Italian Flat Parsley in Raised Bed

The raised bed on the left side is the cabbage patch interspersed with Snap Dragon and Petunia flowers and some Spring Onions. The raised bed on the right side is planted with Italian Flat Parsley, Chinese Cabbage or Wombok and interspersed with Snap Dragon and French Marigold flowers. I start my plants from seeds and as usual, I sowed more than what I needed. So once the plants are germinated, I always have a glut and I have to give away some of the seedlings to friends and relatives so they don't go to waste. Whenever I needed some parsley in my cooking such as in making pasta or a sauce, all I have to do is go out and get them fresh from the garden. 

There are times when the Parsley plants would spill over into the walkway in the garden because they grow so fast, robust and healthy. I would snip off the stems of the ones that are spilling in the walkway and feed these to the rabbits and they go crazy because they can smell it even before I get to the door of the rabbitry knowing that they are going to have some fresh Parsley.  I still have some Italian Flat Parsley seedlings that are growing nicely in the growing pot because I staggered my planting, this way, I don't run out of it and I will have a continuous supply of this herb.  

Mixed Salad Lettuce

I was able to source out several damaged 5-gallon plastic water bottles from a water refilling station and recycled these by cutting a portion from the top and here they are now, hanging pots. The bottom part which is much bigger were planted with tomatoes while the tops were used for planting loose leaf lettuce.  The two-inches diameter iron pipe that holds the "hanging pots" came from the old water line that had since been replaced with black pressurized PVC pipes.  So all I bought here are the nylon strings to hang these pots. Using a soldering iron, I poked holes on the sides of the hanging pots to which I attached the nylon strings. I used a fine wire mesh that I found in the shed and cut these up into 4-inch squares to cover the bottoms of these hanging pots before I put in the soil so the potting mix will not go out when I water the plants. So after hanging the pots and planting the leaf lettuce and watering them , I covered this whole thing with a 1/2-inch diameter netting to protect the plants from the birds. We have plenty of these sparrows just hanging out in our garden and they would eat most things if I don't cover the plants with a net. The raised bed with a green netting underneath the hanging pots are planted with Lollo Rosso lettuce and Cos Lettuce.

Planting Cabbage

Interspersed with the Cabbages are some flowers such as Petunias, Snap Dragons, Spring Onions and Chives.

I started the cabbages from seeds a few months ago and when they had their two sets of true leaves, I transferred them individually into plastic cups and let them stayed there for about a month. Then I had to transfer them into their permanent home. I was debating whether I should put them into 5-gallon buckets or into a raised bed. Finally, I chose to use this raised bed as their permanent place and reserved the 5-gallon buckets for my tomatoes. Since this is my first time to plant this kind of vegetable, I had to do a lot of reading about planting cabbage. I got swamped with "information overload" that I had a migraine he-he-he. Anyway, I spaced the seedlings in a zigzag manner so their distance are about 1 square foot away from each other. That should give them plenty of space to grow and it worked.

Anyway, I also read a lot of information on the Internet about companion planting and how it benefits the main crop if these were planted next to each other. The beneficial effects of these flowers and/or herbs are to deter some pests that likes to eat on the main crop. Petunias and Snap Dragon flowers are said to be good companion plants for cabbages so I sowed some seeds of these flowers. As usual, I sowed too many seeds of and since I don't like throwing away any plants that germinated, I had to find a place for all of them. As soon as the seedlings were ready for transplant, I planted some of them into the spaces in between the cabbages. The cabbages grew well and healthy and all the flowers are now in full bloom. It's a lovely sight to see, thank God for the beauty of the flowers! My Hubby and I often spend many a time just sitting on the bench in the garden and admiring the beauty and serenity of our small backyard garden while enjoying a cup of coffee. 

The Garden this Summer, 2013

It may be summer time here in Baguio City Philippines but we're having some rains and the temperature is between 16-20 Degrees Celsius unlike in Manila where it registered a 36 Degrees Celsius today, April 19, 2013! We being in the north of Luzon are affected by the tail-end of a cold front which is why it is still much cooler up here in this mountains as compared to the blazing heat in the lowlands. So with summer comes the rain and we thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures of the garden while all the flowers are in full bloom and before they get damaged by the rains. This afternoon just after the rains, there was this warm glow in the air just as the sun is going down and it turned the garden into an ethereal beauty that warmed my heart. It seems that the color of the greens were more pronounced and the beauty of the flowers came alive!

I started all my flowers from seeds instead of buying the seedlings from the city Orchidarium and I saved some money that way. I wanted to have enough flowers that I could use around my garden so I sowed Petunias, Zinnias, Snap Dragons, Marigolds and Dahlias. I still have some potted Sweet Williams from last year and I plan on propagating these flowers. The first batch of Marigolds that I planted grew up to about 4 inches tall and then the house birds ate them all! So I planted again a second time and kept them until they were about 6 inches tall and brought them out into the garden and would you believe that they were eaten by the birds as well? So now all that is left are the stems and I decide not to plant a 3rd batch and since I was busy with other things, I just left them in their pots. Then I noticed that what remained of the Marigold stubs were growing with new leaves! Now perhaps those pesky sparrows that likes to hang around the garden would leave my Marigolds alone.