Rehoboth

  About 50 days after planting, Okra plants will start flowering and pods  will start to appear at the base of the plant and then keep producing upward First harvest can be done after 60 days of planting. Harvest the okra  when it’s about 4 to 5 inches long.  Use sharp knife or scissors to harvest okra when they are  are still tender and easy to cut. Okra can be picked  every second day , so that they don't get too hard .  Be sure to remove and compost any mature pods you might have missed earlier. Home Gardening Ideas

  Okra grows well if the soil is well fertilized . After 30 days of planting okra,  enrich your soil using organic fertilizer  like cattle compost, or balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer with primary nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus , and potassium Before  applying  the compost , remove some of the soil around the plants and apply the compost and cover them with the soil and irrigate them Liquid fertilizer like Panchagavya and  Fish emulsion  can be applied to increase the immunity and promote plant growth .  Mix the 30 ml of the liquid fertilizer with water in a  sprayer and spray the diluted mix over the okra plants. Epsom salts can also be provided to aid flowering as they are rich in  magnesium . Home Gardening Ideas

  Weeds should be eliminated  when the okra plants are young . Then  mulch the okra plants to reduce the weed growth and the retain more moisture in the soil. Water the Okra plants  every morning thoroughly during summer . During winter plants can be watered every alternative days. Okra are prone to be damaged by  Aphids , stinkbugs, beetles and worms if the plants are not monitored and not maintained properly .  Organic neem based pesticides can be applied every 15 days to keeps the pest away. Home made pesticide liquid (5 ml) made of ginger , garlic and chilly can be applied in 1 ltr of water is also effective . Home Gardening Ideas

  Okra grows well in hot climates and in summer .  Okra's will grow in all types of soil but it should be well fertilized . Before sowing okra seeds,  soak the seeds in water for at least 12 hours so that they will  absorb the moisture. Okra seeds can also be wrapped in moist paper towels so they seeds will germinate faster before sowing. Sow the seeds in an inch deep in the soil and in rows 6" apart. Gently cover the seeds with thin layer of soil. After covering the seeds with soil, water the soil thoroughly .  Within a week , the seed will begin to germinate . Once the plants grow by 3 inches  high, thin out the smaller seedlings and keep the healthier plants Home Gardening Ideas

  After 3 months of pruning the guava trees and we can see more guava in the trees. Normally Guava fruit will be ripe and ready for harvest about 90 and 150 days after flowering and pollination . Each branch in the tree has at least 3 or 4 guavas and they have matured and are ready for harvesting . These fruits  cannot be maintained on the tree longer in ripen stage . So, fruit picking should be done, as sooner as they attain maturity . There are several ways to harvest fruits. One can go for manual hand picking of fruits at an interval of few days. Fruit plucking machine is also available in the market to harvest fruits. Guavas depends on the plant age, soil fertility, soil type, frequency of irrigation, pest and disease control. Also Yield is always different from variety to variety. Yield will further increase after completing third and fourth prunin g as more lateral branch

  Maize requires very fertile , well drained loamy soils having pH range of 5.5 to 8.0 . The crop grows best on alluvial or red soils but can also by grown on well drained black soils . It does not thrive well on heavy soils, saline and alkali soils. After preparing a fine seed bed the crop must be sown in lines ( 20-30 cm apart) by using seed drill or maize planter or by kera on para method. Sowing time varies from place to place. Maize has bold seed size. It requires 50-60 kg seeds depending upon size . Seed should be sown in lines spaced at 30 cm . For summer sowing in irrigated areas, last week of February to last week of March-April is the appropriate time. Rainy season crop is sown with the beginning of rains in June-­July . Rabi crop is sown in October-November particularly in eastern and southern parts of the country. In hills sowing is taken up in May .

  Maize is an important kharif fodder crop which gives highly succulent and nutritional ly rich fodder. Maize grain is also an important feed component of dairy cattle and poultry feed . Maize is a rich source of starch , protein and edible oil. Maize produces good quality herbaceous fodder with high palatability . Hence by providing sufficient quantities of fodder instead of costly concentrates and feeds to the milch animals, the cost of milk production can considerably be reduced. Optimal growth conditions are 18-21°C average day-temperatures , annual rainfalls of more than 750 mm , and deep, well-drained rich soils. However, maize withstand s annual rainfalls ranging from 230 to 4100 mm , a pH between 4.3 and 8.7 , and a great variety of soils. Frost kills the plants. Drought is detrimental at flowering as it affects pollination and impairs yields. Maize has no tolerance to flooding .