Wipe Out

As of right now, 25th of March 2015, all my plants are DEAD.
Well not all. My Persimmon is still holding up. But it is showing signs of readiness to leave this earthly plane.

My feelings about it? I am nauseated looking at all my hard work wither up like that. I feel like I lost a kin (I may just be too dramatic about it) to a deadly plague. What plague you may ask? Little stubby bugs called the Mylea bugs. A simple garlic-soap mixture might had done the trick but there are other factors involved. It did not help that I forgot to water them at times. You get too busy at work and forget your kids, they tend to deteriorate especially if they can't get themselves their own water. So for urban terrace gardeners out there here are some things you might want to put into consideration:

1. Water needs of your plant
  If it is high, then maybe you should not put it in a sunny area if you cannot tend to them that much. If you have time to spare them, then by all means put them under the sun! IF they need and want a LOT of sun.

2. Sun needs of your plant
 I charge this to experience. My research was inconclusive with the sun requirements of some of my plants. I think some of them were over exposed, or some of them had less than what they needed. UNIFORMITY is the key. I should have picked plants with the same needs since I do not have a lot of time. Treating plants with different needs the same way is a DEADLY mistake.

3. Mylea mylea
 These are nasty bugs. I notices my watermelons withering. I thought it was because I was not watering them enough. But lo and behold as I took a peek right under their leaves (No I am not a peeping Tom) I saw these tiny incarnations of evil all too eager to suck out the life of my plants. FIRST, I tried to squish them with my hands. It would had worked had I had the squishing speed the same as the reproduction speed (I read they reproduce faster than Rabbits! Eep!). Then, through the squishing days I noticed my plants deteriorating in health. The weren't as vibrantly green as they were. Then a few more days passed and they turned brown, and that's when I knew I had to throw in the towel with the only consolation that those bugs are going to die of starvation if my plants died.

4. Time, Effort, Energy
 This was another issue I had a wrestle with. When I began this voyage, I woke up early for my plants so I can water them and take them up. They responded to me by growing stems and popping out leaves. I had to transplant some of them since they were crowding the nursery. Then the months passed and I had more and more to deal with work. I couldn't get up early because I was up late catching up with my shows, or when I could, I'd rather stay in bed. We tend to forget the things that we set out to do in the beginning and end up losing what we worked for. I had to learn that the hard way, watching my plants die slowly, one by one until none were left, but empty pots that once was home to such promising dreams.

DISCIPLINE is key to combat weariness I learned. TIME MANAGEMENT has to be improved so I can take care of my plants and still do things I want too do (albeit, ride my bike, do my carpentry projects, watch my shows, etc.). EATING PROPERLY may seem trivial but it is necessary for us to have energy to do everything we want to.

5. Experience
 This is one thing that I am equipped with even if it's just a little. I am going to start my garden again with everything that I've learned in my heart then maybe I can have a better urban garden (or a actual one for that matter) and an urban life.

Sling shot

You hold and grip
you load and pull
you pull and pull
closer and closer
slowly but surely
closer and closer
When the right time comes
you let go and launch
the rock flies
momentum builds
it hurts a passerby

but you grin and you smile
not knowing what you've done
you've pulled so hard so closely
only to let go

Kiwi update 1

So... they all died. was it due to the soil? maybe the pH level was too high :| I always kept the soil damp. But alas... the last 2 kiwi sprouts died. I'm going to try again with Perlite potting mixture.

I'm trying to grow Cilantro now. Got seeds from Ramgo. Today is day 2. :) I hope they turn out better than my kiwis.... sob...

Growing Calamansi

As a kid back in '93 or '94 we had a huge backyard where we had several plants and trees. We even had a few chickens there. That was, until, we moved to the city to be located closer to where my parents work. We have a small garden here now. about 18" wide, 40' long, and 18" high. As a household, we planted tomatoes, mints saluyot, talbos ng kamote, and Jasmine flowers (What's a garden without our national flower right?).

Throughout those two gardens, I always tried planting the Calamansi tree. We had calamansi abundantly at home, so whenever we would slice them, I would collect the undamaged seeds dig a hole in the garden, and water it religiously until frustration sets in and all hope has wilted to a dry crisp. Thanks to the internet, I found the answer to the nagging question, "why won't my calamansi seeds grow??" Calamansi seeds are coated!

