Author: Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center

Flavorful, Fruitful Harvest

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in agroforestry, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

This November, fruit markets and fruit growers will offer seasonal treats like lansones, papaya, guyabano, atis, sambag, and mangosteen. When my family goes to the fruit market we search for the Longkong variety. It comes in compact clusters with super sweet and aromatic fruits (Photo 2, D). Longkong is a cross between other lansones varieties called Paete and Duku. This November, don’t forget to pick up your favorite varieties of some lansones or other in-season fruits.

In celebration of November’s seasonal treats, here are some fun facts and cultivation techniques that help lansones produce delicious fruits.

Photo 1. Different types of mulch for lansones cultivation.
  1. Lansones are grown throughout Philippines’ orchards, farms and backyards. They are usually planted in November or other months during the rainy season. Since they thrive in high humidity and moist soil, farmers and gardeners, water lansones regularly during the dry season.
  2. To preserve the soil moisture, lansones growers add a layer of compost and mulch over their roots. Mulch (Photo 1) can be:
    • A: dried banana pseudostem fibers,
    • B: rice hulls,
    • C: coco coir, or
    • D: coconut husk chips
  3. Most farmers like to transfer lansones seedlings into the field. The seedlings transfer when they have a pair of mature leaves and a strong root system. Young lansones seedlings are planted with partial shade over their canopy. Lansones are commonly intercropped under mature coconuts since their fronds provide natural shade. Other shading companions are madre de cacao and ipil-ipil trees. Otherwise, you can shade seedlings with netting cages or mini pergolas made with banana fronds.
Photo 2. Seedlings and fruits of lansones during cultivation and harvest.
  1. Pruning is essential for fruit growth and pest reduction. Farmers and gardeners remove any unproductive side branches, watersprouts, dead branches and some top portions of the young tree. Watersprouts are thin, useless branches emerging from old bark. Pruning trains the branches to be aerated, well-spaced and lateral. When the top of the lansones canopy is partially removed, it keeps the height at 1 meter. This height is more accessible for harvesting.
  2. Lansones fruits appear in 7-inch long bunches (Photo 2, B & C). Depending on the variety they can be compact or loose bunches with up to 25 or more fruits. When it’s unripe, lansones skin is green (Photo 2, B). As it matures and approaches harvest time, lansones skin becomes thin, leathery and brownish-yellow (Photo 2, C-E).
  3. After planting lansones, you’ll have to wait for 15 to 20 years to see fruits (Photo 2, D). While farmers and gardeners wait, they usually harvest faster-growing trees and vegetables grown in between the lansones trees.

Wow 15 to 20 years! Lansones cultivation makes me appreciate the arduous journey growers and fruit seeds make. As you munch on your delectable fruits this month, I hope you feel inspired to thank a local fruit farmer or learn more about fruit cultivation.

Till next post, hope you have a fruitful, flavorful November.

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Vegetable Combos in November

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Raised Beds

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

November is a time to plant an amazing assortment of vegetable seedlings in Cebu. You can start planting seeds or seedlings of kalabasa, repolyo, rabanos, singkamas, leafy greens, atsal, sibuyas bombay, and more. For a complete list of November’s options, download this free planting calendar. For detailed food garden designs, order my new Kitchen Garden design book.

Ever since I was 19, I’ve learned planting techniques from various types of organic gardening. In previous posts, I’ve shared agroforestry combinations and crop rotation techniques I’ve learned from farmers in different regions of Philippines.

I’ve also had teachers practice planting techniques from styles like French Intensive Gardening, Korean Natural Farming, Australian permaculture, and Japanese Companion Planting. With this array of cultivation styles, beginner gardeners can be unsure of which technique to choose.

In my experience, you need to experiment and test what works for your garden. In farming, we call these experiments test plots or plant trials. These experiments help you record and determine which techniques work with your garden conditions (aka soil, pests, wind, water, etc). It’s perfectly fine to apply various techniques from a mix of gardening styles. You may even adapt or innovate a technique along the way.

The following planting techniques emphasize mixed cultivation and intercropping. The methods aim to:

  • prevent fungal growth & plant diseases
  • maximize garden space
  • hasten vegetable growth
  • deter insect pests

This planting season, experiment and see if they work in your garden. Each illustration below shows how much space is between each seed or seedling. This space gives the plants enough room to mature and grow.

Plant Combos

Ampalaya with sitaw. Ampalaya and Sitaw are grown in a row and supported by a trellis.

