Category: Container Garden

Year-Round Zesty Citrus Garden

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

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

In previous articles, like Bees and Belonging and Starter Citrus Garden, I’ve offered delicious fruit garden designs and fruit-growing instructions for your own manageable and convenient supply of juicy fruit.

In this post, I’ll present a new citrus design, from my ebook, Inflourish Cebu Kitchen Garden Designs, you can start in April. I’ll also share coconut husk fertilizer and vermicompost techniques we practice in the farm. They help us maintain citrus trees with minimal non-chemical fertilizer.

Zesty Citrus Garden. The Zesty Citrus Garden is full of beautiful, blooming citrus flavors for your favorite dishes, salads, desserts, dips sauces, and marinades. Buongon Salad, fresh Limonsito juice, and CocoLemon Yogurt are some of my favorite citrus treats. Fruit juice and zest from limonsito, biasong lemon, kumquat and pomelo also flavor party juices, teas, and tasty cocktails. For these recipes, check out the ebook or our other recipe books.

In the Zesty Citrus Garden, you’ll have a beautiful collection of dwarf citrus trees –both native and naturalized species. These tasty trees not only flavor your meals, they also nurture essential pollinators like stingless bees and native butterflies.

In this design, the numbers represent the following fruitful plants: 1-Passionfruit; 2-Dwarf Tacunan Lubi; 3-Buongon; 4-Limonsito; 5-Biasong; 6-Lemon; 7-Makrut Lime, 8-Kumquat; 9-Dayap Lime; 10-Cabuyao

The outdoor bar and background mirror are framed with Passionfruit and Dwarf Tacunan Lubi. These two plants attract essential pollinators and help the other trees produce fruit. In-ground and potted Buongon, Limonsito, and Biasong form a fragrant citrus island backing a circular cushioned chair and ottoman. Behind a parallel set comfy outdoor seats is a gorgeous raised bed of more citrus trees like Lemon, Makrut Lime, Kumquat, Dayap Lime, and Cabuyao. Thankfully some of these citrus trees have grafted or dwarf varieties that can stay short and compact for convenient harvesting and smaller garden dimensions. Just look for plant nurseries that carry compact varieties if you have a cozy garden space.

Coconut Husk Fertilizer. Every few months, we check if our fruit trees need non-chemical fertilizer to help them grow fruits. If they do, after we’ve watered their soil, we add a 1/2 cup of liquid fertilizer. The coconut husk fertilizer is just a mix of coconut husk pieces and water. It sits and ferments for a few days before pouring it onto the fruit tree’s soil.

Vermicompost. We also have the option to add vermicompost and vermicompost tea to the soil. This could be added to the top of the soil or to the potting mix before a plant is placed in the ground or container. Browse through this slideshow of photos and excerpts of our farmer’s instruction manual to remind them of the DOs and DON’Ts for vermicomposting:

  • Vermicompost Earthworm 3-level apartment
  • Reminders in farmers’ manual
  • Foods for Vermi Worms
  • More Reminders to keep the Special earthworms thriving
  • Special vermicompost worms
  • Chopped Bani (Banana stem) for earthworm food
  • Comfy Dried leaves and torn cardboard for vermicompost bedding
  • Bedding and food added to the bottom of the Earth worm Apartment

Vermicompost comes from special earthworms that eat certain types of food. After they eat, they produce a beneficial manure that is nutritious for plants and non-toxic to humans. There are many different systems to house vermicompost worms. Our earthworm gardeners live in mini 3-level worm apartment made of 3 storage bins. This apartment keeps the earthworms alive & thriving, holds their food, and helps us extract beneficial manure and compost tea from the earthworms.

I hope this design and fruit production tips inspire you to start your sweet, tangy citrus garden journey. Have a fruitful April.

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Solace in the Garden

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

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog


This March I’d like to share some garden designs that served as venues for different therapies. Some would classify this use of greenery and vegetation as horticultural therapy. Maybe these designs can inspire you to use beautiful, natural settings or backyard gardens to nurture your health goals and needs.