Before the seeds grows, the outer layer will have to rot away. That will take A LOT of time. Luckily we can easily peel this layer until a more tender body reveals itself. After peeling the layer away, use the damp paper towel method and let it germinate. Calamansi seeds have HIGH germination rate so you may only want to germinate seeds equal to the number of trees you can handle when they grow.

 I am not sure if it will grow if you just plant it directly but I'm willing to bet it will! Just make sure to water regularly. Calamansi trees love water and sunshine so make sure to give them both of those. As for the soil, I'm just using the regular one you can easily get from you  local garden place. I bought mine for Php30.00 per sack. SO far it keeps my seedlings happy.

Step-by-step procedure of how to peel the said seeds:

Here is a Calamansi seed. It is slippery and wet.

1) Let it soak in warm water overnight

2) Lift your Calamansi seed like so

3) From the pointy part, try to peel off the outer layer... like so:

4) Peel completely until you are left with a greener, smaller version of the previous seed:

GERMINATION STATION
Allow seeds to germinate using the damp paper towel method. Expose to sunlight daily.

Potting
Once your seeds have sprouted 2 leaves, they are ready to be potted! Be gentle because the root system might be tangled with other roots in the germination station. Make sure not to damage your roots!

PLANT JOURNAL
DAY 1 (germination station): 27 JAN 2015
POTTING: 1 FEB 2015 (when leaves emerged)

Currently my seeds are potted and have grown true leaves!

(taken 18 FEB 2015)

Till my next blog! Happy planting!

How to grow Kiwi vines in the Philippines

Hello! I've always been amazed by this fuzz coated egg-like fruit called the kiwi. I've always thought that these grew in the colder regions of the earth but after researching, to my surprise, these amazing are local to the east asian region. It likes the sun SO much. But growing it from seeds is quite hard but can be rewarding (as I am yet to know).

I started my Kiwi "green house" on the 22nd of January 2015. They germinated on the 1st of February 2015. That was quite fast looking back, but the wait felt like forever! I could not wait to see my little babies sprout. By Feb 1, most of the seeds already had roots, what looks like stems, and leaves about to escape the seed husk. I wasn't able to take a picture then but the picture below was taken on the 9th of Feb 2015.

Kiwi vines are dioecious, so you will need a male and a female plant. One male can fertilize upto NINE FEMALES! Deyum boy!

(@ 19 days old)

KIWI GERMINATION/ GROWING

Here is a list of things you will need:

1) Paper towel (or tissue)

2) Any transparent plastic container (I used an old container of take-out noodles)

3) Strainer

4) Kiwi fruit!

5) WATER!

6) Small container (I used the Icecream container from selecta)

7) Transparent plastic lid or clean wrap 

8) Rubber band

Here's the procedure:

DISCLAIMER: The pictures used in the "Here's the procedure" does not belong to me. I was not able to document my seed extraction so I am just using pictures taken from google.

SEED EXTRACTION

1) slice your kiwi into quarters.

2) Remove the white core and try to get as many seeds as you can. You can eat the left over pulp :)

PULP REMOVAL

3) Put your seeds in a strainer and rinse with running water. 

    IMPORTANT: Make sure you remove ALL the pulp that is in contact with the seeds. The pulps have chemicals that prevent the seeds from germinating.

GERMINATION STATION

4) After you have thoroughly rid the seeds of the pulp put them in a paper towel or tissue paper and dampen it.

5) Press gently to squeeze out excess water.

6) Fold the paper towel or tissue paper so that the seeds are covered. Yous should still be able to see the seeds thou.

7) Put the paper towel with the seeds in the plastic container.

8) Shut the container tight.

9) Expose the container daily until two leaves have emerged.

10) Once two leaves have emerged, they are now ready to be potted.

POTTING

11) Make sure to use SOIL WITHOUT FERTILIZER. Kiwi roots easily burn from nitrogen. I used regular earth you buy from the nearest garden place. It cost me Php30.00 for a sack.

12) Place the soil in the container.

13) Gently remove seedlings from the tissue base. The roots are very sensitive so try to maneuver VERY CAREFULLY. Cut the tissue paper as needed.

