Plantita Saturdays: My Ambitious Gardening Bucket List!

I have more misses than hits in my gardening adventures last year. The only plants that I grew from seed that are still alive are the carrots, blue ternate and sili (dying though). The ornamental plants from my Mom and Ate Rose are still thriving. The ginger and tumeric I propagated from kitchen scraps are still growing (hopefully). The succulents I have are dying because of the cold (except the kalanchoe). 

Someday my garden will be as lush as this!

It was a challenging gardening year, but I think I have a better idea now of what grows well in my garden. I understand better where the sun is, what fertilizers and soil to use. The thing I have to curb is, over-watering! My Mom told me that she waters everything everyday. What I did not realize is her garden gets much more sun than mine and I should really check the soil before watering my plants. I also need to make sure I only have enough plants I could take care of.

Here's my plan this year for my garden:

1. Prepare the garden properly. Our garden is flanked with bamboo. They were the right size when we moved in, but didn't realize they'd grow so tall! Well, it killed the grass because it couldn't get enough sunlight. We'll have to tame the bamboo and do something about the grass coz it's gotten very muddy. 
2. Address drainage issue in the garden. 
3. Assign an area for growing veggies so they get enough sunlight. 
4. Assign an area for ornamental plants. 
5. Get some indoor plants that are low maintenance. 
6. Cultivate veggies and herbs that are useful for cooking (onions!). 
7. Don't get overly excited over acquiring seeds. 
8. Study first before planting anything so your effort is not wasted. 
9. Be consistent with fertilizers and pesticides. 
10. Be always well so you can take care of your plants!

Gardening has been challenging, but a good activity to calm one's mind. I hope to have a better 2023 in my garden!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Wellness Wednesdays: Plants Will Love You Back Always

I had a huge headache yesterday. I avoided taking meds by spending some time with my plants. I just rubbed some oil on my forehead and then spent some time in my mini-veggie garden. It was raining yesterday, so there was a cool breeze blowing in the garage. 

Growing sili from seed. Mama Lola would be proud of me!

I've been propagating veggies where my car used to be parked. Some of the seeds I germinated on a seed tray last month have grown. It's been a joy to see them grow from seed to mini-plants. I hope I'd be able to harvest some of them by Christmas. 

Cosmos plant. Hope it will flower soon.

There's just something about working on plants that grounds you. I feel at peace whenever I prepare the soil and scoop them into a pot or seed tray. Then I feel hopeful whenever I put in the seeds. I eagerly await the seeds to germinate after planting them. Seeing them sprout makes me smile. I will definitely be super happy when I eventually get to harvest something. 

The tumeric I propagated is now super bushy!

It's no wonder why so many people have become plantitos and plantitas during lockdown. I got into it again in May 2020 when everything was on a standstill. It was hard to get supplies though, but I managed and after a few months I was able to harvest some tomatoes and bell peppers. 

What I like best is I get to learn new things since each plant has it's own special needs. And when you're able to satisfy what they need, they love you back with flowers and fruits. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Organized my Seeds

I finally got around to organizing the seeds I've accumulated over the last few years. After watching several videos about germinating seeds I realized I haven't been storing them properly. The seeds were packaged differently. I wanted to store it in a uniform manner so it would be easier for me to find . 

Ordered some coin envelopes and then went to work when it arrived. Segregated the veggies and decorative plant seeds. Wrote out the name of the seed on the envelope. Found an old set of card dividers. The envelopes fit the Serioso Chili Garlic banig box. I think it's the perfect box to store seeds in. 

I was really surprised with how much seeds I have! Found some that we got for free from Singapore's National Parks Authority (just sign up and they'll mail seeds to you) and from our local Bureau of Plant and Industry (a neighbor worked this out). I had a lot of veggie seeds and realized I need to do better at gardening. I think it will be good to live more sustainably. 

Free seeds!

I planted some seeds over a week ago. I think I did it at a bad time because there was a typhoon. I filled up 30 slots on the seed starter tray, so far only have 4 sprouts. That's a really bad turn out! Not sure if it was because of the lack of sun or maybe some of the seeds have gone bad. I'm also germinating on wet tissue paper and the result has been bad too. Of course, I'll try again until I succeed.

