Rosemary benefits
Rosemary is an aromatic herbal plant which can grow in almost all parts of Kenya depending on its conditions. It is mainly used for landscaping and to give your garden an aromatic scent. The main advantage of planting rosemary in your garden is that it adds flavour and attracts birds bees and butterflies while it Wade’s off harmful insects like mosquitoes.
Importance of rosemary.
- it detoxifies the body
- It boosts body immunity
- Rosemary freshens the breath
- it can be used as a spice in tea
- It can also act as a pain reliever
- rosemary improves mood and helps in stress relief
- It improves memory
Medically rosemary has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antifungal properties.
Planting process
Rosemary can be planted on containers or directly on the garden
Planting on Containers
To plant in containers you will need to obtain cuttings from a mature parent plant you will need to cut mature strong stems of about 3 inches.
Get a suitable container pot and add loamy and sandy soil to improve drainage in the container or the pot. After you have added soil in the container, wet the soil and insert the cut rosemary inside the container or pot.
Ensure you water the rosemary plant daily and place it in an area with sufficient sunlight for almost 8 hours daily.
When the rosemary obtains buds, you can mulch the rosemary and now reduce the daily irrigation.
Watch as the rosemary mature into a bush like structure for your daily benefits.
Also read:
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- Maize farming in Kenya and it’s economic potential
- Cypress trees growing and it’s economic potential in Kenya
- Healthy tomato planting in Kenya
Planting on the garden.
To plant rosemary on the garden use the same method of cutting the stems from a mature parent plant.
Prepare the garden by digging and add farmyard manure, when the garden is not wet ensure you add water before inserting the cuttings on the soil.
Spacing on the garden is preferably 0.5 m apart and one metre between rows. After you have inserted the cuttings on your garden ensure that you irrigate the garden daily for almost 6 weeks until the buds have developed.
At 6 weeks you can now how mulch the plant and reduce irrigation.
Harvesting
When the rosemary plant develops into a bush like structure you are now ready to use the rosemary by picking the stems from the top.
Rosemary can grow for years after it is mature that is its main advantage.
Important farm practices tips
Weeding: This is getting rid of unwanted plants that grows alongside planted crops and compete with them for nutrients and water, they also harbour pest and diseases which might be harmful to plants and also reducing the yields.
Nutrition: nutrients helps plants in good growth and high yields. There are various fertilizers types that can be added to plants. They include the basal, foliar through the macro and micro nutrient elements.
Basal fertilizers; these are available in Argostores countrywide they include DAP,CAN,NPK and UREA.
Manure; these are nutrition added to soil to increase nutrients they include animal droppings and decomposed Waste from grass and plant waste.
Sheep, goats and cows waste can be dried to make manure then added to soil to add nutrition decomposed waste can also be added to the soil to provide maximum nutrition to plants.
Manure is widely used and available in Kenya with cheap price.
Irrigation: this is a common practice by farmers especially in areas that receive minimum or no rainfall at all. It has proved to be an effective method in crop production especially in semi-arid areas like Perkerra irrigation scheme in Marigat area Kenya. High-yielding crops are produced in this area with irrigation practice.
Types of irrigation method include.
- Drip irrigation
- Canal irrigation
- Overhead irrigation
Mulching: this is a practice of adding materials like grass Waste or husks on nursery beds or on top of root seedlings covered by soil after planting.
Mulching helps to conserve moisture in the soil as it reduces evaporation of water from the soil, mulching helps to suppress weeds also. When mulching is done soil gets exposed to minimal sunlight hence discourages the growth of unwanted plants called weeds.
This practice is effective on nursery beds and newly transplanted crops.
Pruning: some plants develop Overgrown branches, buds and also yellow or withered leaves, it is important to pluck off these leaves and branches to make a clean plantation and also to reduce infection to other leaves which may occur with infected or withered leaves.