14) Water regularly. Kiwi seedlings love water :)

CURRENT KIWI STATUS

Out of around 50 that germinated. I chose 18 of the best. But unfortunately I bought bad soil (I'm not being a sore gardener they were really bad) which had A LOT of rice husks and did not really have a lot of soil which caused the water to leak out faster with not enough time for the plants to absorb. After recovering from a brief moment of depression, I bought new soil from a different garden place. This time it was all soil :D But another test was about to come. I forgot to water them in the afternoon since the sun is hot right now and the soil dries up fast. when I came to look at them, all but two died. Now the two are planted in the same container but are under my room light. I really hope they survive :(

I will post updates... Probably tomorrow! Till then, come drought come heavy rains, happy planting :D

Kiwi Trellis Design

So here are a few of my design for the kiwi trellis. Growing the Kiwi vine is probably my most ambitious plan. More so growing 4 plants! I've never heard of anyone growing the plant here in the Philippines. But I read it is local to us East Asians. New Zealand was only able to commercially grow it in the 1950's if my facts are correct. The idea of growing this vine was enough to leave me sleepless for nights thinking and looking for a design for my Kiwi trellis.

So far thou, out of probably 50 kiwi seeds that I germinated only 4 or 6 survive. I was anguished. But who's to say that I don't deserve it? My latest wipe out was because I forgot to water my kiwis one afternoon. Oh my poor little sensitive kiwis seedlings :(
Kiwi vines grow upto 40' if unchecked. A happy healthy kiwi pruned 16' :)

I follow the Imperial measurement system so all my sizes are in inches (").


Below is the design for my Aluminum Kiwi trellis.
I will be using 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 tubular for everything. Except for the Green box. That's the final planting place of the kiwi. I read that a mature kiwi in a container will need a 24"x 24" x 24" box to house the root system. To weigh down a light material, I might need cement blocks at the lower left and right legs of the trellis.

Below is a design of a Wooden (aqua) and Cement (blue) trellis. I need the cement to hold the tall structure in place. The measurements above and the Green box still apply here.

Here is another design with Planter boxes attached to the trellis. That should hold this huge of a structure down!

 SO there you have it. All my hopes and dreams summed up. A few drawings of a plan that I really REALLY hope will succeed. Thank you for reading and happy planting!

My Garden Floor plan

So here is my plan for my rooftop garden. The area I'm allowed to use is 38' x 16.6'

I have several citrus trees in the plan:

4 Dalandan trees

4 Lemon trees

5 Calamsi trees

4 Kiwi vines (3 female and 1 male)

1 Watermelon patch

3 Herb towers (or maybe just one)

1 Persimmon tree and

2 Tomato patches (or maybe just one)

Let me explain the plan just a little....

That swirly thing in the plan is the staircase leading up to this deck. The floor is solid concrete so I will be making a container garden. The big circle in the lower mid section is a water tank that provides for our place. Oh! I almost forgot! Those black squares are posts by the way. Whether I fail or succeed, I will leave it up to you guys to learn from my mistakes and from my accomplishments (if there will be any). :)

SHELTER

I even plan to set up a small pergola at the upper left hand corner (36" x  72"). Nothing fancy. Just some solid mesh tied with rattan ropes to the posts. will let some creepers grow there for coverage and might make some DIY sofas made out of pallets and place them there too. This patio would be perfect for lazy Sundays.

SUN

The sun rises at the lower right hand side of the floor plan, enough to engulf the whole floor with plant growing sunshine. By noon time there is NO shadow there are the sun is directly above the whole deck. By around 3PM I need to move my plants to empty space near the swirly circle. There is a building to the left of the floor plan that is taller than the one I am occupying. But as the sun sets to the left of the floor plan, the light is concentrated to where I said I move my plants by 3PM :)

If i do not move my plants, they get around 8 hours plus plus (maybe even 9 or 10) of sun exposure. There are days that I get too busy (or lazy) that I neglect to move them. but 8 hours of sun is good :)

KIWI TRELLIS (STEEL vs WOOD vs ALUMINUM)

Steel - offers a sturdy support. I read that each vine would need a trellis that could support 300lbs! I'm pretty sure steel could support that much, but the problem is how do I get them up there? AND THE PRICE!

