Some updates ...

- i transplanted all the pechay seedlings to the garden plot yesterday ... i also transplanted the diamante tomatoes and upo to their garden plot this morning ... the green chilli seeds did not germinate up to now (2 weeks already). i dug the pots and could not find any seeds there, something ate them or took them away 🙂 ha ha ha ... i need to find a better way of germinating seeds ... the bell pepper seeds are still not large enough for transplant, it may take another 1-2 weeks before i can transplant them ...
- with regards to my first compost, i poured my home brewed compost activator into the bin yesterday morning ... i touched the side of the compost bin early this morning (5am) and it really feels warm 🙂 ha ha ha ... this means that the bacteria in the compost are really busy digesting the materials wihch is why heat is being generated inside the bin 🙂 ...
- i saw this article today http://preparednessmama.com/testing-your-soil-ph-without-a-kit/ ... basically, its a way to determine the PH level of your garden soil by simply using vinegar and baking soda to test the PH level ... its important to know the condition of your garden soil so that you can identify which vegstable will grow well in your garden without you making any changes or you can take some actions to correct the PH level of your soil and bring it to normal PH level of 7 which is neutral - the ideal condition for you to grow any vegstable in your garden ... i have ask my wife to buy me some baking soda the next time she goes to the grocery 🙂 ... cheers

Boo!

i saw 2 zonrox plastic bottle (2L size) in the garbage can this morning that my wife has thrown away. with it i made my own DIY sprinkler can/bottle. i got the idea from the internet a few days ago, and remembered it when i saw the plastic bottles 🙂 he he he. i just modified the design to suit my needs ... i just cut a small opening at the bottom for the vent (also use to put in water and also serve as another handle for the sprinkler) and drilled some holes in the plastic cup (hole size 1.5mm ; 10 holes is just right) ... its just perfect for seedlings and small plants ... and most important, you save on water as you really don't waste a lot of water in watering your plants ... cheers ...

Boo!

while i was watering my plants this morning with my newly made DIY plastic sprinkler bottle 🙂 he he he, i saw my organic fertilizer mixing bottle (6L Absolute water bottle) in the garden. it just hit me, why not do the same thing (sprinkler principle) to my 6L mixing bottle so that i don't need to constantly transfer the mix fertilizer to another bottle to sprinkle the plants. the only problem, i don't want to put a hole at the bottom of the bottle for the vent (you can't mix the fertilizer in a bottle with a hole at the bottom) ... an hour or so of DIY thinking to resolve the problem 🙂 he he he ... simple solution ... put the hole at the top portion of the bottle just below the cap opening and insert a plastic tube inside the bottle. this will let air into the bottle and push the water out to the cap with holes just like a sprinkler 🙂 ... here are the steps of how i did it:

1. drill 10 holes of 1.5mm size into the cap of the 6L bottle ... same as the bottle sprinkler ...
2. the flexible plastic tube i saw at home was from a broken nebulizer tube that my daugther was using before. got my caliper and measured the diameter of the tube to be 5mm ...
3. drill a hole at the top portion of the bottle just below the opening, about 1/2" below it. choose a hard area in the plastic for the hole to be drilled. the hole should be a little smaller than the diameter of the tube, in this case, i use 4.5mm bit for the hole as the plastic tube is 5mm ...
4. the tube i found has one end bigger than the other, so i need to insert the tube from the inside of the bottle and pull it from the outside to position it properly inside the bottle. to do this, i inserted a thin wire across the tube near the small end by piercing the wire into the tube all the way across it and just bend the wire securely to the tube ... insert the wire into the bottle opening and out the hole you just made and simply pull the wire with the tube ...
5. it's all done. now its just a one step process of mixing the organic fertilizer and water in the bottle, put the cap back, shake it a little to mix it, and just sprinkle it to your plants ... you can use a smaller bottle if a 6L bottle is a bit heavy for your taste ...

