Urban gardening that we can actually benefit from

See what you'll benefit when growing your own food 

This pandemic, urban dwellers plunged into the world of "planting" which gave them the moniker "plantito" and "plantita". Indoor and outdoor plants created a demand for the gardening/plant industry. A result of stress reliever for bored people who are under community lockdown. 

When we were young we stayed in Zambales; we lived in a residential and mango land. Our great grandparents planted several trees from mango, cashew, manzanitas, tiesa/chesa (egg fruit), aratiles, and duhat. Likewise, our grandparents have green thumbs and plant all sorts of "halaman", fruits and vegetables. Name it and we have it. We don't usually buy vegetables and fruits. We have kamatis, papaya, kamansi, langka, kamote, kamoteng kahoy, calamansi, sili, kangkong, kamias, malunggay; and we also have a piggery, native chickens, goat, and even rooster (panabong).

As children, we were given the task of water the plants on weekends. Watering plants back in the days, we did not have water hoses, we only had water pumps (hand pumps) and carried the pail back and forth to water the plants. Watering plants is indeed therapeutic and we learned to make conversations with the plants. They say, plants give off oxygen and they need carbon dioxide from humans and animals; it's a give and take cycle. Without oxygen animals would not live. Without carbon dioxide plants would die. Which is a clear example of why animals and plants depend on each other. 

So we water all sorts of garden plants our Lola has; she has an orchid collection, lots of flower pots from gumamela, santan, to sampaguita.  Nowadays, when I see Grab/LalaMove or an online seller stopping along the neighborhood to deliver plants. We remember the days we used to have fun pumping water and carrying heavy buckets to water our little hacienda. Although, it's quite alarming to read reports from botanists and real plant lovers that some of the high-land plants are being poached by locals to address the demand from these urban plantita/plantito. Some are even endangered plants. These plants are not suited in lowlands, they will eventually die. 

Urban gardening that we can actually benefit from 

Living in an urban area with little backyard, we managed to plant ginseng, lime, green tea, sili, camote, guyabano and ternatea (butterfly pea). Before we managed to grow Indian mango, langka, and dragon fruit. But since these fruits need a larger space, and can ruin the foundation of the house, with a heavy heart, we cut them off. Though I still plant sweet mangoes, we plan to bring the "punla" (seedling) to our father-in-laws' land in Nueva Ecija. 

Sili, before we have habanero, but the birds love to ate them! 

lime (dayap)
We bought the seedling from Quezon City Memorial Circle

Green tea
The seedling came from Bataan relatives

camote
When we bought camote tops from the wet market, we planted the remaining stems

lime fruits

tarnetea
Seedling was given by Duran Farm in Basuit, San Ildefonso, Bulacan
during our Lakad Paman Agri-Tourism Farm Tour 

Jatropha podadrica (buddha belly plant) known as “ginseng” in the PHI.
- Toxicity: All plant parts are poisonous, especially the seeds.
- Roots considered antibacterial, antifungal, aphrodisiac.

We have 3 pots of these

Guyabano in a pot.
We were to make guyabano tea from the leaves. 

Oregano 

Recent trip to Zambales, we brought vegetable seeds from Iba, Zambales.  I'll keep this page updated as soon as they sprout. 

Instead of wasting money to show off your luxurious plants, why not plant something that you can actually benefit from. Show and tell your kids how to stop food shortages in the future. Teach them how to take care of animals, how to breed animals, how to plant trees that will last for a very long time. 

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