The good news is, my tomato plants are finally producing flowers. I helped pollinate a few today and hope it will form. I have to help it since I rarely see bees visit. It's also been raining, so most of them are hiding. I'm trying to grow sweet alyssum because I read that it will help attract bees. Flowering plants will also help divert the attention of creepy crawlies away from your veggies. Also hope the sili seeds I planted will grow. I just got those seeds from the free sili whenever we order inihaw, haha. 

I hope I'll have a better season of gardening!

#BeSafe #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: New Season of Gardening!

I'm declaring a new season of gardening! The past few months have been really challenging (higad infestation!) and I think we've finally turned the corner. I still get caterpillars in my garden, but I think the infestation is under control. The neighbor also did some garden keeping and I hope this would reduce the critters. 

Kitchen Scrap Project

I started the season by planting in soil the ginger and tumeric kitchen scraps I propagated. I propagated the scraps in water in late July and planted them in soil after 4 weeks. I was surprised to see them shoot up so fast after planting them in soil. The secret sauce was using rainwater. My plants love it so I have a drum that collects rainwater in the garage. I haven't watered my plants with Maynilad water since the rainy season started. 

Planted New Seeds

When the air quality this week got better, I took the opportunity to plant new seeds. I have collected quite a lot of seeds. I planted some early this year, but most did not survive the higad infestation. I learned though that if you fail the first time in gardening, just do it again until you succeed. I was able to buy some flower seeds and will try to plant them. I hope I'll be able to give my Mom some since she prefers flowering plants than veggies. I'm going to try planting lettuce again for the third time.

The Survivors

I was able to save my tomato plants and I'm eagerly awaiting for it to flower. I have to vigilant though since caterpillars seem to love eating it. The tomato plants went through a phase where it just kept going longer. I re-planted two stalks since the wind would sometimes accidentally nick it. So I have two separate plants now growing nicely in the garage. It's starting to produce flowers. I'l probably need to help it be pollinated. 

Saved the plants Mom gave me (aglaonema, petunia etc.) and they have grown back the leaves the caterpillars munched on. The plants Ate Rose gave me have all adjusted. I probably need to re-pot the kalanchoe since they've grown so fast. I also re-potted a lily that just grew in the middle of the garden. It's looking good now (see, no need to buy plants haha). 

Crossing my fingers that the next few months will be uneventful for the garden! :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Getting into Succulents!

My track record with succulents is really bad. The culprit has always been overwatering. I just can't ignore my plants! My doctor told me to keep hydrated, so I feel my plants also need to be hydrated! You can't imagine the torture I felt when I was away on vacation. Anyway, together with the pothos my friend gave me were succulents. Her bilin was to re-pot them so they can grow properly. 

Kalanchoe pinnata also known as the mother of thousands/millions

I looked at the succulents and I honestly had no idea what they were called. I prioritized potting the pothos since I have experience taking care of pothos. I gave myself a few days before I sat down to re-pot the pots of succulents. First order of the day was to take their photo and use Google Lens to identify them. Then I did some research to understand what kind of soil they needed and how to take care of them.

Basically, the soil used for succulents is different from your regular plants. The soil has to drain well because succulent roots can rot easily if it's too wet. Rocks are usually put around the succulent to absorb more heat, prevent soil erosion and to stimulate root development. I didn't have these so I just ordered via Shopee. Good thing I ordered an extra set of small pots because I underestimated the number of kalanchoe pinnatas crammed in the pot. Here's how I re-potted them -

I must say the process of re-potting the succulents was both nerve-wracking and calming. The tiny plants looked so fragile and there were even tinier ones that the plant produced. I read that kalanchoe pinnatas are known also as the "mother of thousands". They grow babies at the edge of their leaves. These grow into new plants and they eventually fall and grow bigger. That's what I underestimated because there was a lot of babies on the soil when I removed it from the pot. 

