tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19593367829570078992024-03-05T05:18:46.002-08:00Backyard GardeningWe wanted to raise our own vegetables in the backyard without using any chemicals or pesticides. This is our journey into small backyard gardening. Our goal is to raise organic vegetables just for our own consumption only.Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-30598129866235527122013-04-22T07:58:00.000-07:002013-04-22T07:58:00.319-07:00Italian Flat Parsley in Raised Bed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-20504767223227878162013-04-21T07:24:00.001-07:002014-01-02T22:21:08.821-08:00Mixed Salad Lettuce<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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. </div>
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Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-83586255464726130522013-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:002013-04-20T09:35:41.846-07:00Planting Cabbage <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Interspersed with the Cabbages are some flowers such as Petunias, Snap Dragons, Spring Onions and Chives.</div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-28865238918751806632013-04-19T07:02:00.000-07:002013-04-19T07:02:50.584-07:00The Garden this Summer, 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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!<br />
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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. <br />
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Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-36358187223874754602012-07-10T01:41:00.001-07:002012-07-10T01:47:27.160-07:00Fortune Plants<div style="text-align: justify;">
On July 01, 2012, I asked my two older nephews to cut down some Fortune plants around the south side of the property that had become tree-like in size. I planted these some years ago on a 2-feet wide space on top of an 8-feet high stone retaining wall. Some years ago, this retaining wall came down during a heavy storm and I spent a hefty sum of money just to have it fixed. It used to be a 13-feet high retaining wall. The workers had to redo the whole thing all over again but this time, they split the height and made it into 2 terraces. Starting from the bottom of the hill, it is 8 feet high and then it has a 2-feet wide space before the next terrace which is 5 feet high. The 2 terraces are slanted slightly at the tops. So to help prevent another erosion on this side of the property, I planted these Fortune plants because of their capacity in holding the soil together with their strong root system. It's just that these Fortune plants are now about 16-18 feet tall so it is time to cut them down to about 5 feet high. This is to prevent any stress on the retaining wall below especially during a windy storm. We're doing this in anticipation of the onslaught of the typhoon season here in the Philippines which comes around this month of July until late October to early part of November. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fortune plants behind me on the left side of the rabbitry.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sayote or Chayote plants climbing over the Fortune plants.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tops are heavy with Sayote/Chayote fruits and leaves.</td></tr>
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My hubby and I spent 3 days to finish the cutting and chopping of the big pile of leaves from the Fortune plants. It was fun but we had blisters on our hands after we were done cutting leaves manually because we do not have a shredder machine. We found out that the rabbits don't care to eat the leaves of this fortune plant for some reason. They do eat most of the plants including the leaves of the banana plants that we have around our property but not the Fortune plants. So we had to cut these leaves into smaller pieces for the compost pile. </div>
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<br /></div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-7672172046072571952012-06-20T03:06:00.001-07:002012-07-10T00:26:10.126-07:00Preserving Sweet Basil and Italian Flat Parsley<div style="text-align: justify;">
These are the last herbs and plants that are still in the garden: Celery, Sweet Basil, Flat Italian Parsley, Spring Onions and the Zucchini. The Spring Onions will be left in the garden because they seem to do well even during the rainy season. We harvest mostly the outer leaves of the Celery plants and feed these to the rabbits so the main stem remains in the ground and they grow back again. I will harvest some Sweet Basil leaves tomorrow to make some Pesto. I often buy the bottled Pesto in the grocery but they are kinda expensive. Since I already have the Sweet Basil in my garden, so I might as well make my own Pesto. I will preserve the rest of the Sweet Basil leaves in the microwave oven. It only takes a minute or two to dry them in the microwave. <br />
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How do I do it? First is to wash the leaves after I harvest them and let them drip dry. I separate the mature leaves from the more tender ones because the latter dries up much faster than the matured ones. Put a paper towel over the round dish of the microwave and arrange the leaves on the towel making sure that they are not overlapping together so each leaf will dry well. Then turn the microwave on high at 2 minutes and check the leaves for dryness. If it needs more time, do it again in small increments so as not to burn the leaves. I do the same thing with the Italian Flat Parsley. I like using the microwave in drying these herbs because it retains the color of the leaves even when they are dried. I could hang-dry the herbs in the kitchen by tying them on the stem and putting them in an airy room. It's just that there is a lot of moisture in the air at this time because it is now the onset of the rainy season here in the Philippines. I am afraid that molds will build up fast on the herbs before they dry so I'm going to use the microwave to dry them up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet Basil </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Italian Flat Parsley</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Italian Flat Parsley and Sweet Basil </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celery in the forefront and Sweet Basil behind it.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zucchini plant</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zucchini flower</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring Onions</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-75961732264826003932012-06-19T19:36:00.000-07:002012-06-20T02:20:33.815-07:00Drying the Seeds<div style="text-align: justify;">
