Trying to spread the word

My daughter-in-law is from the Philippines. A cousin and her husband just bought this duplex and separate lot and have fixed it up. I chat with them frequently and they became interested in my sfg. I sent the link to the forum, but they are shy about joining in. However, I though I would post some of the things they are doing.

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Initial clean up of lot before fence
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banana trees planted to provide some shade to the rental half of duplex and the lot.


Initial try at boxes last week using scrap lumber.
The mango tree planted in Dec. Guava tree against the wall.


reconfigured boxes after I reminded them about the 4' rule and not stepping on the soil.



One cubit of screened soil delivered and dumped outside the fence. They have been in contact with an American who is in PI teaching organic gardening. He recommended 1/2 soil, 1/2 rice hulls, some bat guano and quartz dust as the growing medium. Vermiculite and peat moss are not available. Coir is available, but expensive as most is shipped off island. I sent them a collection of hot climate tomato seeds and some companion herbs. The teacher is starting the seeds in his greenhouse for them in exchange for a few plants. He is going to study which ones might do well the the PI heat.


The rental side of the duplex after they cleaned it up and painted.

Wow, what a great project! I especially like the variations on the mix using what is available locally. Looks like they will have a huge change in that yard in months to come. I hope it goes very well for them, and it would be a privilege if they'd consider joining us here on the forum, too.

An interesting note: I'm encouraging them to start a compost pile. Green is readily available as they have to cut down the wild grass that grows up close to their fence area to keep down the cobra population. The next door neighbor has cows and the husband makes pasture patrols and scoops up what he can. Rice hulls can provide the brown when they can get a bit of extra cash.

They got a legacy that enabled them to buy the house. They live on USD 400 per month which is actually very good for the area and my daughter-in-law and I are helping the cousin go to college to get an accounting degree. We get to stay in the rental unit free if we visit. They hope to augment their food budget with the gardens.

The cutest members of the family

What cuties!

Sounds like they have a prime opportunity to extend their food budget. And maybe if their neighbors notice their success, they might try it too?

The one thing they may want to look out for is spacing between their boxes. My front yard boxes were about the same, last year. It seemed perfectly fine while the plants were small, but I had a hard time getting in there once everything was full-size.

Oh how exciting!! and I love how they painted the house!!! What a treat!!! I work at a paint store and I get SO tired of beige and off white. We have over 6000 colours at Akzo Nobel/ICI Paints alone and life is waaaaayyyyy too short for beige. I would love to move to Puerto Rico or the Philippines. They don't even know there is a colour beige.

Good plan to reconfigure the boxes. When I eventually redo mine, I will probably not make them any wider than three feet.

Thanks for sharing their progress with us. Tell them how exciting it is for us to see the results of their hard work and encourage them to join us. It will be fun to see how their project takes off. who know how that will affect their neighbours and possibly encourage them to do something too.

Thanks again. that is wonderful.

Gwynn

Gwynn, I inherited a bathroom that's Pepto-Bismol pink -- the ceiling, the walls, EVERYTHING. It's absolutely hideous, and I'd trade it for beige in a heartbeat. One of our friends calls it the Epic Bathroom.

I'm actually planning on a soft blue or a sage green, but beige would be better that what it is now.

What they started with and that carport crumbled and fell. Had to haul all of the rubble out of the driveway and lot area.



Side they live in. Units are 50 sq meters.


Nipa hut they built for storage. note the orchids in the coconut shells.


orchids in bloom at Christmas

I found this site about the quartz dust use in gardens

http://infiniteplaythemovie.com/rock_dust_earth_remineralization.aspx

Old Hippie my dream house can be seen on the movie "Fools Rush In" with Selma Hyack and Matthew what's is name (need more coffee). Lot's of colors to match the sunrise and sunset.

Lefee, just curious, did your house also come with mustard yellow and avocado green appliances or kitchen colors? That pepto pink sounds like something right out of the late 60's early 70's here in America.

