Innovative Small space Sack farming/gardening

Small Space, Big Promise: Sack Farming

Nakabaale apparently learnt sack farming from her parents who used to practice it at home on a small scale. In fact, growing up she was always told that every woman needs a garden, something that inspired her to set up a sack garden to fit in her small space.

The sacks are not ordinary, at least in regards to size. They are so gigantic with a radius of just over one meter. She has only four of them; exactly what her compound can hold.

Setting Up The Garden

“I started by collecting huge sacks that had been dumped around my neighbourhood. Given that I have always had a poultry house, I was able to compost chicken manure that had accumulated in the coop. This I mixed with black soil to enrich the soil. But I did not just fill the sacks with the soil, I had to place small pebble stones at the middle of the sack, right from bottom to top, then filled the sack with soil leaving the stones erect in the middle,” the mother of three says.

Harriet Nakabaale shows some crops in eggshells that she grows as part of her extended farming in her sack garden.

The stones ensure sufficient water distribution throughout the sacks during watering.
In one of the sacks she grows spinach, dodo and carrots. In another sack is a young guava tree right in its centre surrounded by green vegetables. In yet another there are spring onions, celery, tomatoes and spinach. True to her philosophy, size does not matter which is why even in egg shells there are thriving plants.

In order to ensure maximum usage of the sack, she grows some crops on the sides of the bag. “Usually the crops with big roots like carrots go on the top and the sides are reserved for those with small roots like ordinary vegetables. I water my sack garden almost on a daily basis so I have no such a thing as a crop growing season. My garden is ever green, even during the dry season,” she says.