Garden World Nigeria

From the blog

Urban Gardening: Growing Vegetables from Home

We started our urban gardening series with the aim of teaching people how to grown their own vegetables at home using seeds and containers found around the house.

Belinda, a Hospitality Consultant from Lagos, was really enthusiastic about learning new gardening skills from home during the Covid-19 lockdown; she contacted us for some advice and supplies. Belinda lives in an apartment with her flatmate and gardening partner Francisca. Space to grow stuff is often limited in most urban homes and the ladies started their seedlings off in a well ventilated and sunny patio space of around 4m by 2m with loads of natural light.

 “ I had no gardening experience at all..half way through lockdown it was like…let’s do it – lets grow something” she states.

Belinda and Francisca

Belinda started watching some YouTube videos, bought some compost/soil from us and followed our 3 step process below. The results were incredible. She was in her own words “truly excited about witnessing life growing..can’t wait to see the end, but it is the growing process that engaged us loads”. after just a couple of weeks of germination her seedlings were growing so well, she felt ready to transplant them into larger containers.

Belinda and Francisca are growing a variety of vegetables ranging from tomatoes, tatashe (peppers), green peppers and pumpkins. She used seeds from vegetables she had at home and the rest is history.

Inspiring people to love gardening and start growing and tending their urban gardens is truly a privilege for us at Garden World. You may not grow everything you eat to start off with but it helps to understand the food chain and farm to plate principles and benefits of eating locally grown, organic and nutritious vegetables.  The thrill of eating a full grown veg grown by your own hands for the first time is electric. Garden World sells most garden supplies online such as bags of soil, pots, large planters, grow bags and fertilisers ideal for container gardening. We also sell ready to use herb variety mixes ideal for patio or exterior planters that you can enjoy immediately and continue growing at home.

Like Belinda, any average Nigerian adult or child with some enthusiasm for gardening can start growing vegetables with little or nothing using our simple 3 step process. Gardening is a learning process that teaches us life lessons and fosters a love affair with the natural world. By reconnecting with soil, we heal the planet and ourselves!

Step 1: Deciding what to grow and getting seeds: look around you for seeds from what you eat. A look in the fridge at your fruits and vegetables would likely unlock a number of options such as tomato seeds, peppers, potatoes and other such vegetables. Tomatoes are a good starter vegetable with easy to source seeds. Open the tomato cutting it in half using a knife, pick out the seeds onto a towel cloth or tissue then allow them to dry for 1-2 days. Plant them an inch deep into the soil putting 2 or 3 seeds per small container bearing in mind that each seed could potentially grow into a thriving tomato plant.

Step 2: Picking your containers: You will probably find a number of recyclable containers lying around the house such as plastic water bottles or food containers. If you have used plastic water bottles or like at hand then you will need to cut it in half, perforating some 3-4 holes at the bottom of the bottle using a pair of scissors or sharp instrument of choice for drainage. You would then fill these three quarters of way with soil. Plastic containers with holes perforated on the bottle top and filled with water can be also be used as watering cans.

Step 3: Where to get soil around the house or nearby: A locally sourced mix soil or multi purpose black compost ideal for containers is best. Adding a fertiliser such as manure to the soil will boost your seedlings growth. These can be bought in bags at very low cost. Its easy to order online and buy some good quality soil to start off your seedlings. Contact us for prices and delivery options.

Growing veg from home – Belindas baby seedlings

Then all you need to do is water your seeds regularly keeping the soil moist and within a week, 7 days, your seedlings should start to germinate into baby seedlings. Good luck & happy growing!