Boxes filled and shade cloth up. Lime was also added to the mix. Shade cloth is essential.



He swears these are 3 days from sowing. planted in cups of mix from an upside down tomato planter that I send him. The maters didn't make it. planted on Sun. He will try to separate into individual plants

Wow, looks like the plants are just booming.

Hope they can separate the individual plants out before the roots get too tangled. What a marvelous way for them to supplement their food needs. Working on that at home too.

enjoyed the pictures of PI having lived there for a lil while....and the soil was awful tried to SFG & could not find the add in's
Ruth

all planted on the 17th

cherry tomatos and basil


corn


fuzzy pic of basil


mystery heirloom tomato no variety on package




orange tree about 2 months old tiny japanese oranges


netting box to keep the birds off the seedlings

You just never know what will pop up when you plant seeds.



My friends in the Philippines were startled when checking out seedlings especially since they are growing in this set up to keep the finches from pinching off the tops. This little toad had buried himself in the bottom of the pot.

Walshevak, Thank so much for keeping us updated on your extended family doing their SFG'ing in the Philippines.
I enjoy seeing the various methods they use for beds, making do with what they have, protecting seedlings etc. These are ideas that some of us might never have thought of.

Here are some new pictures from PI.

purple basil, cukes and Italian salad mix



Italian lettuce mix


kale and another cuke


swiss chard


herb bed filled with compost made and sold by Western Philippine University for 20 pesos per kilo. Approx 50 cents. Part of ther agriculture program


Finally some grids


the banana grove NOTE the blue water container used to carry water from the house to the garden area. palm thatch is laid on top to cut the heat of the sun. Water gets bath hot out there in the open area.


They are really excited about growing veggies that are not readily available at the local markets.

the Philippine garden at 1 month. Still can't convince them to put in grids, but they are doing more sqft gardening than row gardening.

lettuce and corn



Italian lettuce mix


basil and lemon cukes over planted basil seed and also has it growing in the herb bed not shown. Decided to just harvest until they get down to 2 plants in that spot.


chard


kale


lemon cukes and kale


overall view onions in the open looking space. background is bed being saved for tomatos.

That is really looking good for just 1 month.

This garden should really make a difference in fresh veggies for their table.

I was JUST think of this today at the grocery store. Don't remember why it popped in my head, but I was wondering how it was coming along for them. It's looking great!

Latest pics for PI 3-25

tomatos transplanted. Marigolds and basil in bed as companions


Lettuce, kale and cukes. First salad was pronounced "very tasty". Kale harvet starts next week.


the mixed italian greens, corn, and onions


the herb garden which also includes some carrots. even the parsley came up.

Wow, looks fantastic!!! (And is that a grid I see? )

Yep, I'm trying to encourage the sfg method. And all of that is from seed which I sent them.

By Jove, that's a grid, so you have converted them to full on SFG. Stuff is fair jumping out of the mix they made. Apart from getting a lot of satisfaction from growing their own and knowing what's gone into it, and it being really fresh they'll save money just by not having to travel to buy all their veg or pay shop prices. I would love to have orange and banana trees. I had an avocado but two cold, windy winters in a row killed it off. Speaking of avocado and inherited Pepto bathrooms we inherited an avocado colour toilet. It's very ->

walshevak wrote:An interesting note: I'm encouraging them to start a compost pile. Green is readily available as they have to cut down the wild grass that grows up close to their fence area to keep down the cobra population.

Just re-read this entire thread......COBRA POPULATION?!?!?!?!? Oh Thank you God for my Zone 3B location. Forgive me for complaining about winter and late spring.

Gwynn

Yep, cobras are a problem. Fortunately cobras tend to be shy unless disturbed. They also found a baby crocodile in the house after some really heavy rains. They took it to the crocodile conservation farm.



Just heard from them late last week and they had to rip out all the lettuce mix after only one harvest. It had turned bitter within a week. I linked them to several posts here and they are going to try again with more water and a different variety.

They have had 2 harvests of kale, and are very pleased with that crop.

Kay