Started My "Expanded" Vegetable Garden

I was so shocked with the prices of vegetables. It increased a lot in the past couple of weeks. I told myself I need to take growing veggies seriously. I enjoy it anyway, plus it will benefit us. After successfully growing bell peppers, I embarked on expanding my vegetable garden. 

Got some tomato, cucumber, and carrot seeds the other day. I wanted to get some lettuce seeds, but it wasn't available. I went for Ramgo seeds to increase my chances of getting the seeds to sprout. The day before I bought seeds, I planted the mustasa seeds which I already had on hand. I was so surprised it sprouted the day after! Using a seed tray with cover really helps. 

I went to work and planted the new seeds I got the day after. I had prepared the trays already last weekend. It's pretty cold lately, so I hope keeping the trays covered will help. The mustasa sprouted so fast, I'm just a bit anxious it's getting leggy since the sun hasn't been consistent. I'll move them if needed, but I'll need to keep them elevated so snails don't get to it before they grow! 

I hope I see more of the seeds sprout this weekend. I'm not sure if it's the best time to do this since the weather is quite cold especially in the evenings! My bell peppers are growing nicely and I'm seeing more growing since I re-potted them. I still need to re-pot two more and will do it this weekend. 

While waiting for the seeds to sprout and with the bell peppers now more stable. I'll work on the orchids we rescued from my childhood home. To be honest, I haven't had that much success with orchids! Gah! They're so hard for me. I have to pray for guidance to successful save what Mom left!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Bell Peppers!

I've been trying to properly grow bell peppers for a few years now. I just use the seeds from store bought bell peppers. I just scrape it off and dry it for a few days before I plant it.

It's been hit and miss. I've grown bushy ones only to lose the plant to fungi and other pests. In my recent try, I covered the pot with used water bottles. I did this to increase humidity and to protect the plant from pests (mainly snails).

The bottle trick worked! I also places the pot on a plant stand to make it harder for pests to reach it. So far I have a couple that are growing steadily. About a month ago, I removed the bottle cover of one to allow it to grow bigger. 

It's been raining so I didn't notice that the plant started to produce flowers. I just noticed a few days ago that the plant started to form fruits already. Ohhh! I'm so excited! I'm hoping I'll be fully successful this time! I need to check my notes if there's anything I need to give the plant to make it healthy.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Dear Mama Lola, Look! I Did It!

Happy Lunar new year everyone!

I got a huge surprise today! And I think my Mama Lola would be happy for me! I have been trying to grow some peppers for a few years now. I've tried, failed, tried, failed and just kept trying again. 

I have memories of my Mama Lola growing sili plants in my Mom's garden. Mom always grumbled about it because she prefers to keep ornamental plants. Mama Lola's sili plant was what fascinated me about growing vegetables. 

I managed to grow some bell peppers while we were in Singapore, but have been unsuccessful since we got home. I would save sili seeds from delivery food since we rarely eat them. I also save bell pepper seeds from the grocery. It's fairly easy to propagate, but something always goes wrong whenever they start growing.

Anyway, I was surprised today while I was watering the plants. There was one big pepper hanging nicely on the plant. I honestly didn't notice it growing since the avocado plant covered it. I moved it a few days ago and only noticed the pepper today. Yahoo! The plant probably likes the fish water we've been feeding it weekly. 

So happy!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Garden Notes: Cactus and Succulent Soil, Calamansi Soil, Avocado Soil

I have different kinds of plants and I can't find the notebook where I used to write down notes for my plants. I realized I should have just noted it here in my blog. That's what I do anyway when I need to refresh my memory. It's also why I make cooking videos at "Recipes for My Son". 

It's been hard to keep track of the needs of my plants. There's soil needs, fertilizer, pesticide, watering etc. So I thought I should write down what I use. It's easier to find it here than my (currently) missing notebook. Miggy can also put it to good use one day when he becomes a plantito (haha). 

