Square Foot/ meter Gardening in the Philippines

sfg4uKim wrote: Hi kalantasgardens and welcome to the Forum.  

I just read in another post today that it is common to use carbonized rice hulls as a substitute for vermiculite or perlite in the Philippines to lighten the soil.  Is that something you have access to?

My neighbor comes from Dao.

The reason carbonized rice hulls work so well is that rice contains one of the highest concentrations of silica to be found in the plant world. In the area were my farm is is primarily rice fields or either coconut land. Rice hull is readily available and free for the asking. Also it is very easy to get coconut husk and shells which yields a very high quality charcoal. These two items are outstanding additives to the soils as well as in the compost piles. We strictly practice organics on our farm and carbonized rice hull and charcoal are very beneficial organic sources of nutrients.

Hi James,

Last year I was noodling around the internet and found a blog site that you wrote.  It had pictures of you creating compost on your rooftop.  Silly me forgot to bookmark the site.  Can you post a link?

Kay

walshevak wrote:Hi James,

Last year I was noodling around the internet and found a blog site that you wrote.  It had pictures of you creating compost on your rooftop.  Silly me forgot to bookmark the site.  Can you post a link?

Kay

Yes that was a project I did to show just how easy it was to make an effective and inexpensive compost pile anywhere, even on a rooftop, which I posted in the Farm and Garden section of an expat forum site that am a Moderator and I also posted it on a Facebook Farm & Gardening group called "Philippine Farm and Garden - horticulture, aquaculture, and mariculture" on August 5, 2013. I started the Facebook group early last year to discuss this wide range of farm and fish topics as they relate to the Philippines and surrounding tropical countries.

The following links are to the forum article you referenced and to my Facebook photo album were I originally loaded the photos of the compost projects used in that article. Any member of this forum are more than welcome to view the photos and videos on my Facebook page as many relate to my farm here on Dinagat Island.

http://www.livingincebuforums.com/ipb/topic/62147-rooftop-organic-compost-pile-simple-to-do-anyplace-anywhere-anytime/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4700239583809&set=a.4700238663786.2158782.1228755709&type=1&theater
(click photos with mouse and it advances to next photo- information is below photos)

I may add the article to this forum as other members may find it of interest even if they do not have access to rice hulls, as they can be easily substituted the rice hulls with grass clippings, chipped vegetation or uncomposted mulches.

walshevak wrote:Hi James,

Last year I was noodling around the internet and found a blog site that you wrote.  It had pictures of you creating compost on your rooftop.  Silly me forgot to bookmark the site.  Can you post a link?

Kay

I came across this handy little chart on the "yes" and "no" items that can either aid or hinder your compost piles so I will post it so you too can have it.

Well I certainly have not posted in a while as it has been a busy time. The projects are doing well and progressing nicely. I finally tackled a boat project of tearing down an old 34 foot calamari boat to the solid hull board and completely rebuilding the boat.

And I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. It will certainly make it much easier going to the farm and the city as well as to the small island where I will be building a lobster hatchery. We moved here to the little island three weeks ago and are busy getting settled in and trying to get everything organized. I hope to start working on establishing a vegetable/herb gardens on the grounds along with a couple of raised bed rain houses which will allow me to raise vegetables during the heavy rainy seasons.

So as I start work on the gardens here on the island I post photos here on the thread to share with members of the forum.

Hi James!  Glad you are back, looks like lots of great ground to work with space wise!  I am in Ohio, and this is my 2nd year SFGing, although I did the original version back in the day...

Can't wait to see what ou get happening!  So you have to shelter the plants from too much rain?  I would have tried that a year ago, lol



PS: Nice boat! And I love lobster!

Yes, keep us updated!

Hi James. Welcome back!

The boat looks great! And I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with all of that space....

Scorpio Rising wrote:Hi James!  Glad you are back, looks like lots of great ground to work with space wise!  I am in Ohio, and this is my 2nd year SFGing, although I did the original version back in the day...

Can't wait to see what ou get happening!  So you have to shelter the plants from too much rain?  I would have tried that a year ago, lol



PS:  Nice boat!  And I love lobster!

We average over 144 inches of annual rain a year and it can rain from late December straight through early May some years so rain houses with raised beds are needed if you want a successful third yearly crop.

I will be starting on designing the gardens over the next couple of weeks. They will be raised beds lined with hollow blocks and incorporated into the general landscaping. At first I will simply be using a few temporary raised beds lined with coconut lumber so I can quickly get some crops in the ground but I will be continually upgrading the beds as I collect all the needed materials. I will be posting photos as it progresses. So much to do. For a lazy man I always seem to pile my plate high... 

sanderson wrote:Yes, keep us updated!

I certainly will as I have a lot of projects to be completed over the months to come.

AtlantaMarie wrote:Hi James.  Welcome back!

The boat looks great!  And I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with all of that space....

That's easy. Gardens, gardens and more gardens...