Cabbage & Lettuce. Varieties of Cabbage and Lettuce are grown in separate rows, next to each other.

Spinach & Onion. Spinach and Onion are grown in short, alternating rows.

Gabi & Camote. Gabi are grown in separate rows next to each other.

Eggplant Complementary Pairs. Eggplant can be grown with a few key companion plants. Eggplant can be planted with rows of garlic, radish and ginger. The illustrations below show suggested layouts and spacing.

Enjoy, experiment with different techniques and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Remember, green thumbs and gardening instincts are born out of practice, observation and hard earned experience. Have fun and happy planting!

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For our Singing Feathered Friends

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Container Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Raised Beds, School Gardens, wildlife garden

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

October in Cebu brings steady rainfall and a daily chorus of bird calls. Healing Present’s (HP) headquarters is located in the bustling, concrete landscape of Cebu City. It sits far below from the farm’s upland vegetation and pocket forests.

Photo 1. Features in Bird-friendly garden behind HP headquarters–A: Assorted foliage plants; B: Fruiting vines; C: Flowering ginger lilies; D: orchids attached to post

Although the headquarters are surrounded by cement homes and ragged roads, we manage to create an oasis for local birds (Photo 1). It’s truly awe-inspiring what a collection of potted plants, raised beds and vines can do (Photo 1). Without fail, every morning and afternoon, we are visited by local avians like black shamas, sunbirds, flowerpeckers, and more.

In general, adding plants that attract local birds benefits you and the local ecoystem. Birds visit urban gardens for food, water, and temporary protection from predators.

In turn, they grace us with relaxing songs. For some, birdsongs are reminders of our unique ecological heritage. These urban bird oases are also wonderful venues to teach children about nature without traveling too far from home.

Here are 3 strategies to create your own bird-friendly garden.

1. Offer a Fruit & Nectar Buffet. Add fruit-bearing and nectar-rich, flowering shrubs, vines and trees. If you live in a smaller space with a balcony or small courtyard, select dwarf fruit trees or shrubs that grow well in containers.

In urban Cebu’s humid, rainfall, and tropical climate, we can plant so many combinations of tropical fruit or berries. Try adding your favorite local fruit. I’ve seen birds flock to gardens with batwan, biasong, lomboy, or seryales.

If you have a larger space, add mature native trees and vines. As your fruit/flower garden matures, birds will appreciate the free food and nectar. You can add non-fruiting plants too. Birds like to protect themselves amongst large leafed plants (Photo 1) like elephant ear, ferns, crotons or other foliage.

2. Leave the fallen leaves. In Cebu, there’s a compulsion to constantly clean up old leaves. In a bird garden, fight this urge. You can sweep the leaves and debris under the plants. But please don’t throw them and worse yet, burn them. These precious leaves return nutrients to your plants. They also attract harmless insects birds love to eat.


3. Discourage cats. Cats can threaten and attack local birds regularly. In Cebu, sometimes it’s difficult to protect your garden from stray cats. If you have your own pet cat, try to keep it inside or away from your garden. You can also put a bell on your cat’s collar so birds are warned as it approaches.



Photos 2 to 5 are my sample designs. They may inspire your next bird-friendly garden.

Each design illustrates an outdoor space with bird-attracting flowering and fruiting plants. Native and endemic plant varieties are also highlighted.

“Tropical Lounge” (Photo 2)

Photo 2. “Tropical Lounge” plant map

A: Outdoor seating area with cluster of native Phalaenopsis orchids, flowering Heliconia latispatha, and a local variety of Dwarf Lakatan bananas.
B: Bignay fruit tree (Antidesma bunius) and Kamagong (Diospyros blancoi)
C: Dwarf lakatan in container
D: Large-leafed foliage plants

○ ○ ○


“Relaxing Patio” (Photo 3)

Photo 3. “Relaxing Patio” plant map


A: Kamuning shrubs (Murraya paniculata) around a pond
B: Talamisan Citrus tree (Citrus longispina) with Vanda orchids attached to trunk
C: Mix of Luy-a (Zingiber officinale), ginger lily (Zingiber spectabilis), and ferns
D: Reclining outdoor chairs to observe birds and rest

○ ○ ○


“Garden path” (Photo 4)

Photo 4. “Garden Path” plant map


A: Walkway with bordering gardend. A mix of cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) and local Santan shrubs (Ixora philippinensis).
B: Native Dendrobium orchids growing on decorative boulder
C: Behind the flowering borders, you can add large-leafed foliage like taro. If you have more space, you can plant trees like Cebu Cinnamon (Cinnamomum cebuense) or Banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa)

○ ○ ○


“Terrace” (Photo 5)

Photo 5. “Terrace” plant map


A: Islands of Gumamela varieties (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
B: Dwarf Limonsito (Calamondin spp.) tree in a large circular raised bed with attached circular seating
C: Group of dwarf papaya growing in containers
D: More hibiscus shrubs in front of a slightly raised terrace

I hope these designs inspire some enthusiastic brainstorming for our feathered friends. Till next post, enjoy the rest of October’s birdsongs.

