By Victoria Bugembe Nampala
As backyard gardening gains popularity, many people invest heavily in designing their gardens, controlling pests, and purchasing high-quality seeds, only to be disappointed by poor harvests. Often, the root cause of this problem is poor soil quality.
No matter how much effort and money you put into your garden, crops will struggle to thrive if the soil lacks essential nutrients.
Understanding soil fertility
Getrude Nakiggudde, a soil scientist in Mukono, defines soil fertility as the ability of soil to effectively support plant growth. Healthy, fertile soil is crucial for strong, productive plants.
How to improve soil fertility
You don’t need to hire a soil chemist to enhance your garden’s fertility. Nakiggude emphasizes that organic farming is the key to maintaining nutrient-rich soil.
By adding organic matter—such as decomposed green leaves, compost, and manure—you can significantly improve soil health.
“Every backyard gardener should ensure their soil is at least 70% organic to achieve a bountiful harvest,” Nakiggude advises.
How to mix manure in your backyard soil
Although it is very important to boost the fertility of your garden, you have to be very cautious on how much manure you add in the soil lest you add too much or way too little.
Nakigudde recommends the following ratios.
The first ratio would be a 1:3; where figure 1 stands for sand, and figure 3 is for fully composite manure. One can equally do 1:2:2. Where ratio 1 is for sand, 2 for forest soil and the last 2 for soda ash.
After mixing, the soil scientist recommends you leave the soil to rest for 14 days to come out as a stable mixture.
Factors to consider when selecting soil
The nature of crops is very important when one is selecting soil.
The rooting properties and nutrient requirements.
Composition of the soil and finally, the growth properties of the crop.
Common questions bothering new farmers
There are a couple of questions commonly asked by mainly new backyard farmers.
Mubiru Kenneth of KSAM farm Buikwe cites the following as some of the common questions and solutions.
How to apply organic manure or black soil in the manure: here, one is advised to apply around the plant estimating the rooting zone of each plant.
Why do plants rot when mulched?
The solution here, the soil scientist says just to measure one index figure away from the stem stalk and place grass away from the stalk to avoid the rotting.
Other people are confused about the height of raising the bed from the ground. Mubiru clarified that it all depends on the type of your crop.
“An example is the tomatoes and the onions. Tomatoes are deep rooters while onions are shallow rooters. So, the root orientation matters a lot,” Kabuye explained.
Use your urine for pest control
Many households overlook the fact that common household waste—such as urine—can be repurposed to cut gardening costs.
Urine contains nitrogen and other essential nutrients that can be used as an organic pest deterrent and fertilizer.
Chemists recommend that you collect the urine from members of your household and store it in a container for more than two weeks.
“One should collect urine according to the size of the garden, and store it for more than two weeks,” Mubiru advises.
Mubiru adds that storing it will rid it of any toxins that might damage your crops.
Thereafter, it is recommended that you apply it to the crops. For better results, one can mix it with cow dung and apply it as manure (as a fertilizer).
Mubiru adds, “You can sprinkle it on the leaves to kill pests.”
To learn more about making organic fertilizers, and packaging for money, come to the 2025 Harvest Money Expo, organized by Vision Group, on February 14th-16th under the theme “Farming as a business,” with emphasis on post-harvest handling, value addition, and co-operatives at Namboole stadium.
The entrance is only sh10,000 while those who want to attend the training will part with sh10,000 daily. To book a stall, call for exhibiting and vending at 0772354940.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Getrude Nakiggudde, a soil scientist (L) and her team making organic fertilizers. Photo by Victoria Bugembe Nampala