I intentionally left some Green beans to mature on the tepee trellis and on the welded wire trellis so they will dry up on the vines because I plan on using the seeds for next year's planting season. I am hoping for a few more days of sunshine this month of June so the drying process will be complete before I harvest the seeds. Even the two Okra plants which I thought will never bear fruit somehow managed to grow 2-3 pods but I left them alone to mature and dry. I am trying to keep some of the seeds from my plants now, so I do not have to buy them for the next planting season. I dried some Tomato seeds and Pepper seeds as well including the Snap Dragon seeds and these will all be kept in an airtight bottle for the next planting season. Next time around, I know not to plant my tomatoes in the garden but will plant them in pots and put them all in the patio where they will be exposed to direct sunlight for at least 8 hours. I learned not to get the leaves of the Tomato and Pepper plants wet when watering because otherwise, they easily get infected. In drying the tomato seeds, I soaked the seeds in a bowl of water for 3 days and I had to change the water everyday. Then I drained the water out and put the seeds on a paper towel and dried them up under the sun. In harvesting the seeds of the Snap Dragon flowers, I let the flowers mature in the stalk until they turn brown. Then I simply open the brown pods and pour out the black seeds into a paper towel and transfer them into an envelope or an airtight container. The seeds of the Snap Dragon flowers are very small just like Celery seeds so you have to be very careful when opening and taking out the seeds. </div>
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<br /></div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-70039578135395436382012-06-16T05:47:00.001-07:002012-06-19T19:44:16.104-07:00Raised Garden Bed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Gardening is never really done. There is always something that has to be done to improve things or maybe it's just me wanting to play around in the garden. In the two pictures above, you will notice that the last terraced bed at the bottom of the garden has only 1 layer of hollow blocks. The top of this raised bed is lower by 6 inches from the surface of the walkway above it as shown in the picture above. So what I did is to put another layer of hollow blocks on top of the original ones to make a two-layer hollow blocks in this raise this bed. This makes the height of this raised bed into 16 inches high from its original height of 8 inches only. It also means that I could plant some root crops such as Carrots in this raised bed when I do my crop rotation because it now has enough room for the roots to grow. The pictures below is the result of this latest work that I have done in the garden, that of increasing the height of the raised bed. You can see the difference of the older hollow blocks at the bottom of the bed as compared to the new addition on top of it. </div>
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Maybe I will start sowing my seeds by mid November so I will be able to put them out in the garden by December. Since it takes much longer for Celery seeds to germinate, I will have to start sowing my Celery seeds by October. I harvested a lot of Basil, Parsley and Celery in the garden today and fed these to the rabbits. Some are still in the garden but I will have to gather them all before the typhoons come and destroy the plants completely. I also harvested the last tomatoes in the patio so that my work for tomorrow. I am thinking of transferring some of the Basil plants from the garden into these big tomato pots and put them under the awning so they will not become water logged if left alone in the garden beds. I'll see how the weather holds tomorrow because there is a storm coming although it is not expected to land in the Philippines but we still get a lot of rain as a result of this storm. </div>
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<br /></div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-43652149042511131622012-05-30T12:53:00.000-07:002012-06-19T19:42:23.866-07:00Tomatoes in the patio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
I planted
some tomato seedlings in the garden and they were all growing so well
with thick and robust stalks until they got attacked by some blight and
everything had to be destroyed. Knowing that I would get the same result
if I planted tomato seedling in the garden, so decided
not to do it. Instead, I bought several big plastic pots at ACE hardware
( SM mall Baguio) and used these to plant the new tomato seedlings that
I've sown from seeds. I had them growing in pots at the foot of the garden right in front of the rabbitry until I decided to transfer them to the patio. The sun hits the patio from 9 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon so the plants will get 8 hours of direct sunlight. I tried something different as well by using an old tea kettle with a long spout in watering the plants at the base without getting the leaves wet so they do not get diseased. I also pruned the bottom leaves so they are not touching the soil in the pot and the energy is concentrated in producing more fruits. It worked this time as the tomatoes grew well and were very productive! So from now on, I will plant my tomatoes in the patio and
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Nothing really beats the taste of freshly picked vine-ripened organically grown tomatoes! Whenever I needed some tomatoes for my cooking or making sandwiches or pasta, I just go out and pick them right from the vine. My hubby and I enjoyed many a scrumptious meals with these tomatoes this summer. I had a good harvest of tomatoes this afternoon for making the sauce of my chicken creole recipe including a piece of bell pepper, some celery stalks and basil tops from the garden and all of these went into the pot together with my tomatoes. The result was wonderful according to my hubby who liked what I served for dinner tonight. There are still some unripened fruits in the vine but I will be gathering them soon before they get damaged by the rain. It is now the onset of the rainy season here in the Philippines so I will not be planting again until the next season. My plan is to start sowing my seeds sometime around the middle of October so I could transplant them in December. I don't have a green house yet so I could not raise tomatoes or other vegetables in the garden during the rainy season. We get a lot of rainfall here in Baguio City during the rainy season so it is best to just let the garden rest during this time. As the saying goes "time fly when you're having fun" and I did have a lot of fun with my gardening this summer.I hope you enjoy the pictures of my tomatoes. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-59723468339900408252012-05-26T02:17:00.000-07:002012-06-10T09:13:20.318-07:00Crop Rotation<div style="text-align: justify;">