it took me less than 15 mins to do everything, the hard part is finding a small flexible tube at home when you need it 🙂 ha ha ha ... in case you don't have a plastic tube at home, an ordinary softdrink plastic straw (the one that can be bended somewhere in the middle) will do but it might leak a little when you use the bottle as a sprinkler ... another option, instead of drilling the vent hole on the top portion of the bottle, you can drill a small hole at the bottom side of the bottle and then use an old rubber slipper to make a plug for the hole. when mixing, plug the hole. when your going to use it as a sprinkler, just remove the plug and don't loose it 🙂 ... when sprinkling fertilizer, the hole should be on the top for air to go into the bottle ... cheers

Boo!

just completed the base of my compost tumbler yesterday afternoon 🙂 ... temporarily place it inside the pig pen area to keep it in a shaded area ... it may not look nice but it serves my purpose, i should be able to start turning the compost tumbler by tomorrow 🙂 ... cheers

Boo!

just a note ... a 220 liter plastic drum, 3/4 full of compost materials is a heavy thing to turn by one person. hindi talaga kaya ng powers ko 🙂 ha ha ha ... i have to remove some of the materials to reduce it to 40-50% capacity for me to turn it easily ... i notice that the materials are degrading nicely in just a few days. there is also no bad smell from the material which is really a good sign that the composting process is being done right based on what i have read in the internet ... cheers

Boo!

some updates for this week ...

- the pechays are doing great after a week that i have transplanted them ... some are growing a lot faster than others ...
- the bush sitao are almost 2 feet tall ... there are a some aphids in some of the plants but the infestation is not severe, nothing to worry about ... 2ml of malathion per liter of water was quite effective in controlling it ... if you spray insecticide on the leaves of the plants, don't water the leaves of the plant for the next 24 hours ...
- the upo's are also doing great after a week it has been transplanted ...
- the cucumbers are a bit bad. something is eating the leaves and i don't see any insect or caterpillar on the plants ... i also sprayed malathion on the plants and hope to it can control the insect that's eating the leaves ... i need to do some research on the type of insects that are infecting this plant ...
- the tomatoes are ok but they are not growing as fast as i was expecting them to be ... if they are like this, might as well transfer each one of them into large plastic pvc pots (18cm diameter) and use the garden plot for other plants ... it does not make sense to waste valuable space for vegstables that do not grow that fast 🙂 he he he ...
- the citronella and lemongrass plants are starting to grow new leaves ... these plants do not like too much water so i just water them once every 2 days ... actually, they really don't need any attention ... just plant them and they'll start to grow no matter how bad your soil is ... just make sure that they have lots of sunshine everyday 🙂 ...

the exciting news this week is my compost tumbler. after putting it on a base for me to turn it a couple of times yesterday (5x and it's a good exercise for me 🙂 he he he) ... behold the byproduct of the composting process called LEACHATE (katas ng nabubulok ng organic material in tagalog 🙂 he he he) ... hindi siya mabaho, amoy niya eh parang lupa sa forest after a heavy rain 🙂 ... its the liquid dripping out of the drain holes at the bottom of the plastic drum ... it's like an energy drink (milo) for the plants ... gardeners call it liquid gold, it's similar to compost tea that you read in the internet made from properly composted (high quality) materials ... simply dilute it in water with a ratio of 1:10 and use it to water your plants (directed to the base of the plants) or spray on their leaves everyday ... organic fertilizer everyday for your plants 🙂 ... my 220L drum half filled with compost in one day was able to generate almost 1 liter of this nutritious liquid = to 10 liters of organic fertilizer for watering my plants ... no need to buy any fertilizer for me, i can produce it everyday from my compost tumbler 🙂 ha ha ha ... this morning when i started using this liquid gold, i notice one thing i never seen before ... i saw a lot of honey bees in my garden. they are not just flying all over the area. they are flying around the plants (e.g. pechay and bush sitao) just above the ground 🙂 he he he ... let's see what happens in the next few weeks how effective is this liquid gold as an organic fertilizer ... cheers

Boo!

i used up all of the leachate yesterday afternoon to water my plants and this morning the compost has produce a new batch in just 12 hours 🙂 he he he ... galing talaga nitong na discover ko kay mother nature 🙂 ... free organic fertilizer for life ... i just need to monitor this next few weeks how effective is this to my plants ... cheers

Boo!

some updates for this week on my garden ...

