The Filipino Mom Blog

I have always dreamed of having a flower garden. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up to colorful blooms everyday? What about butterflies and birds merrily playing in the garden amidst the flowers?

I started having a garden years ago when I started to collect orchids and indoor ornamental plants. But alas, my thumb wasn’t green enough to sustain the life of these unfortunate plants. These all died after a few months. Or maybe even weeks.

I have tried again, last year. We got several grown plants with blooms but the dog thought these were toys and managed to uproot several. So the plans to have this flower garden was botched again.

My husband has been talking about having our own farm and planting plants that will yield fresh produce for our own consumption. A vegetable garden in one area, some fruit-bearing trees in another, and maybe a few chickens that will bring fresh eggs. A part of the plan will be an area for dog breeding, if it is still possible. He said a flower garden would be nice but for what purpose since we can’t use those flowers anyway.

Ok, now I am starting to be convinced to start a vegetable garden.

Plus ever since I have read about Lady Cess’ tomato, pandan and basil plants I got inspired. I also saw photos of my brother-in-law’s garden in the US which has strawberries, eggplants and tomatoes. So those were good prompts to start the journey of developing a vegetable garden.

Oh, another factor that prompted starting the vegetable garden was initiated by a Science activity about plants of my homeschooling son. He needed to plant mongo (mung bean) seeds in disposable cups. I didn’t think twice about planting these in the empty plant box instead for this surely is a good starting point for that vegetable garden project.

So what have we so far? Two calamansi (calamondin) plants for those food that need a little kick. Basil plant for pasta. Lemongrass plant for our fresh lemongrass tea. Italian oregano for that added zing.

So what can be planted for fresh food that can be harvested in one’s backyard?

Fruit trees if the space is big enough for trees. Herbs which can be planted in pots and do not need a big space. Vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce which can be planted in boxes with spaces for each seed and can be bought from gardening stores, bitter gourd, chayote, plus a lot more.

We, I mean I, still have to wait and see what will happen to these plants. For now, I hope everything will grow healthy and sustain its life.

Start your own vegetable and herbs garden now for (some of) your fresh produce. After all, don’t we like our food served fresh?