My best friend Mary whose family comes from a long line of farmers has informed me about not planting the same kind of plant in the same location year- in and year- out so as to prevent plant diseases from building up in the soil. After I built the new additional raised bed near the outdoor aviary, I also moved the Sweet Pea trellis in this new bed. This is good practice for crop rotation in the garden. So just as I had done in the past, I placed the Sweet pea trellis nearest to the walkway where it will not cast a shade to the plants in front of it. Then I sowed some Sweet Pea seeds on both sides of this trellis. The Celery seedlings meanwhile are ready to be transplanted so I planted them next to the Sweet Peas. Since this new raised bed has never been planted before and it was rich with rabbit wastes and compost as fertilizer for the plants, all the things that were planted in this raised bed grew well and robust. I planted the Celery seedlings close enough to each other so I did not have to blanch them as they grew. Their own leaves will serve as a shade for their stalks so they do not get the direct sunlight and this will prevent the bitter taste that most celery have when their stalks are not blanched. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 5-feet wide walkway is behind this Sweet Pea Trellis</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue tanks in the background are the cooking gas tanks</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celery, Sweet Peas and Sun Flowers all growing together in one raised bed.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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</div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-21353282628344775412012-05-12T00:19:00.000-07:002012-06-10T09:12:43.659-07:00Adding Another Raised Bed<div style="text-align: justify;">
I got so hooked up in my gardening that I wanted to add another raised bed where I could grow more vegetables. It's just that we do not have too much space in our small backyard so this is how I managed to gain another space to make an additional raised bed. Just above the last raised bed in the garden is a 14-inch wide cemented walkway that leads to the outdoor aviary and right beside this walkway is a flat area as shown in the picture below. Next to this walkway is a 4 feet wide and 6 feet long space where I
built a temporary chicken coop and chicken run for a hen and her chicks.
This hen was too aggressive to live with the rest of the flock so she
had to be separated and this temporary coop and run was built for that
purpose. We later transferred the hen house in another area at the back
of my brother's house where they get some protection from the elements specially during the rainy season. We then covered up this vacated area with some broken clay pots and gravel as you can see in the picture below. </div>
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This vacated area is about 12 feet wide from the edge of the cemented walkway to the wall of my brother's house and it is 10 feet in length. Leaning against the wall of my brother's house is a wooden stand that is 3-feet wide at the base and tapering to 1-feet wide at the top and it is 5 feet high. This wooden stand is where we store several containers of 5-galloon drinking water and some cooking gas tanks. Right in front of this wooden stand is a 5-feet wide gravel walkway as shown in the picture below. Next to this walkway where the chicken coop used to stand is where I planned on making another raised bed as a new addition to the garden. So I enclosed this area with 2 layers of hollow blocks, each block is 8 inches tall. I did not have to dig up the soil in this bed because I figured that with 2 layers of hollow blocks, that will give me 16 inches of height which should be sufficient for planting some vegetables. This new raised bed is 4 feet wide by 6 feet long and 16 inches high. So with a walkway on 3 sides, it would be easy for me to reach for the plants or to do some weeding. This raised bed is next to the outdoor aviary as seen in the picture below. </div>
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It's a good thing that we have plenty of different varieties of plants around the property so I gathered some leaves and chopped them up and put them in the bottom of this new raised bed. My hubby trimmed the Gumamela shrubs that serves as a fence in front of our property and these were all thrown into the new raised bed. Another good thing we have going for us is that we have rabbits! The green gold is priceless and we get to have them for free. So every day when we clean out the rabbitry, we throw the wastes over the shredded leaves in the raised bed and cover them up with a thin layer of compost so the flies will not have a chance to land into the wastes. We did this layering of green leaves, rabbit poop and compost soil for awhile until the compost reached the top of the first layer of hollow blocks. Time is really slow for those who wait, like me! I could not wait any longer until the bed is full because I was too eager to plant so I threw in a layer of about 4 inches thick of compost and smoothed the top and started planting. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-82806567227829890422012-04-30T10:45:00.000-07:002012-06-10T10:14:17.915-07:00Tepee Trellis and Snap Dragon Flowers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Would it not be nice to have a continuous supply of fresh green beans from the garden during the summer? Of course I would like that very much because nothing beats the taste of freshly gathered Green Beans from the garden. They taste so sweet when you cook them as soon as you pick them from the vines. So two weeks after I planted the second batch of Green Beans in the wire trellis, I came out with the idea of sowing more Green Beans in a tepee. We have some reed sticks that were left over from another project and they were just lying around at the back of my brother's house, so I decided to put them to good use by making a tepee trellis for the Green Beans. I gathered about 12 sticks and tied them together at the top by using a rope to form a teepee and then stuck the legs about 1-foot deep into the ground. As you can see in the picture below, there are two teepees on both
ends of this raised bed and I sowed some 3-4 seeds of Green Beans around each stick. </div>
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I already harvested the Sweet Peas, the lettuce as well as the Pak-Choi
that were planted in this same bed except for these Carrots because it
