Improvised Mini Net Houses

I've noticed that it's been raining hard in the morning these past few days. I wanted to have a net house for my growing seedlings but I figured it would be too expensive for a small operation. I wondered if I could combine the principles behind netting an ampalaya and having a net house to protect the seedlings from harsh weather conditions. So what I did is take 5 net bags and put it over 5 plant pots. I used barbecue sticks to hold up the nets.

I planted eggplant, squash, tomato, and sitao this morning and laid the pots on a plot I have been working on with organic material for a month.

Here's a view of my mini net houses together with the other experimental plots and my neighbor's plots.

Yellow Sticky Trap Experiment

Here's my version of a yellow sticky trap that I placed near my bell pepper plants

From Module 6 Organic Pest  Management

* "Yellow sticky traps are effective in controlling aphids and leaf miners as these insects are attracted to the yellow color. They work in the same way as fly paper. Yellow sticky traps can be bought from garden supply shops or can be improvised. Yellow plastic plates or bottles can be smeared with grease where the insect pests will stick and be immobilized."

When I read Module 6, I googled the names of the weeds and saw pictures of them. I realized that I have a lot of them in my yard. Now I know that the amaranth and kulitis are beneficial to the organic system.

From Module 6 Organic Pest  Management

* "The common weed, spiny amaranth or “uray” (Amaranthus spinosus) and kulitis (A. viridis) should not be weeded out but instead allowed to grow in the vegetable farm. Amaranthus serve as refuge of the beneficial flower bug, Orius tantillus.

This bug is an efficient predator of thrips. It also eats the eggs and larvae of pest butterflies and moths (called lepidopterans). Thus it is useful to maintain Amaranthus along borders or within vegetable farms in order to provide a continuous sanctuary for the Orius predators."

Kulitis (from Google Images)

Uray (from Google Images)

Here are other excerpts from the module that I found interesting and I might try in my garden (I posted these on Facebook as status updates so that I would remember and also for my friends to know:

* "The increase in yield lasted for more than one season implying that use of marigolds in nematode management in tomato has good potentials" (Ploeg 2002). "The key mode by which marigolds suppress plant-parasitic nematodes is through a biochemical interaction known as allelopathy. Allelopathy is a phenomenon where a plant releases compounds that are toxic to other plants, microorganisms, or other organisms, such as nematodes" (Ploeg et al, n.d.).

* "Corn is also used as trap crop or sacrificial plant in vegetable growing areas. It attracts insect pests thus draws the insect pests to it and away from the vegetable crops. Meanwhile, beneficial insects also stay on the corn plant and wait for the insect pests that they prey on."

Sorta Community Vegetable Garden Phase 1

new lemongrass and oregano to control pests

applied dried bamboo as mulch on pathways

drying weeds for mulch

defining our weird diagonal vegetable plots

chopping branches to use as markers. with Siopao the blue-eyed cat of Dan Matias.

Making Compost in a Bucket

Here's the compost I'm making using kangkong cuttings and fresh cut and dried grass.

I put a thin layer of soil after every layer.

Then I covered it with towels.

I tried to plant tomato and eggplant seeds in the plot I made with the 1-month compost I made.

I put mulch around the tomato and eggplant seedbed.

Gardening w/ My Natural Farming Neighbor

Here are the plots I prepared for my neighbor Matt. He has a burrito business.

Here are the oregano cuttings Matt planted on his plot.

I prepare these plots a month ago using the lasagna method.

This is my neighbor, Matt.

The first two plots from the left are prepared with the lasagna method and has decomposed for a month. The third plot is a new one and was tilled and planted on without and organic fertilizers. We planted oregano on both plots to see which oregano grows better.

* My neighbor worked in a natural farm. I looked at his handouts and manuals and saw that the methods are almost the same with organic agriculture. The only difference is that natural farmers defined OA differently, they assumed that OA farmers sometimes use synthetic fertilizers. We should teach people that this is not what real OA is doing.

New Herbs from Herb Republic

Vietnamese Oregano, Peppermint, and Vietnamese Basil

Prepared a new plot for my neighbor. He plans to plant tomato and lettuce

Applying My 1-Month Old Compost

First, I had to trim a lot of weeds. I didn't get the chance to garden last week.

I applied the compost I made in a bucket last September 23. It was wet because rain water got in.

Then I applied the compost I made from the compost heap.

I accidentally cut one of my bell pepper plants! Now, I only have 4 plants.

The bell peppers are on the left side of the photo and the herbs are on the right. I plan to plant basil and tomato plants in the middle.