Basic Knowledge in Agriculture #13

Introduction

It is my pleasure to be here once again after a little while. Welcome to my blog friends.

To my understanding, vegetables are fresh edible plants which can be leaves, stems and roots. They can be consumed raw or lightly cooked. Vegetables are largely consumed by both animals and humans as they are packed with a lot of vitamins minerals such as;

Calcium
Iron etc.

Vegetables also contain lots of health benefits:

Boost the immune system especially for people who suffer from anaemia.
Also very effective in regulating blood pressure and many other benefits.

One Vegetable-Water leaf

Today, I want to discuss about water leaf known as talinum triangulare. Mentioning the botanical name reminds me of my Agric Science teacher of more than 25 years who taught me names of plants and their botanical names in my junior secondary school.

However, waterleaf is a green vegetable that is grown and consumed by most people in my country, Nigeria. Especially amongst the Southerners and parts of the East and West. It is most suitable if planted in beds, it is planted by its stem, and it can also grow as a weed. I know this because they used to grow around our home in the village as we usually used to cook them in our playhouse as kids.

Waterleaf grows better in the early rainy seasons as it gets stunted when there's too much rainfall and when there's no rain. That's the biggest reason why it should be watered once a day or at least 4–5 times a week. Waterleaf doesn't require being planted in waterlogged or flooded areas.

Farm Maintenance

A waterleaf garden can be maintained by frequent removal of other weeds that may compete with the waterleaf plants, as well as consuming the available soil nutrients. Although the plant requires fertile soil, animal droppings can be used to facilitate its growth, especially those of chickens, goats and rabbits as is commonly used by farmers around my neighbourhood.

Storage and preservation

Note: that waterleaf is edible and highly perishable. It can't be preserved as it may not last longer than 24–40 hours if spread in a very spacious, ventilated, cold and dry place.

^{picture of me preparing waterleaves for soup}

Consumption

Wateleaf can be consumed by being used to cook soup such as afang, editan, edikang ikong soups and its fresh juice can also be squeezed out and consumed to boost the immune system quickly, especially for anaemic and hypertensive patients.

Would you consider venturing into waterleaf farming? It's highly profitable, especially in areas where it is highly consumed, like Akwa Ibom and Cross River States in Nigeria.

I invite
@impersonal
@chilaw
@zulbahri