Aphids Hate This Kitchen Staple

I had so much trouble with aphids! The tomato and cucumber plants I grew from seed all died because it was so hard to control aphid infestation. I used to spray Neem oil (with baking soda and Castile soap), but that didn't solve the issue. 

Aphids started to eat my prized gumamela plants. I consistently sprayed the plants with Neem oil two to three times a week. I also removed the aphids with cotton buds, but they kept coming back. I kept researching on a better way to keep them out and chanced upon a site that said pests hate garlic. 

I had been using garlic for my orchids and thought it might work as a pesticide for my gumamela and petunia plants. Aphids love them both. After physically removing aphids from the plants, I sprayed garlic under the leaves and stems. I did this consistently for two weeks and noticed that the aphids did not come back anymore. I now just do it once a week to make sure they don't come back. 

To make garlic spray, I just add two to three cloves of peeled garlic to a liter of water. I like re-using the bottles of Wendy's iced tea. It's perfect to re-use for your garden. I use the same bottle to collect rice water whenever Miggy cooks rice. You can leave the garlic in the bottle for a day or two before you use it. The water gets more pungent after using the garlic a few times. The used garlic doesn't go to waste, since I put it at the foot of our bamboo plants when it's time to change it. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: What I Learned From My Failed Gardening Attempts

I haven't successfully cultivated anything to harvest this year. I've only been able to harvest some mustasa once and my tomato plant hasn't formed any fruit. So far all the flowers fall off before they form into fruit. All my bell peppers died and none of my lettuce plants flourished. 

A part of my Mom's lush garden.

I was a bit more successful when I just had a small balcony garden. I looked backed and assessed why I was better at it in Singapore. I assessed what I did when I was there that helped me have a better garden and then watched tutorials to improve my game. Here's what I'll have to do moving forward:

1. Use the Sun More - my garden doesn't get a lot of sunshine. We realized though that the bamboo grew more bushy since it started raining. It kept my plants from getting enough sun. I moved the seed tray where it would get more sunlight and I soon got more seeds to germinate. 

2. Make sure the soil is full of nutrients - I realized that the soil I used in SG already had compost. I just added some nutrients to it weekly. I originally thought that our soil here was the same. I learned from watching a few videos that you need to add compost and mulch/rice hull. 

3. Kill wrigglies and their eggs before planting - I was surprised to see a video where a gardener cooked his soil. He said it would kill the germs and eggs in the soil that could ruin your plant. Another video said though that cooking soil would kill the nutrients. It's better to just pour boiling water on it. I just did that the other day before I planted the ginger and tumeric I propagated. 

4. Soil needs nutrients continuously - from the videos I watched it's important to keep the soil rich. You have to add compost/manure and fertilizer every week. It's already too late to save your plants once they have a disease. I guess this means I should give up on my tomato plants already. 

5. Understand what your plant needs - my plants in Singapore enjoyed the morning sun. By 11 in the morning the sun would be gone and I never had to worry about the plants burning. There are plants though that prefer more sunshine and there are those that prefer to be in the shade. I have been researching on which ones should have more sunlight and will re-position some of my plants. 

6. Water only as needed - overwatering is something you should watch out for because it can cause root rot. I look at the soil first whether the plant needs watering. Plants though prefer rain water and you should leave the water overnight if you're using faucet water.

Strangely though, the ornamental plants given to me by my Mom and friends are all doing well! I guess that's one reason why my Mom prefers taking care of decorative plants than growing veggies. I'm not giving up just yet and will try all the tips I got from the videos I've been watching :)

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Plantita Saturdays: A Rat Ruined My Germination Project!

Boohoo! It's been a few weeks since I planted some seeds. Not many sprouted since the typhoon hid the sun for over a week. I gave it a few more days before I planted some seeds again. Lo and behold, the day after I planted the seed tray was trashed by a huge rat!

Miggy alerted us about an "animal" that was lurking behind the trash bin in the garage. We normally tie-up our trash every evening and put it in a covered trash bin in the garage. We do this to avoid attracting rodents. It has so far worked well for us since stray cats haven't been able to open the bins. I did not expect the seed tray would attract a rat. 

The seed tray was sitting in the garage untouched for more than two weeks. I only used two-thirds of it and only completed it early this week when I decided to plant more seeds. The sunflower seeds I planted on the last column was probably what attracted the rat. I was inspecting the seed tray when I heard something in the backyard. That was when I saw a huge rat scrambling up the bamboo to get to the property next door. 

The next day our friendly pest control supplier dropped by to check the termite bait. We reported the rat and they advised to just monitor the activity first since it may just be one rat scouting our property. I was  worried though that they might multiply and immediately got some cayenne pepper and Racumin. 

I read that rats don't like it when  you move things around, so we moved the seed tray to a sunnier spot in the garage. Placed the bait under it and hoped the stray cats won't come near it (the cayenne pepper should help ward them off for now). 

Two pieces of the bait and two pieces of the paste were gone the next day. I read it takes 4 to 6 days before it affects the rodent. We haven't seen it since we placed the bait the other day. We're just hoping it went back to its nest. I'm not looking forward to its horrendous smell if it dies in my garden. Sorry bud, pests aren't welcome in our home. We've also gone through a lot already this year and just want to finally get our gardening projects going. 

#BeKind #StaySafe