Patient Therapy Gardens
Meditation/Prayer Gardens
Gathering Spaces

The therapy gardens in this article focused on supplementing hospital services. I envisioned a network of beautiful gardens designed for patient treatment and recovery. As part of a hospital’s holistic healthcare ministry, the garden-based therapy programs
would support oncology, neuro-psychiatry, physical therapy, and rehabilitation medicine. The new gardens could also complement or serve as more spaces of comprehensive counseling and hospice programs. Garden-based activities would facilitate the patient’s personal treatment goals. And depending on their condition, patients receive opportunities to participate in activities to address physical, cognitive, affective, psychomotor, and psychosocial functioning. In my particular project, the hospital’s Therapy Park programs supported novel, individualized treatment options that aimed to improve recovery rates, increase patient satisfaction, and upgrade standard care in the Psychiatric, Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation, Oncology, and Hospice Care departments.

Be Open. Tailor these ideas to less specialized health goals like daily relaxation after work.  Focus on simple landscapes like a medicinal tea garden, backyard prayer space, outdoor meditation nook, or mini exercise patio.

Patient Therapy Garden

In this example, the horticultural therapy garden would be restricted to patients and their medical advisers and therapists. The features are wide wheelchair-accessible paths. Shade trees are behind cushioned seating for patient comfort.

The garden also features wheelchair-accessible activity tables and elevated raised beds. The landscape could be adorned with colorful flowers, culturally–significant plants, beautiful flowering shrubs, and hypoallergenic greenery.

This type of garden could be a venue for a program like:

“Weekly Gardening with Acute Psychiatric Patients” – Patients participate in group horticultural activities while they build coping skills. The goals may be to improve social skills and creative self-expression. Patients may foster self-efficacy, confidence, and self-esteem.

A) Shade trees like talisay, fruit trees like balimbing or hardy, non-allergenic native trees with curved, cushioned seating; B) Circular elevated garden beds with wheelchair accessibility for patient activities like herb-planting, orchid cultivation, or bromeliad care; C) Colourful Native wildflower beds, lantana shrubs, hardy groundcovers with ferns; D) Durable benches with groundcovers, fern varieties, and local lily varieties

Meditation & Prayer Gardens

In this second example, meditation gardens would be outside hospital chapels. This design features an outdoor relaxation room. The area would be equipped with cushioned, recliner furniture while lush greenery and a calming pond elicit a serene ambiance.

This type of garden could be a venue for a program like:
“Restore & Reflect with Cancer Patients” – Oncology patients learn garden-based meditation and relaxation. They practice breathing techniques to manage anxiety, feelings of isolation, and emotional distress. These are common conditions associated with a new cancer diagnosis and cancer therapies.

A) Calming pond with gabi varieties and other hardy semi-aquatic species next to altar and lily groundcover; B) Large ferns and irises with trellised vines like nito, camote, buyo, philodendron, passionfruit, or gabi-gabi; C) Bed of fragrant types like lemongrass and citronella; D) Comfortable recliner benches, ottomans, and outdoor rug

Gathering Spaces in Therapy Park

Other sections of the hospital’s landscape would have open access to the public or patients’ visitors on select days.  When restricted access is required for patients’ therapies, the garden could be closed to the public.  This example features lawns for Physical Therapy activities, wheelchair-accessible raised beds, ergonomic elevated planters, wide paths,  and ramps. 

This type of garden could be a venue for programs like:

• “Garden Exercise for Physical Therapy (PT)” – Patients learn specialized outdoor physical therapy (PT) techniques and gardening skills to support their standard PT program. The customized activities could increase muscle activity, increase joint flexibility, increase exercise frequency, increase strength and stamina, improve motor skills, and increase circulation.

• “Garden Journaling for Talk Therapy/ Group Counseling Patients“- Clients in mental health, substance abuse, grief, and family counseling programs could participate in semi-structured nature journaling activities. During these activities, patients could increase self-expression, decrease stress, and write about coping skills taught in indoor counseling sessions. 