takes about 5 months before they mature. After I harvested all the crops, the raised bed looked empty. I have always wanted to plant some Snap Dragon flowers but the plant section in the mall had nothing to sell at that time. So I visited my friend at the Baguio City Orchidarium and she didn't have any of these to sell as well. I was lucky because I found some seedlings that were for sale right next to my friend's stall and I bought some. I planted these flowers right next to the Carrots and after a couple of weeks, they bloomed! It was a pretty sight to look at and I am amazed at the life span of these flowers. They really lasted a long time that I decided to plant these again next season. I will be keeping the seeds once the flowers are spent and dried so I could sow them by next planting season and I need not buy the seedlings again. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed planting them. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-54996125357568680812012-04-15T01:46:00.000-07:002012-06-10T01:50:51.584-07:00Growing Celery From Seeds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The seeds of the Celery plant are very tiny. I had a bottle of Celery seeds in my pantry because I was using this before in making my bottled Green Tomato pickles. I thought that perhaps I could use the seeds to grow my own celery. So I took a spoonful of seeds and put them in a covered bottle and added some water just to cover the seeds and put the bottle inside the refrigerator for 1 day just to soften them up a little bit. Then I bought a plastic seedling tray and a potting mix from the garden section at SM mall and sowed my seeds thinly in the dish and covered this lightly with more potting soil mix. I took a big basin and placed the seedling tray inside then I poured some water in the basin, just enough to come up to about half the height of the seedling tray. By doing this, the potting soil mix will soak up the water from the bottom and this will prevent what the experts call 'damping off" of the seeds. This method will also prevent the seeds from being dislodged if I were to water them from the top. It took awhile for the seeds to grow and I was getting impatient as usual. Thinking that the celery seeds will not germinate, I took the seedling tray and dumped the whole thing inside a disposable plastic cookie container that I was going to throw out. You see, I wanted to use the seedling tray to sow another kind of seeds and I was running out of seedling trays so why not just dump the whole Celery thing and forget about it. Then one day as I was working in the yard, I noticed the Celery seeds sprouting out from the plastic cookie sheet where I dumped them to. I was really surprised by this and I just decided not to touch them and just let them grow to see what will happen. Then I realized that as they were growing, they were getting too close to each other because they got compacted when I dumped them. So I removed some of the taller ones manually and believe me, that was not easy at all because I was trying so hard to be very careful so as not to damage the roots. Then I planted the one that I pricked into individual black plastic bags and put them in the shade until they are big enough to be transferred to the ground. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-48955990596976235882012-03-26T03:03:00.000-07:002012-06-10T09:10:51.456-07:00Companion Planting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This summer, I tried to practice companion planting by inter planting flowers and herbs in the vegetable garden. The bugs/insects will get attracted to the flowers and will leave the
vegetables alone, that is the idea in companion planting. Notice how I sowed my plants in the raised bed on the right side of the walkway in the picture above. French Marigold flowers were first planted around the edge of this raised bed and this was followed by two rows of Arugula greens and then two rows of Pak Choi, a leafy green vegetables with a thick white bottom. I often use Pak Choi in my cooking whenever I make stir-frys or in making soups. It's really delicious without the bitter taste that one usually gets in Pechay, another green leafy vegetable. <br />
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Even the small holes of the hollow blocks that were used in making the raised beds were planted with small grasses. The root system of these plants goes down deeply and it helps to hold the hollow blocks in place. In the photo above, you see the French Marigold flowers at the end of this raised bed. That brown triangle structure in the forefront is a home-made welded re-bar tomato cage with one tomato plant inside. In front of the tomato cages are Pack-Choi or Chinese cabbage. Behind this tomato cage is the Sweet Pea trellis. Anyway, to maximize the space and get more produce, I sowed Sweet Peas on both sides of this trellis. Planted next to the front and the back side of the Sweet Peas were lettuce of Lollo Rosso variety. Next to the lettuce facing the walkway, I sowed two rows of Carrots. <br />
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Notice the plants in the small plot under the Green Bean trellis? Those are the Lollo Rosso variety of lettuce that we often use when making a sandwich. I made a walkway around this small plot so I could go around it when I do some weeding on the raised beds. On the left side of the Green Bean trellis is a Zucchini plant. <br />
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This is the edge of the garden where I placed the arched trellis for
the Green Beans. When I removed the wire mesh fence around the old garden, I left the wire mesh on this side only so I could
grow some cucumbers and sweet peas on it. Since these two plants grow
in a vertical position, they could use the fence to climb onto as they
grow and they could be planted next to each other as well. I also added
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-57556103335226825602012-03-15T10:26:00.000-07:002012-06-09T13:08:00.909-07:00Sweet Pea TrellisI often use Sweet Peas or Sugar Snap Peas in my stir-fry cooking so I thought about growing my own in the garden instead of buying them in the market. How difficult could it be to raise my own Sweet Peas right? So I looked for whatever materials that I could salvage to use in making my trellis but I could not find anything suitable for my purpose in mind. Then I had this "B-R-I-G-H-T" idea of using an old clothes stand that we have in the house! It is actually the perfect size because it may only be 4 feet wide but it's also 5 feet tall. This is made of 1-inch metal pipe materials with two welded stands and a pipe that goes across the top which holds the stands together. We only use this stand to hang the wet clothes on hangers or for laundry during the rainy season anyway. So I thought I might as well put it to good use while it is still summer instead of it just laying around in the corner. All I had to do now is to find something that I could put across the width and the height of this structure so the Sweet Peas will have something to climb onto as they grow. Then I thought about the excess 1 x 1 inch wire mesh material that was left over after we built the chicken run and that solved my problem. So, I measured the length and width of the structure and cut the wire mesh according to size and attached this to the stand and Ta-da! I got a Sweet Pea trellis. That picture below with the square structure is the Sweet Pea trellis and on both sides of it are the tomato cages. Well I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed making the trellis. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet Pea Trellis </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet Peas ready for harvest.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet Peas taller than the trellis.</td></tr>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-86281920215072974672012-02-26T08:02:00.000-08:002012-06-10T09:09:48.319-07:00Home-Made Tomato Cages<br />