- performed a DIY soil test of our land (1) get 1 TBSP of soil from different parts of our land (2) mix all the soils collected (3) put 2 TBSP each in 1 container (4) put 1/2 cup vinegar in one container and there was no reaction (fizzes) (5) put 2 TBSP in another container and mix with distilled water to make it muddy (6) add 1/2 cup of baking soda, also no reaction (fizzes) ... conclusion is that the soil in our land has a good PH balance (7=Neutral) which means any plant will grow well in it 🙂 ...
- known pest to have attack the plants in the garden in the past are aphids and leaf-miners ... i was able to control them using malathion sprayed once a week ... i still have to find out the insect that chews the stacks of some of the bush sitao ...
- pechay are doing great after 2 weeks since i transplanted (Mar 14) them ... although all are not growing equally at the same time ... i estimate another 2 more weeks before i can harvest some of them ... i need to sow a new batch of seedlings next week (need 2-weeks for the seedlings to be transplanted) to replace the ones that i'll be harvesting in 2 weeks time 🙂 he he he ...
- the tomatoes seems to have grown faster after i started using water mix with leachate (max ratio is 10:1) for the past 2 weeks to water the plants - directed on the soil instead of the leaves of the plants ... the tallest tomato plant now is about 5 inches, 2 weeks after i have transplanted them ...
- the bush sitao (Ramgo Brand) gave me a shock this week, 3 of the 12 plants i transplanted 3-weeks ago was not the bush variety but the pole (gumagapang) variety 🙂 ha ha ha ... i needed to take some immediate action and put some sticks (they started to climb the sticks nicely) beside them to guide them to the trellis ... i hope this is the first and the last time i see this pole variety sitao 🙂 he he he ...
- the cucumbers have also started to climb the sticks i prepared for them since i transplanted them 3-weeks ago ... i still have to identify the insect that is eating the leaves of the cucumber ... as for the upo's, not much update as they are still growing before starting to climb the sticks ...
- after 2-weeks (Mar 16), the green chili seedlings has started to sprout - it was the birds that was eating the seeds before. now, i put a screen on top of the seedling box until they start to sprout :-).
as for the sweet chili pepper (also Ramgo Brand), none has sprouted up to now, i thought it was a bell pepper before, but it's not, its a different variety ... i'll wait for another 2-weeks to see if the seeds will sprout ... i also planted some sugar peas seeds this week ... the bell pepper seeds, i'll plant them next week together with the kang-kong and onion seeds. i still need to prepare their garden plots 🙂 ...

- as for my initial compost, it's on it's 2nd week now. i have been using the leachate i collected to water the plants in my garden. during the first week, i was collecting about 1+ liter a day which was great (more than enough to water all the plants 2x a day). this week, i'm lucky to get 500ml (average is about 300-400ml) a day of leachate. whatever i collected in the morning, i just divide it into 2 and mix it with 10 liters of water for watering the plants 2x a day. it's (leachate) starting to diminish as expected because the compost is nearing it's maturity. i expect the compost to mature in 3-weeks time. let's see what happens next week 🙂 ... cheers

Boo!

the pechays was growing great but the garden plot was ravaged by a hen and its chicks last tuesday and the next day by our puppies that played around the plot. end result, i'll be lucky to harvest 40% of the initial batch i planted. another factor that contributed to the devastation was the close proximity (over crowded) of the plants. for the next batch of seedlings, i need to correct the over crowding and also put a fence made of old cement bags around the plot to hide/protect it from animals. long term plan is to install a PIR (passive infra red) motion sensors (home automation) in the garden to alert me of any animals in the garden 🙂 ...