I ended up using more than 10 pots. I read you should put it in indirect sunlight. I put half of them on the planter in the garage and the other half indoors. After a week I noticed that the pots in the garage seemed happier than the ones indoor. I moved the indoor plants nearer the front window where it's warmer. There was a number of babies I didn't want to cram in the pots so I just "threw" them in a pot with soil. They survived and are now growing nicely. I'll re-pot them properly when they're a bit bigger. 

Well, I hope they will survive because they will be good to give as gifts! I wasn't planning to buy plants for now, but I'm really happy Ate Rose gave me some plants to work on. Really hope I do better this time :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Saving My Garden!

The past few weeks have been challenging. We were surprised with the invasion of higad in our garden. I immediately sprayed neem oil, but belatedly realized that it takes time for it to take effect. By the time we found the best solution to get rid of the pests the damage was already done. All my citronella plants died and the new seedlings were all eaten. When the numbers finally dwindled new pests started to come in -- slugs and millipedes. 

The most important thing I learned when I dealt with the higad infestation is don't just use one solution. Research and try different solutions until you find the best one. The best one for us wasn't spraying neem oil everyday or squishing the critters (it became messy). We were wary about using fire, so Sweetie did the opposite -- a water bucket. I added a teaspoon of neem oil to it and they died in less than 10 seconds. Add hydrogen peroxide and that will take care of slugs and millipedes. Those two are sturdier than the higad so they need something stronger. 

Proud plant momma! I planted this from seed! :)

I try to use organic solutions only because there are a lot of birds in our area, so I'm sticking to neem oil and the tanglad+oregano concoction to spray the leaves. My efforts have paid off and my blue ternate which I planted from seed has been blooming more. The flowers are also bigger than what I normally see. I'm glad I actively battled the pests because I could see that the plants I managed to save are all fighting back also and recovering nicely.

The last living pothos from Singapore. Decided to plant them in soil because they were not growing.
They don't seem to like the water and honey mixture here.

Writing this post mainly to remind myself of what I should do when it happens again next year. Research is key. There is so much to learn from gardening. Each plant has it's own needs. There's no one size fits all solution, so I like the challenge. My goal is to have a mix of food producing plants, plants that would protect other plants and I hope I'll finally be successful in growing flowering plants (to make my Mom proud). 

To motivate me to do better at gardening, Saturdays will be plantita updates! I'll post more specific tips on our gardening blog.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Second Tomato Harvest and Other Garden Updates

Thank God for bees! They have been visiting our balcony garden more often now. Sometimes they get too excited and even follow us inside! We have been able to usher them back outside. The bees have been taking care of pollinating the tomato flowers. The last time I hand pollinated them was late in August. 

The tomatoes aren't growing to full size, probably because the pots are too small. I'm not sure if that's the case or it lacks nutrients/water. They turn red while they're still small. We don't mind since they are sweet like cherry tomatoes. 

We harvested 13 ripe tomatoes yesterday and we're happy we have something to add to our salad -- fresh, organic, homegrown tomatoes! Yaaaas! 

It's a lot of hard work taking care of our tiny garden. We've had to battle leaf miners. They've already killed off my cucumber and have eaten half of my bell peppers (huhu). I use neem oil every few weeks to ward off the evil insects. My neighbor also suggested I try using Thieves household cleaner mixed with water to spray the leaves to get to the larvae of the leafminers. That has so far worked. I also read spraying the soil with baking powder mixed with water discourages insects from attacking a plant. It's so far worked and the tomatoes have been producing more fruit. 

My first mustasa plant is doing well. It started bolting a few weeks back. It's flowers attracted more bees to come visit our balcony and I think that's a good thing. The pods are starting to turn brown so that means I'm going to have free seeds soon! I have 2 more mustasa plants that are giving us fresh leaves for cooking. 

The bell peppers are struggling. No thanks to those evil insects! Boo! But it looks like some may survive. I'm still hoping I'd be successful in at least 2 plants. If not I'll probably start a new batch. 

What about you? How's your garden going? 

CB//186 #StuckAtHomeDay/216 #StayHome #BeKind