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When I removed the wire fencing on three sides of the backyard garden, I also removed several steel rebars that were used as stakes to hold the wire fence in place. The size of these corrugated rebars are 10 mm and these were cut into 5-feet tall each. I am going to transfer these wire fencing in the new hill garden to ward off the chickens and the dogs from that area. The backyard garden does not really need a fence now because the chickens are already fenced in and we don't have a dog or a cat ( except for the neighbor's cat) so if I should ever decide to make a fence in this backyard garden, I would like to use a picket fence someday. Anyway, I thought about how best to use these old rebars that I took from the fence. So after my brother finished making the beans and peas trellis, I asked him if he could make me a tomato cage using these old rebars. Since these rebars were already cut at 5-feet tall, they're just the perfect height for a tomato cage. Besides, we have 2 extra pieces of 8 mm corrugated rebars that were not used when they made the outdoor aviary. So with these materials, my brother made 2 pieces of tomato cages that are 5-feet tall. I asked him to make the tomato cages into a triangle design with two sides having rebars going across them at a 1-foot distance from the top while one side is to be left open. I wanted this open side as my access to the plants and I can always use a string on this side to hold the plants as needed. </div>
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My DH used to tie the tomatoes on a stick that was placed near the plants using the green garden ties. Sometimes, he would used jute ropes to encircle the plants around the sticks so it looks like a round tomato cage. It's just that we have to take out the ropes once the tomatoes have been gathered and that's too laborious. So now that we have this two pieces of steel tomato cages, it should make the clean up much easier with no hassle. Just pull up the cages once the season is over and it can be stored inside for safe keeping until the next planting season is here. <br />
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</div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-82401337645060324052012-02-15T12:57:00.000-08:002012-06-10T00:58:49.968-07:00The New Terraced Garden<div style="text-align: justify;">
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This is what the garden looks like after I completely overhauled the old garden. I made use of the sloping terrain to create a terraced garden with raised garden beds. This backyard garden maybe small in size but I like it much better now. By using vertical structures such as the Sweet Peas and Green Beans trellises, these increases the planting space even in a small area. Someday, I would like to put up a white picket fence gate at the entrance to the garden. The smaller potted flowers are Delphiniums while the bigger potted plants are tomato seedlings which were transferred later on in the patio near the entrance to our place. I planted Pak-Choi and Mustard greens in this new raised bed and we enjoyed many delicious fresh organic vegetables out of this garden. </div>
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The pictures below were taken from another angle just to show you the relationship between the garden and the rabbitry in the background. The first picture below was taken while standing near the Green Bean trellis while the last picture at the bottom was taken from the doorway of the rabbitry. The sitting area for the guests could be seen in the background from the rabbitry. My 4 nephews and a niece often brings home their friends because they like to show off the rabbitry and the garden. Sometimes, even the elementary or grade school pupils who have heard about our rabbitry would drop by the house after school just to admire the flowers and the gardens including the rabbits. It's a small space really but it is a delight to see other people enjoying the simple scenery. Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed writing about my adventures in the garden for the summer.Don't forget to visit my other blogs as well by checking out my profile. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-40990026502614415822012-01-28T07:05:00.000-08:002012-06-10T09:26:51.329-07:00Green Beans Trellis<br />
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I went through all the hardware and construction shops in town looking for a cattle panel or a hog panel that I could use for a trellis. Not one of the shops here in city carries this kind of panel. All they had are the 2-inch-hole welded concrete wire. I would have bought two of these to make a trellis but the cost was expensive at 1,500.00 pesos per piece so that would have cost me a total of 3K to make one trellis. One piece of this welded wire is only 4 feet wide and 8 feet long but what I did not like about it is the small holes, just 2 inches square. I could not find any cattle or hog panel so I asked my brother if he could make me one since we already have a welding machine. My DH bought a welding machine last year and this is what my brother and my carpenter used when they made the rabbitry. I asked my brother to make the hole dimensions to be 6 inches wide by 8 inches high. This size of the hole dimension will allow us to reach out for the plants during harvest time. So we bought 5 pieces of gauge # 10 wires and it only costs us 70.00 pesos per piece so that all came to 350.00 pesos all in all. </div>
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This summer, I was able to grow 2 crops of green beans in this wire
trellis. The first batch of green beans were planted behind the outdoor
aviary using the home-made welded wire trellis that my brother made for
