Container Gardening Series: Harvesting Okra

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"Good things take time, right. Success doesn't happen overnight. They take their fair share of time. ... So, plant your seed and give it enough time to grow...nurturing them well until harvest time."

The okra seeds looks almost similar to monggo seeds

Harvested the okra at baka maunahan pa ng insekto. Ambilis nilang lumaki kaya pinitas ko na dahil baka gumulang agad. Alam naman natin na usually mga hybrid nabibili sa palengke kaya baka pag namunga ang seeds na galing dito ay maliliit mga tunay na sizes katulad nung ampalayang itinanim ko.

Naging pandagdag sa sinigang na niluto ko.

After the flower, comes the fruit. Our okra plant proudly giving us its first.

Second okra plant bearing its first fruit after its flower. Both plants grown together at the same time, and both are now bearing their first fruits after a few months.

Notice the aphids pests? I got rid of them after taking this photo.

And the third, so far, of my okra harvest soon. I'm planned to let this mature since the plants were attacked by "higads" or the hairy black and brown caterpillars that will turn into moths.

Container Gardening Series: Harvesting Monggo Beans

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Monggo beans in my hand... 5 seeds in total.

This is the third pod that I've harvested from the same plant..but this one is a bit smaller... The others were almost double the size thus having more seeds inside. The other monggo beans plants are also almost ready with their own fruits.

Not much when you look at it by its own, but put them all together (as I am doing - putting them in a jar everytime a few are ready for harvest), I'm sure they will amount to something significant in time... Enough or at least to add to the existing monggo beans we have....

It's not the quantity but the fact that I was successful in growing the plants....so when I have the opportunity to gain access to a farm land (hopefully my own) and plant more veggies, I'll know how to grow and nurture them well.

Eto ang mga monggo beans.

Harvesting one or two seed pods every now and then. Dahil five lang silang monggo plants which gives from one to a max of four pods (so far) each harvest, maybe after a few months or so I will have enough na para sa pang ginisang munggo ...hehehe.

OK lang paunti-unti dahil limited space kasi to plant more of them at our 5th floor unit.

This container gardening of veggies is not just a hobby but a learning process that will be useful when all the luxuries of modern society - electricity, electronics, computers, automation and accessibility to food - are almost gone, inconvenient or not feasible anymore.

I'll be able to grow them easily....with lesser effort, if I am familiar with the basics already.

Preparing for an apocalyptic future? Not really but why not?! Sabi nga ng GMA 7 ... I M Ready!

Not just for calamities mind you.

Rain, Rain Go Away, My Plants are Drowning

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Umuulan na naman.

Hindi naman ako nagrereklamo. Maganda na umuulan. Pero huwag naman sana sobrang lakas araw-araw dahil nalulunod mga halaman ko.

Pinagawan ko pa naman ng shelf sila para Hindi sila siksikan sa sahig. Galing sa dating metal gate namin na nasira lang after a few weeks dahil palpak yung gumawa. Ang dami kasing malalakas ang loob tumanggap ng trabaho pero hindi naman marunong pala.

Going back to the rain. Sira kasi yung alulod ng building namin kaya mistulang may waterfall kami dati dahil direct sa amin ang bagsak ng tubig.

Wala namang problema kapag tag-araw. Tuwing tag-ulan lang dahil kapag nababasa ng todo yung pintuang kahit namin ay nag-eexpand dahil hindi siguro kiln dry kaya hindi namin maisara at mabuksan ng maayos. You need to exert extra effort to open and close the door.

To remedy the problem, nagpagawa kami ng fiberglass roofing sa harap ng pintuan namin. Marunong kasi yung kapitbahay namin na gumawa from kemikal na pinatutuyo sa hulmahan. In this case, plywood yung nasa ilalim. Ibinuhos yung tunaw na fiberglass sa ibabaw ng plywood at pinatuyo.

Though wala ng masyadong tumatama sa pintuan namin ngayon, dahil maiksi lang yung bubong na pinagawa namin, meron pa ring naiipong bagsak ng tubig kapag tuloy-tuloy ang ulan. The positive side, makakapag-ipon ako ng tubig ulan sa lumang medyo malaking container namin. Kulang pa nga dahil malakas ang ulan everyday.

Ang inaalala ko ay kapag hindi pa rin kikilos ang munisipyo dahil building nila ito at di pa naman kami nangangalahati sa bayad (rent to own) ay baka bumagsak na yung alulod. Syempre, kanino pa babagsak kundi sa harap namin.

20 years to pay ang lahat ng units dito. Di ba dapat habang binabayaran ay sagot nila ang maintenance? OK lang naman namin gawin kung nasa amin lang yung may dipirensiya, but it's a part of the whole building that is damaged, and it would need special skills and equipment to fix it dahil nasa tuktok ng building yung alulod. Definitely rin ay natutuluan yung nasa baba namin.

There are advantages and disadvantages of being located at the top most and far end of the building. One positive is that we have the firewall that we could use for other purposes like our plant shelf. Hindi rin daanan ng tao dahil nasa dulo nga kami, and may quick access kami sa fire escape, pero malayo naman sa main stairs located in the middle. Since dito nga sa mga dulo nakapwesto yung fire escape, it occupies half of what could have been our front space. Parang mali nga yata pagkakagawa nito dahil it should be separate from the building. Dahil nasa tuktok nga kami, pinakamahirap magakyat panaog from the 5th floor to the ground floor and back. Araw-araw na exercise naman ang advantage.

What was the reason bakit matagal pinatirhan itong building na ito? Parang may problema nga yata ito kaya natagalan bago pinayagang i-award sa mga recipients.

We are grateful for receiving this as a benefit from the government pero sana ay tuloy-tuloy rin ang serbisyo na maiayos ang mga nasisira dito.