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“Gourd-geous” Garden (Part 2)

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Pergola

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog


This past May, I introduced some growing strategies for delicious and versatile gourds like kalabasa (squash), sikwa (luffa), kalabasang puti (kalubay/bottle gourd) and ampalaya (bitter gourd/bittermelon).

Now that it’s October, you can start planting more of these delicious, vining vegetables again. Plus, sayote (chayote) is another option that thrives in October’s weather.

Check out “Gourd-geous” Garden to review the basic growing strategies for gourds. In this post, I’ll explain the benefits and techniques of gourd trellising. For detailed gourd garden designs, order my new Kitchen Garden design book.

Gifts of Gourd Trellising

Is trellising really worth it? Can we just let the gourds spread on the ground naturally? That is an option but here are some very important benefits to consider:

Photo 1. Left to Right: Examples of gourds growing on arches, pergolas, and wall trellis.
Photo 2. Types of vertical structures for trellising; A: Arbor or archway; B: Pergola with added trellis panel; C: Trellis panel with pot.
  • Save Space in Small Gardens. Some gourd vines can grow to 20 feet. With trellising, you can have a modest amount of space and still grow grow multiple varieties of gourds. Since they grow vertically along a fence, arch, trellis, or pergola (Photo 1 & 2), you cover less ground and occupy less garden space.
  • Keep that Gourd-geous Figure. When gourds hang on a trellis or vertical structure, they retain the shape of the vegetable (Photo 3). If ampalaya, sikwa, or young kalabasa develop on the ground, then you can alter, flatten, or curl their natural shape.
Photo 3. Gourds hanging from pergolas and trellises. A: Sikwa; B: bottle gourd; C: Ampalaya; D: Sayote; E: Kalabasa
  • Happy Harvesting. It is much easier to harvest gourds hanging from trained vines. Mature gourds on the ground can be harder to see under massive vines on the ground. You don’t want to accidentally miss a mature gourd hiding under leaves. This can easily rot and attract pests to your garden.
  • Simple to Support. Trellising and vertical vines make it easier to support and maintain growing gourds. When they are grown vertically, this improves ventilation and reduces fungal growth. You can easily detect and remove dead leaves. The vines are also easier to control and prune. On the ground, gourd vines can wrap around and smother other vegetables and herbs.
  • Functional Beauty. Imagine a beautiful fence with graceful ampalaya or sayote vines. Or picture a bamboo archway with mature sikwa and kalabasa hanging like christmas ornaments. Clearly, this is nature’s beauty. But you can also use gourds to create a functional screen that blocks unpleasant views. So if your neighbor has an unkempt backyard, a gourd wall might help.

Trellising Tips

So here are some tips and tricks to trellising.

  • Strong & Sturdy. Remember to make or purchase a vertical structure strong enough to carry the weight of your mature gourds. Photo 1 shows different options for vertical structures. Each type of trellis, fence, arch or pergola can be strengthened with braces, bolts, and/or concrete footing. If you’re unsure, consult a professional to install your vertical structure.
Photo 4. Left: Gourd tendrils wrapping around trellis; Right: Tying and guiding gourd stem & vine.
  • Tying Vines. Gourds develop long tendrils as they mature (Photo 4). These tendrils naturally wrap around and climb vertical structures. As they grow older, you can guide the vines and tie the thicker tendrils and stems to the trellis or other structures (Photo 4). You can use
    • strong pisi (box twine/abaca string),
    • nylon string,
    • pantyhose fabric,
    • ribbons of soft cloth, or
    • plastic coated wire

to gently and loosely tie the stems to the structure.