me. What I like about this trellis is that I could plant on both sides
of it and I get to have more produce. This arched trellis is 4-feet wide
and 6
feet high on its apex. Since I am short at only 5'2" tall, I could
easily walk under the arch whenever I gather the green beans and it's
easy to pick them as they would just be hanging over my head. Vertical
gardening is really a good way to go in maximizing a small space.I
placed both ends of the wire trellis in the center of a 2-feet wide
raised bed which is in the corner of the garden where it doesn't make a
shadow on the other plants. This corner gets the full afternoon sun from
11 a.m. until 5 p.m. I made this raised bed only 2 feet wide because it
is near the fence and this allows me to reach out at the back of the
trellis to get the beans without stepping into the raised bed. <br />
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<br /></div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-3072653114347885732012-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:002012-06-10T00:56:27.000-07:00Overhauling the Backyard Garden<div style="text-align: justify;">
There is really nothing much that anyone could do as far as gardening is concerned during the rainy season here in Baguio City. The gardens gets flooded, the strong winds and rain damages the plants and worst, if there is a typhoon because everyone has to stay inside the house for safety purposes. Now that the rain has stopped today, I was able to transfer the worm
bins to the back of the chicken run where it is shaded by the Cherry
tree because the worms are not supposed to be exposed to direct
sunlight which is why I had the worm bins under the shade of the tall ferns and flowers. Once the worm bins were out of the way, I set out to remove the wire mesh fencing material that
enclosed the perimeter of the garden. I cut off all the ferns and the
flowers that were growing in between the stone rip-rap that was behind
the worm bins. Now I could clearly see what I have to work on with what I have. There is a 2 feet drop
from the garden level above to the ground level from where the worm bins used
to be so I had to lower this down to 1 foot high. The ground dirt is also filled with gravel and so I had to clear
them out as well. I also had to factor in the walkways and I could only come up with an 16 inches wide walkway above this new raised bed. This is really just fine for me as I could still get around on both sides of this raised garden bed to do my work.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salvia flowers at the edge of the garden with the stone rip-rap walls removed.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The worm bins under the shade of ferns and flowers. </td></tr>
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Then once everything was cleared out, using a garden
fork, I dug up the dirt to
about 8 inches low using the cut and back fill method. Then I enclosed
this new raised bed with one layer of 4-inch wide concrete hollow blocks
which is 8 inches tall. I then put some composted leaves at the bottom
and then layered this with rabbit manure and covered it up with the top
soil that was set aside when I dug up the bottom. I bought some Okra seeds and planted them directly in the ground. I sowed some seeds of tomatoes and peppers in a box and when these were ready to be transplanted in the ground, I planted them next to the Okra plants. I then thought of buying some flowers to brighten up the garden so I went to visit the Baguio City Orchidarium and bought some French Marigolds and Petunias. The pictures below will show you the outcome of my work in overhauling the entire garden. It's really just a small backyard garden but it took me a couple of months working intermittently to finish the work due to the rainy season at that time. I put in a lot of hard work in this garden but it was all worth, don't you think so? <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The garden is partly in shade from the Cherry tree and the Rabbitry.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trellis for the green beans is located at the far end of the garden.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The newly constructed raised bed at the foot of the garden.</td></tr>
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</div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-46367821093191604942011-10-02T05:37:00.000-07:002011-10-02T05:41:41.391-07:00Typhoons Pedring and Quiel<br />
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Today is Sunday, October 02, 2011. Baguio City was on signal number 3 since yesterday and once again, we've lost our electricity but everything is OK now. Well, not quite normal yet because typhoon Pedring and Quiel left 53 people dead in the whole country and many more are still missing and unaccounted for not to mention those who sustained some physical injuries. These two typhoons that came one after the other has devastated the northern part of the country especially the agricultural sector. Prices of vegetables have gone up and almost doubled as a result of these typhoons because it damaged millions of crops not only in the highlands but also in the lowlands as well. In fact, many people especially in the lowlands have lost their homes and personal belongings because of the floods and many barangays are still submerged under water up to this time. </div>
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In my own backyard, part of the fence that separates our property to the public walkway at the back caved in because of the strong force of the winds. We started fixing the fence this afternoon as soon as the rain stopped and hopefully, the work will be finished tomorrow. It's a good thing that we had an extra bag of cement and some river sand and gravel that are available so we were able to start the work this afternoon. Otherwise, we would have to wait for another month to be able to bring in some construction materials because part of the street in our village has been washed out and it is not passable for any type of vehicle. Another damage in our property is the leak in the roof in our 3-bedroom transient house, that has got to be fixed too. Other than these, thank God that we are safe and sound and that is more important than any material things. I pray for those people who have lost a loved one because of the floods that they may find the strength to start all over again once everything goes back to normal. </div>
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It is at a time like this when I realize the importance of having a backyard garden because even if there will be a shortage of vegetables in the market because of these typhoons, at least there is hope that we will not go hungry as long as we have vegetables in the backyard and some backyard animals such as chickens that provides us with eggs and domesticated rabbits for meat. As soon as the immediate things are taken cared of, then I will start planning my vegetable garden in the backyard. </div>
