Developing a Green Thumb

Sunflower too, Sweetie's plant.

It took me years to finally get the hang of gardening. I used to buy plants from Mahogany Market in Tagaytay. Mom had to rescue the plants and so I gave up gardening for a few years. Last year we moved to a new apartment that had a balcony. We thought it would be a good idea to try gardening again. 

The only thing I was able to grow before was mustasa. It's the easiest vegetable to grow! I still had some mustasa seeds and that's what I started with last year. We also got a few more veggie seeds, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and Sweetie got flower seeds. I focused on veggies because I haven't been successful with planting flowers. 

The balcony eventually became a jungle and became unruly, but we learned a lot from our first season of gardening. The most important lesson is -- you  can develop a green thumb. That's what my Mom told me many years ago. She said she also had a brown thumb, but with experience learned how to garden properly. She prefers buying plants over planting from seed. 

Mustasa, my fave.

Gardening is a partnership between me and Sweetie. He takes care of watering the plants everyday. I make sure to keep pests at bay. It has so far worked out for us because we've been able to enjoy the fruits of our labor. For this second season we also limited the number of plants we have to make sure we're able to provide the proper care for each of them. Follow our gardening adventures at The Balcony Farmer.

How's your garden?

Day 3 Minimalism Challenge, Toss out old socks. I do have a tendency to hoard socks. I have a drawer full of them because I like wearing socks. I actually tossed out a few the other day when I cleared out part of my drawer. I'll deal with the sock drawer today and promise to remove any that are not useful anymore. 

CB///*Yr2/114 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/137 #NewG332 #Home90 #StayHome #BeKind 

Jaybucks' Sunflower

I thought today I'd showcase Sweetie's successful gardening project -- his sunflowers have started to bloom! Woohoo!

Nine weeks ago we re-started our balcony garden. I haven't been successful at planting flowers, so I focused on veggies. Sweetie though has been trying to grow flowers since last year. We don't know if the seeds we got were not good or it's the soil, but the only flowers that so far bloomed in our "balcony farm" are tomato flowers haha. 

Sweetie got a packet of sunflower seeds from the supermarket. He planted it nine weeks ago. Three out of the five that sprouted survived getting transplanted. They're all blooming now! Woohoo! It's been really exciting to watch the sunflower grow taller and form the base of the flower. In the past few days yellow petals have started to bloom. We hope to see it in full bloom by end of the week! 

Updates about our other plants are on our gardening blog :)

Meanwhile while Sweetie's been busy with the plants, I finally had some energy today to bake peanut butter cookies. I used Toastbox peanut butter again (recipe here). I can't wait to bake it with Lily's peanut butter again. Will be giving some to our neighbors. Hope they'll like it!

Day 24 Gratitude Challenge, A book, magazine or podcast. I've been listening to some podcasts now that I have time. I haven't listened to a lot, but have so far enjoyed "Superhuman", the podcast of Wil Dasovich. He went through a lot when he had cancer and was able to overcome it. I'm fascinated with his energy and I'm grateful for the example he shows on how to live a healthier life. I'm hoping that I'll be able to bike again in time. 

CB///*Yr2/107 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/130 #NewG339 #Home97 #StayHome #BeKind