Gardening

[jpbago]

Has anyone tried gardening or do we have to wait for Thomas?

   I have tried but with no success. I thought that with all the sun and the rain here that it would be easy to grow vegetables but found out that there is too much sun and too much rain. The soil was hard so I turned it over but then the rains washed it away so I built a raised form around it to hold the soil in. I got some potatoes with eyes forming so I planted them. They grew straight up 5 feet tall, then died with no flowers or tubers. The carrots grew 2 inches then died. Cauliflower grew 4 inches and then the insects ate them. The brussel sprouts grew good up to 1 foot then insects ate them. We tried a chemical spray and a soapy spray but the insects won. The tomatoes grew some spindly with no flowers but 2 plants grew over 6 feet with about 8 larger juicy red tomatoes then fell over and died. We got some eggplant until insects ate all the leaves. Bell peppers never amounted to anything. We got a few small hot peppers. I guess the insects don't like them. Okra is doing OK as well as some of Grandma's soup greens. Papaya and obee are also doing good. 

   This might be the reason that the locals don't eat vegetables. The ones at the market are of poor quality except for the carrots, squash, and potatoes. SM is 1 hour away. Rice with chicken or small fish is consistent. 

   I would like to make compost but am afraid that it would attract too many rats and ants. In Canada, the rats come out at night but here they have 24/7 rats or maybe they work in shifts. If you drop any fruit or peeling on the ground, quickly it is covered with ants.

   There is an organic farm and restaurant (May's) not too far but all they have is lettuce sold by the kilo.

   The best that I can do is order chop suey whenever I can.

   

[JJReyes]

Quite a few areas in the Philippines suffer from soil contamination from years of abuse through the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The first step to soil rejuvenation is composting and the re-introduction of indigenous micro-organisms (IMO). Rather than explaining the process, it is best to attend a seminar on organic farming, which you can apply to gardening. 

[JJReyes]

There are about 500 organic farms throughout the Philippines. Some of the owners offer seminars to teach others. It is also known as, "natural farming" as developed in Japan and Korea. I have been to a few, the largest is 400 hectares in Mindanao.

 

Attached are photographs from Villegas Organic Farms in Malvar, Batangas, about 45 minutes south of Magallanes Village using the express roads. Pabs Villegas is selling 1,000 sqm plots already planted to fruits and vegetables. I recently introduce a Fil-Am who is interested in 3,000 sqm to be planted to guyabano (soursop). The soil is already organic. The guyabano will be ready for harvest when the Fil-Am retires.

Edited July 21, 2013 by JJReyes

[Thomas]

Has anyone tried gardening or do we have to wait for Thomas?

   I have tried but with no success. I thought that with all the sun and the rain here that it would be easy to grow vegetables but found out that there is too much sun and too much rain. The soil was hard so I turned it over but then the rains washed it away so I built a raised form around it to hold the soil in. I got some potatoes with eyes forming so I planted them. They grew straight up 5 feet tall, then died with no flowers or tubers. The carrots grew 2 inches then died. Cauliflower grew 4 inches and then the insects ate them. The brussel sprouts grew good up to 1 foot then insects ate them. We tried a chemical spray and a soapy spray but the insects won. The tomatoes grew some spindly with no flowers but 2 plants grew over 6 feet with about 8 larger juicy red tomatoes then fell over and died. We got some eggplant until insects ate all the leaves. Bell peppers never amounted to anything. We got a few small hot peppers. I guess the insects don't like them. Okra is doing OK as well as some of Grandma's soup greens. Papaya and obee are also doing good. 

   This might be the reason that the locals don't eat vegetables. The ones at the market are of poor quality except for the carrots, squash, and potatoes. SM is 1 hour away. Rice with chicken or small fish is consistent. 

   I would like to make compost but am afraid that it would attract too many rats and ants. In Canada, the rats come out at night but here they have 24/7 rats or maybe they work in shifts. If you drop any fruit or peeling on the ground, quickly it is covered with ants.

   There is an organic farm and restaurant (May's) not too far but all they have is lettuce sold by the kilo.

   The best that I can do is order chop suey whenever I can.

I don't like gardening. My garden grow very wild as it wants without I stop it :lol:   (I just planted some berry bushes and let them spread.)

But I study some mainly of BUSINESS reasons, but if I will start such, I will employ someone to do the work  :)   just  having some knowledge myself, so I can instruct if needed, and check if he do a good job.

 

Have you asked your organic farmer neighbour how they fight plant illnesses?