Photo 5. Examples of gourd hammocks
  • Vegetable Hammocks. Once you notice vegetables developing on your gourd vines, you may want to add support. Heavy gourds can tug or pull down vines. If you observe this extra weight, add some hammocks. Use strips cloth, mesh netting or pantyhose. Tie the fabric to the vertical structure, then put the young vegetable into hammock (Photo 5).
  • Patient Pruning. Monitor your precious growing gourds. Feel free to prune or cut the side shoots of sprawling vines. You can even trim the vines when the start outgrowing the trellis. Trimming some of the leaf growth can divert energy and nutrients to vegetable growth.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-exploration into gourd-geous trellising. Until next post, happy gardening!

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October’s Optimistic Seedlings

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in agroforestry, Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Raised Beds

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

Gardening is a constant invitation to observe, experiment, and refine your plant growing techniques. October is an opportune time to learn new skills and sprout a wide range of optimistic seedlings.

In October, Cebu’s weather and rainfall is generally suited to planting squash seedlings, seeds of leafy vegetables, a few root crops, beans and more. Here are a few suggestions of specific vegetables you can plant from seed or seedling:

  • Leafy Vegetables: repolyo (cabbage), cauliflower, pechay, mustasa (mustard)
  • Onions: garlic (ahos), sibuyas bombay (onion)
  • Gourds: sikwa (luffa), calabasa (squash), kalubay (bottle gourd), ampalaya (bitter gourd), sayote (chayote)
  • Sun-loving veggies: kamatis (tomato), okra, taong (eggplant)
  • Roots: gabi (taro)

For a complete monthly planting list, download the free planting calender here.

This list above includes links to previous growing guides. Click on one of bold vegetable categories above to see my specific guides for squashes, leafy vegetables and more.

This past March, I introduced techniques like crop rotation. In that post, I explained how plants are grouped by their similar cultivation needs. Crop rotation is about enhancing plant compatibility. For more details, check out March: Food x Flower Gardens.

Plant Incompatibility occurs when you plant two vegetable groups with drastically different watering, sun, or soil requirements next to each other. Problems can occur. You may see stunted growth, leaf diseases from mineral deficiencies, mold, or pest infestations.

Below are some sample designs that integrate crop rotation groups and outdoor seating areas (Photos 1 to 3). These sample planting arrangements can be applied to home or school gardens. Each design features raised beds and plots with particular vegetable groupings. You’ll also notice pollinator attractants like cosmos and pest repellents like lemongrass.

A combination of Crop Rotation groups, pollinator attractants, and insect repellents ensure:

  • fertile soil (full of minerals and nutrients for healthy vegetables)
  • weed control, and
  • pest control
Photo 1. A terraced vegetable garden with royal blue outdoor lounge


Leafy Vegetables & Onions
Combinations of repolyo (cabbage), cauliflower, pechay, and mustasa (mustard) are featured in all three designs. They all benefit from weekly watering and deep, fertilized soil. Remember you don’t need to grow all types of leafy vegetables in one space. You can combine 2 options like cauliflower and pechay.

Leafy vegetables and onions are commonly grown together (Photo 1 & 2). The members of the Onion family such as garlic and large white onions repel pests (like aphids and beetles) that can harm leafy vegetables.

Gourds
Gourds like sikwa (luffa), calabasa (squash), kalubay (bottle gourd), ampalaya (bitter gourd), sayote (chayote) really thrive in compost-rich soil and mulch. When they grow together, you can easily monitor their leaves. Gourds require ventilation and trellising to prevent mould on the leaves and vegetables. When they are in the same garden section, you can gently tie their long vines to a trellis, net, arbor, pergola (Photo 1 & 3). For instance, in Healing Present’s farm, we’ve grown sayote with ampalaya on the same trellis.

Photo 2. An angular patio path with a series of vegetable raised beds

Sun-loving veggies
Kamatis (tomato), okra, and taong (eggplant) can be grouped together as well (Photos 1 to 3). All three of these vegetables need plenty of water, sun exposure, heat and well-draining soil. They also need lots of nitrogen in their soil.

Photo 3. Backyard vegetable gardens integrated into outdoor kitchen and children’s play areas

Roots
Different cultivars of gabi/taro (Colocasia esculenta) can grown near edges of ponds or swampy areas. If you include these root crops in shallow ponds make sure the roots are planted in soil (Photos 1 to 3). They do not have floating roots. In some parts of the Philippines, gabi is combined with other species of taros like Xanthosoma sagittifolium, giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza), and swamp taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis).

I hope this intro to plant compatibility and crop rotation inspires you to explore new gardening techniques. Be that new seedling…so full of potential and optimism. Who knows? This month you may find a technique that boosts your garden’s growth. Green fingers crossed.

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