In a country blessed with agricultural land, it is alarming to know that in the First Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey (SWS) conducted last March 2018, around 2.3 million families or 9.9% of the respondents answered that they had been subjected to involuntary hunger, which according to the survey is the “lack of food to eat”.
This rate of hunger in the country is what the National Nutrition Council (NCC) aims to curtail. This July, touted as the country’s Nutrition Month, NCC launched the campaign, “Ugaliing magtanim, sapat na nutrition ay aanihin.” It is a call to Filipinos to practice backyard or urban farming in households, communities, schools, and offices as a way to augment the access of families to sustainable and healthy food choices.
Starting a food garden will also alleviate hunger, promote a nutrient-rich diet, secure food sustenance, and a possible means to generate additional income.
Interested in starting your mini food garden? Despite the widespread belief that to start a food garden, one must have ample space to cultivate plants, here are some tips on how to propagate produce even within your tiny area.
TIPS ON HOW TO START A FOOD GARDEN:
- Decide what to plant.
Before starting with your food garden, it is best to identify the plants that you want to grow. Some easy to germinate and maintain plants in your backyard include leafy greens like lettuce, pechay, kangkong, kamote tops and celery or fruit-bearing plants like tomatoes and chili. Herbs are also relatively easy to propagate and can thrive in small pots or containers. For those with spacious vacant lots (or an area to store bigger and deeper pots), one can try planting root crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes or purple yam, or create a vertical wall wherein an ampalaya or string beans plant can crawl and thrive.
- Start small and research.
While the term “garden” may overwhelm some because it connotes large land space or ample of water supply, there are many options now to grow a food garden. One can have an indoor herb garden, or a vertical garden consists of 3-4 plant containers. Also, once you’ve had a plant in mind, research about it to understand the ease or difficulty of growing it since some plants need a different type of soil or climate condition to bloom fully.
- Don’t just throw it. Plant it.
Unknown to many, common ingredients used in Filipino dishes are easy to plant and harvest at home. If you see onions or garlic in your kitchen that has grown sprouts on it, don’t throw it. Instead, plant it in small pots. Savage the dried out ginger roots by soaking it in water overnight then plant it. Soak the bottom part of celery or pechay in water and let roots grow before transferring it to pots or soil-filled containers. If you have a larger space, you can explore planting malunggay or fruit-bearing trees like avocados or mangoes.
- Upcycle and Recycle.
No need to buy new terracotta pots or expensive fertilizers to maintain a food garden. Recycle old soda containers by using it as an alternative to pots. To make your make-shift potting container, cut an opening on one side of the body of the plastic bottle wide enough to be filled with soil. Also, add small holes to serve as water drainage. These containers can be stacked together vertically using a wire that can be hung on one side of your wall. It will also save you from using a lot of water since the water can drip from one bottle to the next. Meanwhile, instead of throwing it out, leftover food can be used as organic compost to enrich the planting soil. Other materials that can be used as planters include garbage bags, which is perfect for growing root crops, unused mason jars, and soda tin cans. Meanwhile, tissue rolls can be upcycled to become seed starter pots.
- Attention is the key.
Gardening needs attention. Therefore, it is best to observe your space and check the best spot to place your food garden. Plants are best exposed in areas that receive ample (but not direct) sunlight so as not to wither it. A perfect spot would be a windowsill that gets the right amount of sunlight. Maintain a routine to water and fertilize the soil. You don’t want your plants to dry out nor too soaked in water. Lastly, be mindful of worms or insects that might prey into your plants or weeds that might eat up the nutrients of the soil.
Indeed, cultivating a home garden has a multitude of benefits for families. It allows them to save on their food budget while obtaining a nutritious source of food. It can also serve as a means to earn additional income by selling the harvests and helps reduce the carbon footprint of our food source. Let us start fighting hunger in our backyard, schools, and communities by starting our food garden. (PTV – Aleli V. Dorado-Suguitan)