Better fight insects with their natural enemies. E g some spiders fight some type of Filipin plant attacks. And ladybugs kills aphids and some ants move them to use them as "cows"  :dance:

(I have researched rather much, including saved some contacts. There are some organisations promoting organic farming in RP. But all that I have in my crashed stationary computer, so I don't reach it now, and I will not buy any new now, because then I will have to carry more when I move to RP, and probably pay custom fee too.  I will just bring the harddrive and connect it to the new computer. So sorry I can't tell more now than what I have in my head - and that's not much  :mocking:

Edited July 21, 2013 by Thomas

[Old55]

I used to belong to some Philippines organic and other gardening farming Yahoo groups. Do a search there are several.

 

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/spreadorganicagricultureinthephilippines/

[Mike S]

Interesting just took some pictures of my tomatoes and peppers to day not ready to eat yet but they are getting there ..... check the dates on the pictures as some were taken about a month ago and you can compare them with the ones taken today .... we took some tires and cut part of the rim off the top side to make the opening bigger .... here in Bacolod we have plenty of good fresh veggies in the market and also in SM .... but you are a bit further south .... our plants are also planted under a lunka tree for shade at high noon ... that seems to help .... not going to mention bugs to keep from jinxing myself ..... :thumbsup:

 

 

...... today's pic ...... ....... today's fruit ......

 

..... today's pic ...... ..... hot peppers with bananas in the back ground .....

 

 

[imonacan]

I'd love to grow my own tomatoes and peppers. I noticed, the tomatoes served to me in the Pinas as sides.. are usually orangish and not quite ripe. Was wondering about... how long the plant lasts, with there being no cold weather frost to kill it, like here. Maybe it's best to make several plantings, over a year, in a never ending growing season. i have a lot to learn, but it should be fun.

Edited July 21, 2013 by imonacan

[JJReyes]

I'd love to grow my own tomatoes and peppers. I noticed, the tomatoes served to me in the Pinas as sides.. are usually orangish and not quite ripe. Was wondering about... how long the plant lasts, with there being no cold weather frost to kill it, like here. Maybe it's best to make several plantings, over a year, in a never ending growing season. i have a lot to learn, but it should be fun.

 

The yellow-orange tomato is probably a local variety that grows well under local conditions. They are tastier than the genetically engineered tomato sold in American supermarkets. One reason is the GMO tomato is designed for mechanical harvesting; to be picked green; and it has to survive many days before arriving at a supermarket. The agriculture theory is looks are more important than taste, because the palate eventually adapts to the poor flavor. Besides, you just pour additional salad dressing. Nutritional value between GMO and GMO-Free is a hotly debated subject. The researchers are paid by companies like Monsanto, which is the world's largest seed producer.

 

My recommendation is to also plant organic.

[Thomas]

I'd love to grow my own tomatoes and peppers. I noticed, the tomatoes served to me in the Pinas as sides.. are usually orangish and not quite ripe. Was wondering about... how long the plant lasts, with there being no cold weather frost to kill it, like here. Maybe it's best to make several plantings, over a year, in a never ending growing season. i have a lot to learn, but it should be fun.

It depends of what you think of growing, and if you plan to assist them against to much or to litle rain for them.

The Philippines has the differences depending of

hight over sea level making difference in temperature

different soils (but when growing just as hobby, then wanted soil can be added anywhere)

4 different weather zones (differences mainly depending of how the rain seasons are). In a hobby growing it isn't so hard to ADD water, if have access to enough, but harder to get rid of to much wet  :)

Some plants need a dry season during their pollination period to get chance to get a good harvest.

 

So there are some things to check when chosing what to grow  :)   I mean if bother if get good crops or not, otherwice you can just test.

[Dougbert]

From my limited experience around Cebu & Bohol I noticed a few things regarding vegetables

 

1) Okra there is really good.  I grew up in the southern US, so I know my okra and this is as good as it gets.

2) Tomatoes are so-so at best.  Not sure why.

3) Bell peppers were pretty bad.  Thin flesh, tough skin, small size.

 

My future mother-in-law grows some tomatoes and peppers on her outdoor patio in the provinces and they look pretty bad (and don't taste much better even though she is a very good cook).  But some other local vegetables are quite good there--talong (a.k.a. eggplant/aubergine), zuchini-like squash, kamote (sweet potatoes), calabasa, bitter melon, gabi (taro), cassava, kangkong (I love this stuff), sitaw (long Chinese green beans), etc.  I wonder how much of this is the climate vs. soil conditions?