Gardening: How I Planted Pechay

Actual pechay seeds

This year, I'll try growing some vegetables in the apartment. I only have a "balcony" outside the window to put my pots. Also, given the weather in Manila, I'm not sure if my plants will survive but I still want to try it anyway. 

It will also be my first time to grow vegetables in pots and plastic seedbed (this is used to grow seeds to young plants before they are transferred to a garden or field). 

For my first try, I planted pechay.  Again, this is just my first try so I don't know yet if I'll be successful or not. But I hope I will be :).

What you need:

• Pechay seeds - I used the flowering variety and bought it from a farm supply in Baguio because it's cheaper there. Got it for Php 25.00. I think in supermarkets here, the prices start at Php 50.00.
• Soil - brought it from Baguio in the past. Too expensive in Ace Hardware :p. I cannot really convince myself to spend that much on soil so I just brought down some every time I went home. But wait, talo ako ng friend ko...maleta ang dala nya para sa lupa hehehe....
• Plastic seedbed - I saw this lying in the backyard, used by my late father. I just got it to see if I can use this. You can use any other container like water bottles or plastic as long as it can hold soil.
• Water

Steps:

1. Put soil in the seedbed. Don't push it down too hard so that the soil does not become compact, thus roots will have a hard time to spread/grow. If there are clumped soil, break it into almost fine particles.
2. Water it. (I had the mistake of planting the seeds first before watering and the soil sank a little and I worried that the seeds may have been buried deeper than they should be hehe)
3. Plant seeds. Just dip your middle finger in the soil until it sinks to about 1/4 inches deep, drop one seed, then cover with soil. 

NOTES: 

• If you are using bigger pots, distance of seeds from each other should be about 4 inches.
• Be careful to just take out enough seeds from its container as bringing out all but not using it might contaminate the rest of the seeds.
• Be sure to seal the pack if there are still seeds in it. Better yet, keep it in a tightly sealed container (like bottle, just how I remember my parents store leftover seeds back in the day) and away from direct sunlight.
• For those in Makati---a friend who lives there (at least in the San Antonio area) told me that their barangay is giving soil for free for those who are interested in growing their own vegetables. 

That's it. I did not put any fertilizers. I don't plan to use pesticides either since this is just for home consumption. 

Pack of pechay

Information at the back of the pack

The plastic seedbed after putting soil in it. No plants yet 

For its maintenance, I just ensure that the soil is moist so that's watering it every other day. 

Two days after planting, there were signs of growing plants already. As of this writing, they are around 4 inches tall, but still so...thin hehe.

Looking forward to my first harvest after 40 days.

P.S. I'm struggling with some of the correct terminologies in gardening. Note to self: wag kalimutan ang pinanggalingan. Aralin ang English terms ng mga nakasanayang gardening terms sa sariling wika.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an Agriculture graduate. I am also not an expert in gardening. I just happen to be a gardener's daughter so what I know is limited to what we were asked to work on in our small garden. As I mentioned here, most of our work as children were in the preparation of the plots, watering the plants, weeding out, and harvesting. Not really so much on planting. If I relate that to office work, most of our tasks back then were just the boring, routinary admin stuff hehe.

From the Backyard to the Dining Table: Camote Tops

Thanks to APEC, Manila has 2 additional special holidays, November 18-19, 2015. I took advantage of it and decided to spend it at my sayote kingdom a.k.a home. 

Yesterday’s viand for lunch was camote tops, which I got from the yard (thanks to my brother who planted it). One of my goals is to someday serve food at the dining table harvested from the yard, just like the old times. Yes, old times, because my family’s main source of income was planting vegetables. And if you are a farmer, it’s basically what you plant is what you eat. While I didn’t appreciate it very much back then, I realized years later that I was lucky to have that kind of setup. Now, how I wish I could do it in Manila but space is limited, plus the weather is different. But urban gardening is also encouraged these days so might as well look into that option. 

Funny thing was, since I know my brother is not at home, I dropped by the grocery to pick up some stuff to sustain me while there. My siblings have their own lives, I have my own home, and since my mother died, there’s no one to ensure I have food at home, courtesy of her sari-sari store hehehe. Anyway, I picked up some canned goods, and I grimaced while doing so and again while typing this hahaha (I’m trying as much as I can to avoid all things processed now, that’s why). But since the camote tops are I think enough to for the meals that I have to take at home, looks like the canned goods will be for my brother hahaha. Swap kami :p. Plus, tita and her family is visiting this weekend so they will bring more vegetables.

Note: While the camote tops in the picture doesn't look appetizing enough to some, it's how I want my vegetables cooked-plain and just sauteed in little oil with a dash of salt.  

Project Anthurium

Since my brothers and sisters who are busy at the garden don’t have time to clean the flowers, I took the chance to do it when I was home last weekend. The weeds are already taller than the anthuriums huhu.

Anthuriums are expensive but we were able to buy some propagates (planting materials) when I received my tuition refund (due to a scholarship) in Second Year high school. I think we only bought 25 pieces of propagate at that time. There were also some given by neighbors and friends.

Habang ako nagpapakahirap maglinis, yung mga manok namimiyesta sa mga bvulate at insekto.

Weeds and flowers together.

Propagates that need replanting.

So where’s the weeded planting area? Unfortunately, I was not able to complete it to think that I’ve been working on it since Saturday and Sunday hehe. Akalain mong mahirap pala. So ayun, itutuloy ng kapatid ko. (Sana! At dapat lang kasi kung hindi…lagot sya sa akin hehe) I’m also thinking of converting this into real business. Well, let’s see.

Good reads:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthurium
• http://www.mixph.com/2007/02/growing-anthurium.html