Wood - also offers sturdy support. I can get it up a spiral staircase too! But... the price. Gawd... I cannot use Palochina wood. It is the cheapest but will rot away. Coating it is another expenditure and might be toxic for my poor growing kiwi vines. And did I mention the price tag?!

Amuminum - offers support less sturdy than wood but can be compensated by the design. Aluminum tubes unlike wood is hollow and unlike steel is thinner. Thou its light weight allows me to move the whole trellis from one floor to another. I just need to weight it down with the plant box. More of this in my blog about my Kiwi vine-plans.

I hope everything goes well! Happy planting everyone!

DIY Paper Pots

I'm trying to reuse as much as I can when it comes to my garden. I hit a bump when I needed more containers but couldn't find any more at home. I tried asking my neighbors but they're using theirs too. Sigh... These are the problems of a pauper gardener. With only a small amount of money to spare for my garden since I live on a a minimum wage, I went to the place where almost all the questions of life is answered.... THE INTERNET!

Here is a list of things you will need to make your seedling pots:

1) Old newspaper;

2) Scotch tape and;

3) A cylindrical mold (eyeglass container or a pencil holder will do).

Before we get into making paper pots, let's answer the question, "Why paper pots and not the hard plastic ones or the soft plastic ones?"

1. PRACTICALITY

You can easily tear the paper when putting the plant in a pot. You don't even have to get rid of the whole thing since it is biodegradable and will later on be food for your growing plant.

2.ECO FRIENDLY

It is recycled material. You cannot go wrong with this.

3. POCKET FRIENDLY

It is cheap and costs almost nothing (A brand new broad sheet is 15.00 and a roll of tape is approx. 20.00. That should give you A LOT of paper pots).

4, DURABLE

You would initially think that the paper would unravel and the tape would give in. I personally didn't mind if it did since it cost almost nothing to make it. But to my surprise, it lasted the torrents of watering i gave my watermelons. WOW!

But in any case, tiny pots will only house your plants for the first few months and later on will need to be potted in a larger container.

Below is the picture procedure of how to make paper pots:

                                                1. Here is half a sheet of a broadsheet

2. Fold the broadsheet like so:

3. Here is what it looks like after being folded in half:

4. Fold it in half again:

5. Get your cylindrical mold and tape the paper around (Don't tape the paper to the mold!):

It is important to note the you must have at least a third of the paper sticking out so it can form a base.

5. Push the lower parts and tape them in place.

Viola! here is you finished paper pot!

Dimensions: 2 1/2" diameter and 3 3/4" height.

Author's note:

You can also use a bigger mold so you can have a bigger pot. 

About me

I usually would not put anything about me but it may be necessary to give readers an idea of the growing conditions of the place where I am planting.

I live in Marikina, Metro Manila, a City in the Philippines where the temperature is above 70^C. This is an ideal temperature to germinate and grow tropical plants, however, I face an obstacle typical of city dwellers: I don't have a lot of space where I can plant. A solution I've found is to use containers and pot plants instead of covering our roofdeck with earth and other needed protections such as root shields, water coatings, and the likes. Also, I live next to the street where a lot of cars pass by. Public transportation, FX, Jeeps, Cabs alike, all pass by our house making it a Carbon Dioxide rich environment. Not really nice for us humans, but is a happy breathing place for my little plantlings (my term of endearment for my plants) :)

I live in the third floor of a 4-story building. The Fourth floor being a slightly unused roofdeck, where clothes are hung out to dry. So I thought why not put up a container garden out there! It's a lot of hard work. Everyday I put the plants up so they can soak up all the sun. Then at dusk, I bring them back down to the 3rd floor so they can be safe from the cats that prowl around at night there. Thou the cats may pose a problem in the future when I've potted my full-grown plants, a solution, would be to put an aluminum mesh "fence" to abate the cats that may use my defenseless plantlings as a scratching post.

I've germinated all my plants from seeds. A lot of them have sprouted already.

Here's a list of the plants I germinated and are now growing:
1) Watermelon;
2) Calamansi;
3) Dalandan;
4) Persimmon;
5) Lemon and;
6) Kiwi.

In my other blogs to come, I'm going to talk about the plants I mentioned above.