Rain has started very fine in my city, and just as I intended, I want to take full advantage of the season from the beginning to grow my peppers and tomatoes this time around. Last week, I went to the market to get some items for my work and decided to check out the pepper and tomato section to see if I could find some seedlings. Unfortunately, there were none, so I had to settle for buying the fruits and seeds to plant by myself, nurse them in the bed, and transplant them when they mature enough.
I bought some red Chelles, very fresh. I also bought tomato seeds, a dried one, and the elderly woman who sold them to me added a tomato-like pepper as a bonus. I do not know its name, but the seed looks like that of a pepper, though it does not have a hot taste when used like that of pepper.
Last night, it rained heavily, and when I woke up this morning, the weather was very calm, still recovering from the heavy rain. I decided to plant the peppers and tomatoes.
My garden is just a room in an incomplete building. I chose a corner of the building, tilled the soil in a space that would be able to contain all the seeds, opened the tomato seeds, and poured them there. I brought out the peppers, removed the seeds from the flesh, and mixed them with the soil.
I made sure not to push them too deep into the ground, where they would struggle to pass through too much soil before germinating.
After planting, the only way to keep the bed safe from the chickens that usually play around the area was to fence the spot. After what I suffered in my previous season, I did not want to take any chances at all.
I found some sticks and pinned them to the ground around the bed. I cut up the worn-out mosquito net I had been using in the garden and used it to cover the spot, pinning and fastening it to the sticks. After that, I noticed some possible spaces where the chickens could still pass through, so I decided to use pieces of blocks to reinforce the fence, blocking those openings to prevent the chickens from getting in.
Although the earth is soft—not dry like in the dry season—it rained yesterday, and the soil was still very moist. Even so, I still watered the spot to help the seeds settle well, especially the tomato seeds, which had been dried for a long time. The watering will help soften them and make them ready to germinate easily.
I planted on the 21st of March, and in seven days, I should expect sprouts or germination. I hope everything comes out well and that this season goes excellently. I will keep updating as the process unfolds.
Thanks for reading.
Photos used are mine