My name is Wendy and I'm 25 years old. I'm from Botlokwa in Limpopo and I am an orphan. My mom and dad died while I was very young, my grand mother told me that I was 2years old. No one seems to be sure what happened to them but rumour has it they were poisoned.
Unfortunately my grand parents also died but I was a lot grown and I remember every detail about the deaths. My grandparents had a huge space with few Mango and Litchi trees. I used to go with grand dad to the farm only to harvest Mangos. I love Mangos whole heartedly and I looked forward to the festives because that's their season.
Fast forward to how I started being passionate about the farm and the fruits. When my grand parents passed away I had to become an adult instantly. I was the eldest amongst the others in the family,so I had to find ways to put food on the table.
In 2013 I went up to the farm and found that we had so many new small trees growing from the seeds,it must have been because my younger cousins would eat the fruits and throw the seeds on the ground.
I decided to nurture all the trees and give them care like grandfather used to. From there on I developed some kind of attachments to the trees because I watched them grow and I watered them regularly. The trees became my babies.
That very same year I realised that I could join the street vendors selling to motorists on the road sides. I was nervous at first but we had to eat. We were tired of carrying mangoes and litchis in the village where we would exchange them with the villagers for little food. We would settle for whatever we were offered even though we didn't like it.
I once exchanged our fruits for spoiled meat, that's how heartless our villagers were. We accepted because we didn't want to starve.
That's the day I decided from now on we will only exchange the fruits for money. I and my cousins started selling to motorists on the roadsides and we would make about R300 to R500 per day. We sold one mango for R2.
One day a woman bought our entire stock and she suggested that she buys from us weekly so we didn't have to go on the roadsides anymore. After a month of doing business with the woman she made a proposal we could never refuse. She is Apparently an agent for fruit markets. After a few months of working with her she then started mentoring me around the farming business and introducing me to the right people until I could stand on my own two feet and she left the ball in my hands when she retired, not only am I a successful farmer but I also help aspiring farmers.
If you are interested in growing litchi and mango fruits then today is your lucky day.
How to plant Mango tree for beginners
Eat your favourite mango as there's so many types of mangos, choose your favourite and eat it,remove as much flesh as you can from it and put it nicely where it can dry up. Use a knife or any sharp object that can help you scarify the outside of the seed. Throw the inside of the seed in a jug full of water,soak the seed and wait for days for it to sprout or you can take it straight to the ground right away...here's how
Dig a small hole approximately 20cm inches deep with the belly button of the seed face down, push the seed in. Water well and keep the water up every day depending on the soil,make sure the soil stays moist. In about 4 to 6 weeks, you will have a mango tree. The best part about Mango trees is you can choose your seed by the mango that you eat.
How to plant litchi tree:
This one is a bit tricky and requests patience but it can be done.
Growing from Seed, seeds must be planted within four to five days to increase the chance of germination. Refrigeration or any delay in planting severely reduces the viability of the seed. Litchi trees grown from seed don't grow true to the parent tree and can take 10 to 25 years or more to produce fruits so patience is much needed here. But waiting that long can be depressing so one can visit a nursery and buy litchi plants instead.