A) Shaded seating with vines and shrubs like calamansi and pandan; B) Walkway with large fragrant and floral gumamela varieties and camelia; C) flat lawn with low-maintenance grass and large shade tree like narra; D) Lounges and cafe tables to meet with family and friends or patient consultations and therapy activities; E) Elongated garden beds for patients’ herb, bulb, or shrub gardening; F) Wheelchair accessible garden beds for inclusive gardening and group activities; G) Slip-resistant flooring for optimal safety.

I hope you find some workable ideas for your personal health-focused garden. Who knows? Maybe connections to nature and greenery may support your holistic health journey.

Feel free to contact ask.inflourish@gmail.com for design or gardening questions.

If you need more inspiration, here are more examples of gardens focused on health and medicinal plants:
> Medicinal and Therapeutic Gardens
> Towering Pergolas in Children’s Gardens
> A for Agroforestry

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Sinulog Reunions

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

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

It’s Sinulog! January in Cebu is bursting with joyous music, dance, history, and cultural celebration. The vibrant parades, unforgettable costumes, the sea of people, and the food inspire jubilant garden designs. When I was younger and based in the US, I looked forward to flying to Cebu during Sinulog. My mom and other family friends working overseas were giddy when they returned home to Cebu. Every meal, outdoor concert, and dance competition we attended was a spirited reunion, a homecoming  As I munched on new delicacies, the adults around the table regaled each other with their childhood memories of beloved desserts. They giggled and gleefully recalled the home cooks and barangays known for the best bingka, puto, and budbud. While I was mesmerized by the Sinulog dance competitions, my mom’s friends graciously shared Cebuano specialties like budbud kabog, linusak, masi, bingka dawa, and torta. Now that I’m much older I’m lucky enough to live in Cebu. I no longer need a 24-hour plane ride to enjoy Sinulog and Cebu’s delicacies.

Let’s bring a bit of Sinulog’s kaleidoscope of community, color, and tradition into fun garden inspiration:

Sinulog Design Activity:  Think about your favorite meals, dishes, or desserts you eat or prepare during Sinulog. Think about your friends and family’s favorites.  Now write down some of the common or major ingredients. I bet some of those ingredients can be planted in your backyard garden or personal farm. Next, think about your favorite activities during Sinulog. Is it the cooking, dancing, communal karaoke, spending time with grandchildren, watching concerts, or celebrating with your religious community? Whatever your preference, how can you incorporate it into the garden or farm? In my first garden design example, I use plants mainly for decoration, beauty, and some snacking.  If you want your garden to produce a large harvest for your future meals, you’ll add more plants.

Now that you have a good list of plant and outdoor furniture preferences, think or ask an expert landscaper what is feasible for you. Think about your existing sunlight exposure, soil conditions, water availability, site dimensions, and other qualities of your space.

Example 1: The Sinulog Dessert Garden

In my first example, I use a small backyard garden space. It’s planted with native and decorative shrubs and trees. It features kabog (millet), saba banana, mangga (mango), and mani (peanut) plants as a reference to a few of my favorite Sinulog dessert ingredients. I also added outdoor lounges, seating, and a wooden platform as a reminder of Sinulog dance parties and family get-togethers.  The seats can be easily moved to add dance space.

Here are some elements I incorporated: 1) a circular raised bed, attached seating and cute plot of kabog (millet); 2) a dwarf variety of Saba banana like Saging Mondo that grows to 2.5 meters; 3) a grafted dwarf mango in circular container;
4) dwarf coconut trees with decorative yellow flowered-shrubs like cannas and peace lilies as a groundcover;
5) a circular raised with plot of peanut seedlings

Example 2: Sinulog Versatile Outdoor Room

In this second example, I incorporated a central multi-purpose space for people who want the flexibility to convert their garden into a venue for religious services, karaoke parties, or outdoor grilling. The featured plants feature red tapay-tapay flowers (celosia) and yellow dahlias to reflect the motif of Sinulog dancers, posters, and decor. In the other garden beds, I added durable plants with colorful complementary floral/foliage like gumamela (hibiscus), mayana (coleus), and San francisco (croton). You can also add a low-maintenance, native edible fig tree like lagnub (Ficus septica var. salicifolia) for shade and beauty.

