Why grow Swiss Chard or Spinach in Botswana

Why grow Swiss Chard or Spinach in Botswana?

We often call it Spinach however the correct name is Swiss Chard this vegetable is a really great addition to any small farm and there are three good reasons 

1. Swiss Chard is very uncomplicated to grow and really does not need much attention, if you plant and water it, it will grow.

2. It is profitable, and the reason for this is not that the profit margin is high but rather that you can sell it every week, the market hardly gets flooded as Swiss Chard has a very short shelf life. this means that if you are supplying street vendors or even large main stream shops  they will need fresh produce every week.

3.Farm space. Unlike Tomato's or Cabbages, Swiss Chard does not need a lot of space. If you plant 10 sq. meters of Swiss Chard you will find your self harvesting without much problem 30 plus bundles of Swiss Chard per week.

So to sum it up basically, Swiss Chard is what helps you as the farmer pay the day to day bills while you wait for your main crops to mature eg. Cabbages or Green Peppers. Also any extra old stock could be fed to your pigs or Sheep!

So how do you grow Swiss Chard? Well I wrote about that in 2016 so here is a link to that: How to Grow Swiss Chard?

Watermelon farming, vegetable farming Botswana

When you think about growing watermelons in a hot climate like Botswana, your first thought will probably be "this is not going to work!" however when you research the origins of watermelons many a scientist will point out that watermelons come from the dry kalahari Desert! Even to this day one is still able to find many types of wild watermelons growing in the wilderness of Botswana.
Hence it should be no surprise that watermelons are a great crop to cultivate in Botswana and in most parts of south Africa,

Watermelons need a few things to grow

1. Watermelons need water, as there name suggests, you can't get a good sweet watermelon without proper watering, however that said, the rainy season in Botswana often provides plenty of water to grow beautiful sweet watermelons,

2. To grow good quality watermelons you need good quality soil, so add lots of cow manure and compost to your watermelon field you could also add some chicken manure but first read about the dangers of using chicken manure Here

3. Watermelons need warm weather, so the best time to plant them is late August to early September, remember that November and December there are plenty of watermelons on the market so to try and get into the market early, you need to plant as early as possible!

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