Vegetables

We produce a range of organic vegetables for sale at the local market in Kafue and for sale in our vegetable ‘boxes’ in Lusaka. Generally we produce in season to avoid the need to take action against diseases and pests. We grow our vegetables on one sound basis: grow healthy crops with a balanced diet in the environment they naturally grow in and all you have to do is weed(for some crops), water(if it’s the dry season) and come and harvest! We occasionally have to spray our crops with certified organic plant protection products. These include ‘Bio-Cure’ a mixture of 16 or so plant extracts, BT which are spores of a disease which only effects the butterfly and moth family and is completely non-toxic. We also occasionally use copper oxychloride or hydroxide to prevent fungal diseases in tomato during the rainy season. The only time we use sulfur is for onion thrip control. All these products are ‘allowable’ under the E.U organic standards so you can feel safe in the knowledge that the food you buy from us is free of harmful insecticides and fungicides.

When we say ‘occasionally’, we mean it, over 90 percent of our crops just grow. Here are some of the crops we grow, group into their families.

Onion, garlic, leek.

Tomato, eggplant, impwa, sweet pepper, potato, chilli pepper.

Butternut squash, pumpkin leaves, pumpkin, watermelon.

Cabbage, broccoli, caulflour, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, wong bok, kale, rape.

Maize for fresh maize/ sweet corn.

Green beans, peas.

Carrot, fennel.

Okra.

Lettuce.

We use a rotational system where crops in the same family are not grown on the same land in at least three years to avoid build up of pests and diseases. We are also trying to reduce or eliminate tillage all together using ‘under-sowing’ of green manure which suppress weeds and add nutrients to the soil when they decompose on the surface of the soil as a mulch. The main green manures used in the garden are sunnhemp(crotalaria Juncea), velvet beans (mucuna pruriens) and cowpea (vigna spp). We also help specific crops which require more nutrients with compost to supply the high level of nutrients these plants need to grow properly. We find, especially where all residues (crop and green manure) are left on the surface, the soil shows visible signs of improvement year after year.

Lastly our vegetables taste so much better for three reasons, they’re grown organically, they’re picked just before they’re sold to our customers and we try to choose the best varieties for taste! Contact us to be included in our customer base – we would!