the sitao and cucumbers have already started to flower early last week (3+ weeks after transplant). by late last week, a lot sitao pods have already started to grow 🙂 he he he. it looks like all of the sitao i planted was the pole variety and not the bush as stated in the seed pack i bought. to prevent this type of problems (wrong seeds) in the future, i changed my strategy of transplanting seeds for large veggie plants - instead of transplanting them directly to the ground, i now transplant them to large pvc plastic bags (the ones you see in nursery but larger) for them to grow bigger. major advantage of this is FLEXIBILITY in your garden ... (1) more time to plan where to permanently plant it on the ground if needed, (2) for those plants that can grow to maturity just on the pvc bag, i can maximize the space by stacking them upwards in rows - as what i have seen in a nursery, (3) easily re-arrange the location of plants if needed - those that need more sunlight can be place in well lit areas, those that needs shades during high noon can be place in shaded areas ...

as for the tomatoes and green chilli, the rest of the seedlings, i have transplanted them into large black pvc plastic bags (13"x 6"). when filled with compost, they are about 12" high with an 8" diameter, which is more than enough for them to grow for the next 2 months. as for the sweet chilli pepper, i'm still having problems germinating the seeds - of the many seeds i planted 2 weeks ago, only 1 seed sprouted. i went to my supplier and she told me that unlike other chilli seeds that requires lot of sunshine to germinate, sweet pepper needs a cool place - i'm going to try this this week.

the upos have also started to climb their sticks this week. they are the most sturdy veggie plants that i have right now - no signs of infestation, large dark green leaves, really not much effort needed to grow them. i also bought some new seeds this week and started to plant them in seedling pots - "barak" baguio beans, sugar peas, and bell pepper. i still could not find cherry tomatoe seeds (F1 season red) and cowpeas/snowpeas seeds 🙁 ...

i went with my wife to a nursery last week. she needs to buy a lot of ornamental plants for the house :-). as mentioned earlier, this is were i got the idea of using large pvc plastic bags for my veggie plants. i learned a lot from talking to the workers, looking at their vermi compost pit, on how they make vermicompost (worm casting or pooh as compost). it takes them 8-12 weeks to make vermicompost which is quite too long for my taste. i bought 1 sack of vermicompost for 150 pesos just to try it in my garden. since it's made from worm pooh, you do have that pooh smell when you use it. it may look cheap but if you realize that 1 sack is only good for making 8-10 pots, then you realize how expensive it is ... why buy when i can make a better compost for free 🙂 ... when we were there, the other workers were preparing 1000 sacks of vermicompost order for another customer.

one good thing in tagging along with my wife to the nursery, besides learning about vermicompost, was this great bamboo ornamental plant i saw there. it's called "golden buho". it only grows to a max height of 6-7 feet according to the staff - i hope this info is true. it has wide big leaves perfect as a natural shade in my garden and in synch with the bahay kubo motif we are doing in our place ... at 400 pesos per seedling, it's worth it to try and grow this in my garden ...

i'll post my updates on my composting activities tomorrow ... i need to go and water my plants 🙂 he he he ... cheers

Boo!

last week was the 3rd week (exactly 18 days last friday Apr 03) of my first batch of compost. if i did the process properly, the compost should have properly matured by now. i will be checking it this week. i'm just thinking out all of the things i need to do to prepare the final product 🙂 ...

the hardest part for me on this composting process was turning (at least 5x) the compost bin every 2 days to aerate the materials inside the bin - it's heavy even if the bin is half full. i need to improve on the process for my next batch of compost ... some of the things that came to my mind are the following:
- use my trusty drill with a spade drill bit with a mixing paddle at the end - the one you use for mixing cement/concrete in a bucket 🙂 he he he ... i'm just not sure if my drill has enough torque to mix the compost ... i tried looking for the bit in a number of marbel hardware and they don't sell it here, i guess DIY people here have'nt heard of it yet 🙁 ...
- place 2-3 pieces of 3" or 2" pvc pipe with lot of holes at the side inside the bin perpendicular to the bottom. with this, air will pass through almost all of the compost material inside the bin. no need to turn the compost bin to aerate it 🙂 ... this is a quick fix and doable in my next batch of compost ...
- when turning the compost bin, instead of putting it in an upright position after turning it, just leave it in an upside down position (overnight). this way, the bottom area will be aerated every other day ... this is also doable for my next batch but i still have to turn the bin a few times (e.g. 1x-2x) every other day.

