This Covid19 pandemic teaches us to love and cherish nature back. People nowadays prefers to stay at home because of fear contacting the virus and so we see less vehicles in the road, thus less air pollution. Our time spent at home inspires us to form a new hobby - planting or backyard farming, whether ornamental or vegetable plants both gives more oxygen for us to be healthy. Also, it will help us produce a better
supply of food for the family. We can plant fruit trees, vegetables, and shrubs. And this can be carried out as a family project!
You can start gardening on a small scale. The yard at the back of your house, the space in the front, and the sides of the house may be used too. Before you begin planting, build a fence to protect the plants from stray animals. Fruit and shade trees, hedges and bushes will strengthen the fence.
Trees are usually planted at the back of the house, while hedges and bushes are planted in front. Bushes with attractive flowers will help beautify the house like the bougainvillea. While trees give shade, fruits, fuel (firewood) and sometimes medicinal/ herbal substances, the most common fruit trees we commonly find in a Filipino backyard are mango, guava and guyabano trees. When these trees are in season it will give abundant supply of fruits everyone will surely love, especially moms who are skilled in making jams and pastries out from these fruits.
Next to prepare are good garden tools. Good tools will make the job of tilling the soil lighter. Like spading fork, light hoe, trowels, sprinklers, wheelbarrow, and hose. When everything is ready, plan on what vegetables to plant on your garden. After reaching a decision, plan your work carefully. Since it is a family project, everyone in the family can be given a vegetable plot to take care. That would also give the kids a great sense of responsibility.
The vacant space around your house will make suitable garden plots. Measure the plot according to the size you want and put marker around it. Then you can start loosening the soil to help the plant expand its roots, and raise the plot few inches from the ground to allow extra water to run off when watering. Fertilizers can also make the soil more productive. The most accessible fertilizer to use would be compost garbage from fruit, vegetables and fish washings. In this way, we can also help the environment by recycling our kitchen garbage.
While the soil in your garden plots is prepared, vegetable seeds should be planted temporarily in a seed bed - this can be made out of a wooden box or big pots. Tend on these seeds by sprinkling water and allow time to let it grow for around 2 or 3 weeks or until the seedlings are about 3 inches high. Only then they are ready for transplanting into the prepared plots. Most common vegetables that usually starts in a seed bed are lettuce, mustard, onions, tomotoes, peppers and eggplants. But, there are also seeds that can be planted directly in the ground. The most common are radish, corn, bitter gourd or ampalaya, squash, and potatoes.
Plants need water just as people and animals do. Too much or too little water is harmful. During he rainy days, dig ditches between rows of plants to let extra water drain. These ditches can hold water and in this way the soil under the plants will stay moist or wet for a longer time than if these plants were merely sprinkled.
I got this list of common plants and herbs and its harvest period. This will help you choose the vegetable or tree to raise in your backyard.
Pepper - 3 months
Ginger - 3 months
Squash - 3 months
Lettuce - 6-8 weeks
Radish - 20- 30 days
Bitter gourd (ampalaya) - 3 months
Lemon grass - 12 months
Banana - 2 years
Guyabano - 3 years
Avocado - 2-5 years
Mango - 3-5 years, fruits matures 3-5 months after flowering
Guava - 3-4 years
There is pleasure in working together, tilling the soil, and making it produce. Then nature's reward will come in the form of plants growing and bearing flowers, vegetables and fruits.
Some wonderful quotes to inspire us :)
"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn
"We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us." - Jenny Uglow
I love this one more...
"Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein
So this pandemic, stay home and garden on!
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With this tips I think I will be a better gardener