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Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-62234170125270670992011-09-24T09:00:00.001-07:002012-06-09T09:09:27.092-07:00Making a Swale/Berm<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was looking forward to working in the garden when I woke up this morning but it started raining again. Then our new friends who just got married a few days ago called us up and asked if we could meet them in town because they wanted to give us something and treat us for lunch. So we went out of the house and spent the morning with their company and that was very enjoyable. </div>
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It was still raining when we got back home so I ended up reading the Sunday newspaper of which I haven't had time to read since we bought the papers yesterday. </div>
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Around 3 in the afternoon, the rain stopped and I went out to the backyard garden. Instead of working on enclosing the other side of the raised bed in the middle of the garden, I worked on making a swale or berm for the rain water runoff. According to the news, we are going to get hit with another storm and the direction seems to be focused towards Northern and Central Luzon. The storm is expected to make a landfall here by tomorrow afternoon. So I decided to prioritize making the swale/berm for the water runoff before I get a flooded backyard garden. I just followed the natural slope of the land where the water usually goes down. I dug up this trench some more to make this deeper so it can accommodate more rain water runoff. Then I got some small stones from the 2-feet high retaining wall that I took off earlier and used this to line up the bottom of the swale/berm. This should reduce the flow of excess water runoff when it rains so it will not carry away the top soil from the garden. I already added some compost and rabbit manure into the raised bed at the bottom of the garden so this should help to control any water runoff from the rain. I'm thinking of putting a cover on this newly made raised bed at the bottom of the garden because I just dug it up yesterday so it is exposed to the rain. I am afraid that it might get washed out with this storm. I don't have any mulch available to cover this exposed soil but perhaps I'll find something tomorrow.<br />
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<br /></div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-43376069552640581202011-09-23T09:00:00.000-07:002012-06-07T11:45:40.633-07:00Planning the Backyard Garden<div style="text-align: justify;">
We've been busy lately doing some shopping for a wedding gift for a friend who just got married today. So after we came home from the wedding, I took a short nap and when I woke up, my first thought was about expanding the backyard garden. We only have 4 raised beds in the backyard garden. Two of these raised beds are short actually at just 6 feet long while the other two are 8 feet long. Two of the 6-feet long raised beds which is just behind the aviary gets the early morning sun.<br />
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The other two 8-feet long raised beds does not get the benefit of the morning sun because of the guava tree that is next to the outdoor aviary which is giving a shade to the garden. The entire garden gets the sun only from 11 in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon. The structure on the right side in the picture below is the outdoor aviary with the sun hitting the garden around mid day. I'm planning on trimming the branches of this guava tree so the sun can penetrate the garden at a much earlier time than at 11 a.m. It's just that I am hesitant to do this because this guava tree is the only one that is left after the other tree died. We don't know what caused its demise but we're guessing that perhaps the beetles must have something to do with it. When the tree died, there were a lot of beetles on the ground that fell down from the tree.<br />
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Anyway, the picture below is the end of the garden with the wire-fence concealed just behind the tall ferns and flowers. This is where I placed two of my worm bins and two extra blue pails for
compost materials because it is shaded by the tall plants. This part is actually lower by 2 feet from the garden level. This 2-feet drop is held in place with a stone retaining wall which could not be seen in the picture because of the ferns and the flowers that grew in between the stone walls that is covering it. The space is about 3 feet wide with gravel over dirt and the rest is concrete. I am planning on converting this area into another raised bed to gain more space for planting vegetables. I was taking the measurements for this new expansion when the rains came so I had to go inside so it will have to wait until tomorrow. </div>
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</div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-3536433481179933502011-08-28T09:00:00.000-07:002011-08-28T09:00:01.050-07:00Rain Soaked Garden<div style="text-align: justify;">We are now experiencing a very bad storm or typhoon that started since yesterday. As of 5 PM today, the strength of the storm has gone down to a maximum sustained winds 250 kph near the center and gustiness to 150 kph. The storm is heading towards the extreme northern part of the country and it is expected to out of the country by Tuesday afternoon. In fact, even the college students were sent home yesterday because of the strong storm. Unfortunately, 3 people died here in Baguio City alone when a retaining wall at the Irisan Dump site caved in and buried them alive. Some other 3 people are also dead in different parts of the country and some are still missing. Since our city is located high up in the mountains, we are prone to landslide and sometimes flooding in some low lying areas. In one section of the road that comes to our village, it was washed out so no cars can come in. All cars coming in to the village has to stop and turn around at the top of the street so all the villagers will have to walk at some distance to catch the jeepney or a taxi just to go to the city proper. At Burnham Park Lake which is one of the landmarks in the city, it's also flooded. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now to my poor rain soaked garden. Unfortunately, the wind was so strong that my poor garden was flattened out and the new vegetable seedlings that I planted a few days earlier were all washed out. There is one plot in the garden where I took some top soil to use as a top dress for the potatoes and that section got flooded. I will have to start all over again. I may not be able to do this until after the rainy season is over which should be around the middle of November. The cucumbers that were climbing on the fence in the garden were all blown away, they were bearing some fruits too. We have a lot of cleaning up to do because a lot of debris are strewn all over the place including some ornamental trees that were uprooted and plenty of bushes that serves as a fencing material around our property were all broken down. In spite of everything, we thank God that we are all safe and sound. I will take up gardening again when the weather permits. </div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0Greenwater Village, Baguio City, Philippines16.4013919 120.6066852000000216.3993954 120.60492020000001 16.4033884 120.60845020000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-67686686873166812992011-08-27T09:00:00.000-07:002012-05-22T11:27:57.338-07:00Composting with Rabbit Manure<div style="text-align: justify;">