Here are some elements in the 2nd example: 1) Sinulog red celosias and yellow dahlias under a fig tree in garden borders; 2) the central flooring can serve as a religious ceremonial space; 3) outdoor tv for group karaoke or movie parties;
4) portable bbq grill

I hope my design suggestions inspire some festive brainstorms. Enjoy the rest of January and savor the rest of Sinulog with friends and family!

Feel free to contact ask.inflourish@gmail.com for design or gardening questions.

If you need more inspiration, here are more examples on colorful celebrations and dessert gardens, click below:
> Binignit Garden
> April’s Dessert Garden
> Atis: Ice Cream Growing on Trees
> Popping with Color

(Title banner image by G. Amorim)

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Garden Journaling & Planning Tools

Featured by Healing Present Nature & Wellness Center, posted in agroforestry, Container Garden, Food Garden, Gardening and Landscape Design, Green Roofs, Outdoor Classrooms, School Gardens

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

This month is a great time to start using planting calendars, garden journals, and other garden planning documents to explore/ study your garden’s progress. Below are my record-keeping, garden planning sheets, and fun gardening activities to track & improve your garden. They may inspire you to create your own custom documents.

And in 2023, check out our online store. I will launch my collection of garden journals, planting calendars, and gardening education books.

order new garden design Books & Cookbooks today!

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Gardening journal

>>>> Download

Planting Calendar

>>>> Download

Garden Planning Sheets

Pollinator Planning & Garden Motif Planning

>>>>Download
>>>> Download

Garden Education Activities

>>>>Download
>>>>Download

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Mouthwatering munggos

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

By Michelle Domocol @inflourish_
Back to Inflourish: Cebu Blog

December is the planting season for my favorite: munggos. This magnificent bean is the base ingredient for my favorite foods–tinunuang ng munggos, sotanghon, hopia, and halo-halo. Munggos (Vigna radiata or mung bean) is used in many regional dishes around the Philippines.

Different baranggays and households have their variations but the base vegetables in each munggos stew is similar. Whether it’s meatless tinunuang munggos or served with buwad bolinaw, baboy, with shrimp, there are vegetables that complete the dish. The added vegetables are usually:

◉ ampalaya leaves (bitter melon)
◉ kamatis (tomatoes)
◉ spinach
◉ alugbati (malabar spinach) and/or
◉ kamunggay (moringa)

Photo 1. Vegetables added to Munggo dishes: (clockwise from top left) ampalaya, kamatis, spinach, alugbati, kamunggay
Photo 2. Munggo bean seeds

All these vegetable ingredients can be planted in December. But let’s focus on the star vegetable: Munggos. Here are some general growing guidelines.

  1. Choose a garden site with at least six hours of direct sun and high humidity. Make sure your plots are free of any competing weeds.
  2. Add 2 inches of compost to the soil in a raised bed or farm plot. Plant the seeds 1-inch deep (Photo 1). Each seed should be 2 inches apart from each other. Create rows about 24 inches apart. Alternatively you can broadcast your seed. Pour the seeds into a bowl. Grab a handful of seeds. Spread the seeds along the ground in an even layer. Make sure you cover the seeds with a 1-inch layer of soil.
  3. Water your young munggos weekly. During the rainy season, you don’t need to water as often. And as it grows older it will need less water and because drought tolerant. Make sure you water the roots instead of the leaves to prevent any fungal growth. Make sure the soil is moist but not soggy or waterlogged.
  4. Harvest your mung beans when the pods about 5 inches. Ripe pods are fuzzy with a brownish or black color. Remove the entire bean vine. Then hang it upside down in a dry shed or room. Place a banig, fabric or newspapers under the munggos vines to catch the beans. You can remove the rest of the beans once the pods are completely dry.
  5. Store fresh mung beans in a refrigerator. Use them for 2-3 days. You can also dry them completely. Spread fresh beans on fabric or banig and remove any excess moisture. The dried beans can be stored for years in an air-tight container.

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