last week (3rd week), the leachate produce was much smaller, just around 100ml a day. i also notice that the leachate was a bit stronger compared to the frist two weeks - even with a 10:1 dilution and a 20:1 dilution, when i sprinkle the water directly on the leaves of the plants, some of the leaves of some plants are turning yellow or the tip of the leaves dry up. this is a sign that the mixture is too acidic. some plants (e.g. upo, tomatoes) are not affected with it, while others are affected (e.g. sitao, cucumbers). after i stopped watering the leaves of the plant directly, the affected plants was able to recover and the leaves turn back to green after a few days. this was the reason why other experts recommend that for leachate to be really effective, it should only be use directly on the ground around the plant. this way, it will be further process (broken down) by micro organism in the soil before reaching the plant through its roots.

next week i'll give an update on my first batch of compost. as for the vermicompost i bought (1 sack) from the nursery last week, well i already use it in my garden when i transplanted the tomatoes and green chili seedlings into large plastic bags (12"x6") using a ratio of 1:1 (vermicompost and soil). even after mixing the vermicompost with soil, you still smell that "pooh" smell when your near that plastic bags - quite irritating when your not use to that smell 🙂 he he he. this is the one thing that advocates of vermicompost failed to mention whenever they speak of the benefits of vermicompost 🙂 ha ha ha ... for other gardeners, the smell may be tolerable, but personally for me, i would really prefer not to have that smell when i'm working in my garden ... i hope my first compost does'nt smell like this 🙂 ha ha ha ... cheers

Boo!

i made my first harvest from my garden yesterday, 17 pechays and 2 sitaos :rofl:... it's not much but it's a start. my wife mix it with the "nilagang baka" we had for dinner and honestly, the veggies was really sweet when taken fresh from the garden and cooked. it's still a long way before i can realize my goal of harvesting veggies from my garden on a daily basis ... that would really be an accomplishment for me 🙂 ...

the cucumbers have also started to develop pods, the largest is about 3/4". the surprise this week was the citronella plant (or grass). one of the plants started to bloom and it looks like seed pods to me (see photo) that just appeared from nowhere 🙂 he he he. i read in the internet that they don't normally do this - you normally propagate this plants by using some of the stacks from the bush. let's see what happens to this pods in the next few weeks ...

for some reason, red ants are attracted to the vermicompost which i use for the seedling box and the seedling pots. it seems that the vermicompost has a lot of grass seeds mix with it which the red ants really like 🙁 - i notice this in the other pvc pots i use for transplanting. as such, almost all of the pechay, bell pepper, and sweet pepper seeds was destroyed and eaten by the red ants. i had to plant a new batch of these seeds again.
the sugar peas and baguio beans seeds was not touched by the red ants and have sprouted and are growing great. i guess the seeds are just to big for the ants to eat or carry to their nest 🙂 he he he. also, the new batch of sitao and cucumber seeds are doing great. i plan to add more of them in my garden.

as for my first compost, i still have not taken it out of the compost bin. i just had too many things in my plate right now ... "madaming pinagagawa si kumandare sa bahay" :-). before the end of this week i should/must take it out of the bin and also prepare a new batch of compost. my new batch of seeds are growing and they need to be transplanted by end of next week ... hay, my (garden) stress reliever is starting to become a source of stress (mild lang naman) to me 🙂 he he he ...

i have already transplanted the golden buho in my garden. i also read some articles on how to propagate them and took some notes for future use. the downside, i need to wait for at least a year for it to grow before i can start this propagation. one thing that you really need to have in gardening is PATIENCE, something i'm no longer used to, after working in IT for all of my career life 🙂 he he he ... cheers

Boo!

