Plantita Saturdays: Learning How to Make Soil Healthy

One of the things I learned about my failed gardening attempts is to make sure that I have the best kind of soil for my plants. It wasn't enough I added compost and coco peat/rice husk to it. I realized the soil I had in Singapore was a ready mix. The soil I have needs extra work so I could grow healthy plants. 

I've been reading and watching videos on soil preparation. I haven't planted anything yet since our garden will undergo some work. I think it's also too hot to plant anything at this point. Here's what I've picked up the past few months about making soil healthy -

• Hot Water - pour hot water in soil that has been infested with pests. This will kill them and the eggs. Alternatively, you can also let the soil dry under the sun, the effect should be the same. 
• Hydrogen Peroxide - another way to cleanse the soil is to pour water with hydrogen peroxide to it. 
• Charcoal - I just learned that you can add charcoal to your soil. It will help keep the soil moist. I think I'm going to do this before I plant anything since I expect it's going to be a very hot summer. 
• Compost - I've been composting the past few months. I look forward to adding it to my soil before I start planting again. 
• Rice husk or coco peat - rice husk or coco peat acts as a soil conditioner. It helps keep the soil moist and adds nutrients as it decomposes.
• Rain water - we collect rain water whenever it rains because that's what our plants prefer. During  the hot season, we use water that has rested for at least a day. 
• Fertilizer - adding fertilizer is important. This is probably one thing I missed doing when I got home. In Singapore we used rice water at least once a week on the plants. I remember also pouring banana peel tea every so often. It helped the plants produce more flowers. 

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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