Back in early October 2019, I abandoned postponed the completion of a raised bed for sweet potatoes due to insufficient time and prioritisation of resources. Since then, it’s always been at the back of my head to get a backhoe to strike off a number of tasks at the farm. At RM 450 per day, I have to make that investment count by ensuring enough heavy lifting works to be done.
Almost half a year later, I managed to get that justification sorted out. I needed the backhoe to dig up a pond, clear some debris and most importantly, perform some major undergrowth clearance at a section of low lands at the farm (infested with wild oil palms) to make way for fencing works. All these works justify the engagement of a backhoe.
The pond is dug right next to the sweet potato raised bed (I planned it in such a way from day one). The subsoil earth dug from the pond will be conveniently deposited on the raised bed section (within which would have been loads of logs and twigs already buried).
There was a huge mismatch between the volume of soil dug up and the available space at the raised bed. It seems there was more soil than the raised bed could hold. As a result, excess soil would have to overflow the sides of the raised bed at the top section, upon which I would be planting pineapples, lemon, lemon grass, apple custard and some leguminous trees. The balance soil was then deposited about 6 metres away on another patch which I plan to plant some vegetables and medium-term fruit trees.
The sweet potatoes planted in this raised bed will be grown for their tubers due to the already favourable and loose soil structure. I was made to understand that in order to ensure a good harvest of tubers, no leaves are to be harvested. If that’s correct, I would have to get another patch going just to obtain the sweet potato leaves for food. This patch could be done on shallow soil since the tubers won’t be harvested.
Operating on such a cash-strapped manner, RM 450 is a lot of money. However, I guess it’s justified that I managed to make it earn its worth by opening up planting avenues that will subsequently generate income for me.