i just harvested my first compost today after 3+ weeks. i was really satisfied with the result based on the berkley method i use in my composting. after i strained the compost through a screen (i used the sand screen that the workers are using for the house construction), only about 2-3 cement buckets remained partially decompose (see photo) - this material will serve as the activator for the next batch of compost.
from the 1/2 full plastic drum, i was able to fill 9 large pvc plastic pots (see photo) with compost + my wife use 2 buckets for her ornamental plants 🙂 he he he. i still have about 2 buckets of compost (having problem uploading the photo) which i plan to use for my new seedlings :-). the one thing i like with the compost i made is that it does not smell like pooh compared to the vermicompost i bought before.
some lessons learned from my initial compost:
- avoid big/hard materials as feedstock as they take more time to break down - e.g. big seeds like mango seeds, any stick of wood bigger than a "walis ting-ting", large chunks of banana stacks (it's ok if you chop them to small 1" pieces).
- use a screen to strain your compost to have a much better (workable) compost. my wife really likes the compost i made compared to the one we bought before 🙂 he he he
- i think sawdust and any dry leaves are the best materials for compost as they are easily broken down by the bacterias.

i'll prepare the next batch of compost this sunday. i'll try to make 3/4 full this time provided i can find an easier way of mixing the compost every 2 days ... cheers

Boo!

the finish product of my composting process 🙂 ... i had some problems (the site always says that the file is corrupted) uploading the photo last night, most likely because of the orange color of the "trapal" i used when i was screening the compost. i took another photo awhile ago, this time without the trapal 🙂 ... cheers

Boo!

some updates on my backyard garden ...

there is now a dry spell here in south cotobato. it has not rained in our area (tampakan) for the past 2-3 months and it's getting worst due to the summer season. in the local news, they are calling it "mild el nino" 🙂 ha ha ha. i'm not sure if there is such a thing as mild el nino, it's either you have it or you don't. that's what we get for not taking care of our environment - global warming. we just have to adapt and live with it 🙁 ...

as a result of this, i have started watering (12 gallons per tree per day) even our lanzones trees (tall as our 2/F house) as their leaves are starting to dry 🙁 ... if the tress are having a hard time, much worst for my vegetable garden. almost all of the small plants (cucumbers, upo, sitao, baguio beans, etc.) are wilting due to the dry spell. even the tomatoes plants (really hardy plants that can endure all day under the sun) are affected. can't do anything much but to adapt to the existing environment and constantly water them all day. lucky for me, i started planting (also transferring) my new vegetable plants into large pvc plastic bags. this way, plants that cannot stand the extreme heat of the sun, i move them to areas where there are lots of shades most of the days.

on a lighter side, i started planting some ornamental seeds, lavender and marigold - gumaya na rin ako sa misis ko 🙂 he he he. i read that these plants are anti-mosquito - my continuous war with this pesky insects 🙂 ha ha ha. according to others, mosquito hate the smell of these plants. i'll see how effective they are in the next few months.

i have again prepared my next batch of compost in my tumbler bin. this time it's 3/4 full. day 1 was last monday (Apr 20). in 3-weeks time it should be ready for use in my garden. honestly, i cannot keep up with my demand for compost in our lot. even my wife is asking for more compost for her ornamental plants 🙂 ha ha ha. worst, my supply of compost materials (feed stock) just keeps on piling up ... can't do anything much but to keep piling them up in a compost pile in one area in our backyard until i can put them in the tumbler bin.

i also identified the reason why so many chickens likes to go to my garden plots. it has lots of worms and termites - one of the plots use to be a compost area of my wife's auntie 🙂 he he he. can't blame the chickens for always going back to the plot :-). it gave me a good idea how to put these worms to good use - making compost. since last week, i just collect all the worms i find when i'm tilling my garden and put them all in a large plastic bucket filled with all the organic food that they can chew on 🙂 he he he. they will multiply in due time with all the food waste i feed them. once they are plenty, i'll dig a trench 1-1/2' deep (worms normally trive at 2 feet max underground) and start my own vermicompost. i just need to read some more on how to prevent them from escaping the trench i dug 🙂 ha ha ha ... my plan (medium to long term) here is to feed my surplus worms to the native chickens i also intend of raising (in a coop) beside my garden 🙂 ha ha ha ... oks na oks sa integration plan and backward linkages ... cheers

Boo!

the finish product of my composting process 🙂 ... cheers

Boo!

Bro, with all this compost made and collected, I'm pretty sure you will have plenty/lots of plants that will become healthy and growing well the way they should be provided them plants are well watered daily. Enjoy your harvest ! :clap:

Congratulations on your success !!