Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

LIMITATIONS • • • • • store they are prone to become either rotten and/or damaged by insects, rodents, usually of a mild deg ...

PLANTING Soil: sandy loams are ideal for sweet potatoes, though there are varieties that will grow well in most soil types. Swee ...

Altitude: from sea level to 2500 m, on the equator. Pests: Sweet Potato Weevil is the most serious pest of sweet potatoes. The l ...

Taro Colocasia spp. Taro (French); Kolokasie (German); Malanga Islena (Spanish); Kechalo Pakistani (Pashtu); Assipi (Angola) The ...

Both species of Alocasia are very hardy and high yielding. Colocasia and Xanthosoma are similar crops; they are complementary, n ...

UTILISATION Corms, or “tubers”, are not only rich in Vitamins B and C but are also easily digested and are therefore suitable f ...

Dioscorea. Yams should not be confused with the Yam Bean Pachyrrhizus erosus, a leguminous climbing plant grown mainly in India ...

Dioscorea bulbifera—Potato Yam, Aerial Yam, Bulbil-bearing Yam. Widely grown in the tropics of Africa and Asia. Subterranean tub ...

Day length: long days favour vine (stem) development, short days favour tuber growth. Temperature: yams do not tolerate frost an ...

“vegetables” are described elsewhere in this booklet as, for example, “Root Crops” Vegetables generally provide very little in t ...

Cabbage Brassica oleracea var. capitata Common Cabbage, Head Cabbage Chou (cabus) (French); Kohl (German); Col (Spanish); Couve ...

Savoy cabbage is the hardiest of all and some varieties withstand coldest winters. Planted out in early July, harvested October ...

GROWTH CONDITIONS Growth period: highly variable, depending on type and variety, and growing conditions. C frost. In hot, dry re ...

YIELD Cabbages can produce enormous yields of 100 MT/ha and more, although about 90% of this consists of water. The global avera ...

The plant is a biennial, and if left in the ground will normally flower in the second summer. It grows from about 30 cm to about ...

Rotation: ideally, five years should elapse between carrot crops to avoid disease buildup, especially where disease/s have been ...

UTILISATION • carotene; the roots are used as a vegetable, and in soups, stews, curries, etc. They can also pickled, canned and ...

Some Cucurbit species can provide anthelmintics (aka vermifuges), which cause the evacuation of parasitic intestinal worms, in t ...

PLANTING Propagation: normally by seed, though Cucurbits can be grown from cuttings taken from rooted nodes. Soil: Cucurbits nee ...

Fruits of the Cucurbits can be used for food either fresh, cooked, pickled, candied, dried or in sauces and curries. Their toug ...