I already used up one full bin of aged rabbit manure as fertilizer for the potato plants. When the bin was full with rabbit poo, I put the bin outside of the rabbitry thinking that I would use it later as fertilizer in the garden. We drilled some holes on the cover to serve as ventilation for the worms but I forgot to put a second cover on top to protect the bin from the rain. So when I was ready to take out some of the manure, the compost bin was soggy from the rain water that managed to seep through the small holes on the cover. Moreover, I saw some white icky things in the compost that looked like maggots! It was so disgusting to look at that I could not bring myself to dig up the bin and I closed the cover. There were some earthworms and the top of the compost was moving with those maggots. The next day was a hot day and I thought that I'd take off the cover of the compost bin so some of the water will evaporate and the compost will not be so soggy. So that's what I did and I put back the cover after 6 hours of exposure to the sun. It was better than when I opened it first but it was still soggy.</div>
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Then I thought that maybe if I put in some shredded newspapers in the bin, it will soak up some of the water. So the next day, I got a lot of old newspapers in the house and cut them up. Then I put in as much shredded newspaper as I could, even pushing it in to the bottom to soak up the water and covered the bin. After one week, I opened the bin again and I didn't see the maggots but I saw some black creepy things in its place. They looked the size of the maggots but they are dark brown to blackish in color. Anyway, I tried to dig up the bin trying to see where the earthworms are but I could not find any. I thought that maybe they are at the bottom of the bin so I just closed the cover back and left it for another week. It wasn't soggy as when I first opened it. After the week has passed, then I dug up the compost and there were only a few of the black creepy things but no earthworm! I don't know what happened but all the earthworms were gone. So anyway, I got the compost out and used it as fertilizer on the plants. I still have another bin full of rabbit manure with some maggots in it but at least there are plenty of earthworms in the bin. Then I placed the bin outside the rabbitry with its own cover and this time, I remembered to put a second cover on top of it so the rain water will not go through the holes in the top cover. When the weather improves, I will be using this again in the garden. </div>
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The compost bin is located under the shade of the wild ferns and flowers. This is just outside the garden and infront of the rabbitry and chicken coop. </div>
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<br />Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com0Greenwater Village, Baguio City, Philippines16.4013919 120.6066852000000216.3993954 120.60492020000001 16.4033884 120.60845020000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959336782957007899.post-46728110387896310972011-08-26T09:00:00.000-07:002012-06-19T01:55:56.898-07:00Planting Chayote or Sayote<div style="text-align: justify;">
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The lowly Chayote or Sayote as it is commonly called here in the Philippines is nothing but lowly at all. In fact, it is a very versatile vegetable and it can be used in stir-fry recipes and soups. It can also be added to stewed or boiled chicken or meat dinner, it can be steamed and eaten with a dipping sauce of your own choice. It can also be made into pickles or candies if you know how. It keeps well even without refrigeration. I remember a time some years ago when many people in the lowlands were victims of calamities such as strong typhoons and flooding and they lost everything except for the clothes on their backs. The people of Baguio City ( that includes me of course) pooled our resources and sent plenty of sacks full of this Sayote fruits as our way of helping the victims in terms of food aide. </div>
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We have a Sayote plant that was planted in the lower terrace near the rabbitry. The plant used to overrun the roof of the old pigsty before we converted it into the rabbitry. When we started to do the work on the rabbitry, we had to cut off the stem of the Sayote plants. Now, they are growing back again. There are still a few remaining trees that we did not cut when we got some to use as post for the chicken run. The Sayote plant uses these trees to climb onto and it is bearing some fruits now. We gather the tender shoots and its fruits for our own food consumption and we use the leaves and its vines to feed the chickens and the rabbits. Nothing is wasted with this plant. It is easy to grow sayote by using the matured ones and planting it directly on the ground and once it is already established, it will bear a lot of fruits. We apply rabbit manure directly on the plant as fertilizer. Rabbit manure is considered as cold fertilizer unlike chicken dung which has to be aged and composted before being used. This is why rabbit manure can be applied directly without burning the plants. This sayote plant thrives in a cool climate such as what we have here in Baguio City but it will have a difficult time surviving in warmer areas such as in Isabela. My sister-in-law tried planting it in Isabela but in spite of the care that they gave to the plants, they did not make it. </div>
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</div>Inadalouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01616645841406511418noreply@blogger.com1Greenwater Village, Baguio City, Philippines16.4013919 120.6066852000000216.3993954 120.60492020000001 16.4033884 120.60845020000002