added compost from kitchen waste, and used banana peels and egg shells as free fertilizer.
- Planted basic veggies – Started with tomatoes, onions, and kales—easy to grow and share. A friend shared with me a type of kales whose branches could be grown when cut out from the mother plant.
Mistakes & Lessons Learned:
- Overwatering killed seedlings—learned to wait until soil felt dry and made more holes on the side of the containers.
- Again, overwatering washed out all soil nutrients.
- Crowding plants reduced yield—now I space them out properly.
- Pest issues taught me companion planting (e.g. basil with tomatoes)
- Again on pest issues, I started using the bicarbonate of soda table salt and white vinegar.
Results:
Within 4 months, I harvested my first home-grown vegetables and began sharing seedlings with neighbors—boosting both confidence and community spirit.
Encouragement for Beginners:
- You don’t need money—just soil, sun, water, some space no matter how small it may seem to be and most of all creativity.
- Learn by doing, and don’t fear mistakes.
- Gardening builds confidence, health, and even income potential.
- The joy of knowing that you did it yourself is profound and brings to one’s heart satisfaction so hard to express.