Okay, so here's what I generally use for different kinds of plants -

Cactus and Succulents - loam soil, perlite, tiny pebbles, a little compost (learned this from Manong at the nursery)

Calamansi Soil - loam soil, compost/manure, rice husk, coco peat

Papaya Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk, Coco peat

Avocado Soil - loam soil, compost, perlite, Coco peat, rice husk (use when you transfer from water)

Soil to Propagate Gumamela - loam soil, coco peat, perlite, rice husk

Gumamela Soil - loam soil, rice husk, vermicast

Bell Pepper Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Desert Rose/Kalachuchi Soil - use succulent mix

Belly Buddha - use succulent mix

Ginger - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Dill Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk

Rosemary Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk, can also add some pebbles

Will update for other plants :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Ugh, My Bell Pepper Plants are Sick

I made the mistake of treating my bell pepper plants with garlic spray. I thought it had aphids just like my gumamela plants. I thought the white flies were aphids too, apparently not. Aside from white flies it also has fungus. Some leaves would just fall off. 

I was able to successfully grow bell peppers in Singapore. I never had pest issues there since we were on the 22nd floor. I've been trying to grow bell peppers here and it's been hard since there's so many pests. I watched a video on Epic Gardening and Kevin said you can try hydrogen peroxide to treat fungus. I've been spraying my plant for a few days now and it seems to be recovering. 

I noticed earlier that the white flies are still there, so I'll try baking soda with Castile soap tomorrow. I tried Neem oil already, but it burned the leaves. So, let's see if if it works or maybe I'll have to go back to square one. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Bell Peppers Soon?

I've been planting bell pepper seeds whenever I have store bought peppers. You have to be very patient with growing bell peppers. It takes about 3 weeks before the seeds sprout and then you need to move it around when the weather changes.

The seeds I planted last January have started to produce flowers. I didn't expect it since it's been growing super slowly. I think it hibernated when we had extremely hot weather. I watered it everyday and consistently gave it rice water weekly. It had a growth spurt when I moved it to a sunnier area. I think the rain also helped. 

I've been so afraid to re-pot it. I bit the bullet and re-potted it the other day. I placed it in a spot that gets about 6 hours of sun. It won't get any rain though, so I'll have to observe whether I should move it. I hope the flowers get pollinated so I can harvest some bell pepper soon! 

I also have to review what kind of fertilizer it needs. I was in Singapore when I successfully grew some bell pepper. The fruit though was deformed which meant it lacked something. I would very happy if my bell pepper plants finally produce something! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Kitchen Scraps Experiment Results

The past few months I've been trying to grow veggies from kitchen scraps. Some were successful, some did not work out. I've been experimenting so I could learn and hopefully have my own produce. I'll probably continue to experiment until I get things right. Here's a list of what I've tried to grow from kitchen scraps:

Tomatoes

I tried this experiment in Singapore. I cut up one tomato and planted it directly on soil (apparently you're supposed to just get the seeds hehe). I soon enough had a lot of seedlings. Several survived when I transplanted them and I was able to harvest some. They were tiny though and I now know what went wrong (it lacked calcium and phosphate). You can read up more about the experiment here.

Bell Peppers

Best to dry the seeds before you plant them. They are quite prolific, but it takes a bit of time for it to grow. I was able to harvest some, but they were not perfect. Also realized that I should have given it fertilizer so it would grow well. More about the experiment here.

Lemongrass/Tanglad

After cutting off the leaves, I propagated the bottom part of the lemongrass in water for a few days. Then I planted it in soil. It's one of the easier veggies to grow. I just chop off some every so often and it grows back immediately. 

Onions

Made several attempts to grow onions. I tried propagating the roots in water, then planted it. Tried directly growing on soil. I must have overwatered it because they died after a few weeks. Maybe I'll try planting from seed. 

Garlic

It's so easy to propagate roots in water. After planting them in soil they would grow stalks for a few weeks. I'm not sure what went wrong, but they all died too. Gaaaah. I'll probably try again when the weather is hotter. 

Ginger

Ahhh, one of the easier ones to propagate. Just make sure to propagate the roots when the ginger is still fresh. Plant in soil once the roots grow out. The ones I propagated and planted in early August. Should be ready for harvest by summer! More about ginger here.

Tumeric

Got a bunch of tumeric from a friend. Propagated them the same time I tried growing ginger. They have grown nicely and should be ready to harvest by June next year (yeah, longer than ginger!). More about tumeric here.

I've suspended planting anything for now since there's work being done at home. Sawdust hasn't been good for my plants. I think the weather hasn't been good also since my seedlings have been dying from the lack of sun (the angle has noticeably changed). I'll probably focus on maintenance for now and just start planting again early next year. 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

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