Category: Food Garden

Sweet, Succulent Singkamas

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 time to plant one of my favorite snacks: singkamas. I like preparing eating fresh sinkgkamas slices. They’re naturally sugary and crunchy. When I was younger, my lola would slice a bunch of singkamas and store it in a big pitcher.

I loved it so much that I sold bags of Lola’s sliced singkamas snacks to neighborhood kids in Cebu. It was the best and most fun way to share good food, learn about Filipino currency, practice Cebuano and make new friends. Lola set up a cute wooden table right outside the local basketball court and I sold fresh singkamas to my friends and new customers.

How do you eat singkamas—as fresh, raw slices? in salads? in stir-fries? If you want your own supply of singkamas, it’s quite easy to grow in a small space, apartment balcony, or modest backyard. Here are some cultivation techniques to get you started.

Photo 1. Singkamas pruning and pot dimensions.
  1. Prepare large pots or a raised bed. For instance, the pot could be 11 inches wide x 14 inches (Photo 1).
  2. Place the containers in a sunny part of the garden and fill them with well-draining soil. Mix the soil with compost to increase soil fertility.
  3. Plant the seeds 2 inches deep. Seeds can be planted 8 inches apart. Seedlings should emerge in a week. Singkamas develops large, fast-growing INEDIBLE leaves and vines (Photo 2, A & D). The seed pods are also inedible.
  4. Support the singkamas vines with a trellis (Photo 1).
Photo 2. Harvested singkamas with leaves (A); seeds (B); washed roots (C); pods (D).
  1. Prune the flowers and leaves so that the plant is only 3 feet high (Photo 1). This ensures most of the nutrients and energy are feeding the singkamas roots you plan to harvest.
  2. Harvest singkamas roots after 4 months (Photo 2, A). They’ll look like fat, cream colored turnips (Photo 2, C). Cut off all the vines and leaves and wash the singkamas roots. You can store them in the fridge or freezer for future meals.
  3. Add other complementary November plants like beans and ginger in the singkamas if you’re feeling ambitious and have more space.

Till next post, hope you feel inspired to plan your own starter singkamas garden.

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Small but Mighty Kitchen Gardens

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

Luckily, November’s planting season includes vegetables that grow in small spaces or containers. Even with the reduced space, they produce a big harvest. Even better, these vegetables are readily used in meals so you’re plentiful harvest won’t go to waste.

Some of these high-yielding, small-space veggies (Photo 1 & 2) are: letchugas (lettuce), mustasa (mustard), petsay (pechay), okra, spinach, kamatis (tomato), luy-a (ginger), rabanos (radish), ahos (garlic), sibuyas bombay (onion), and atsal (bell peppers). And have some empty walls or fences, grow gourds (like kalubay and kalabasa) vertically. Check out this article for growing vertical, space-saving techniques.

Below are some container sizes and plant spacing suggestions to start your own kitchen garden this November (Photo 1 & 2). Keep these dimensions in mind when you’re deciding which vegetables fit in your small space. For detailed food garden designs, order my new Kitchen Garden design book.

Photo 1. Spacing for mustasa, pechay, rabanos (radish), letchuga (lettuce), & spinach.

All of these small but mighty vegetables can grow in raised boxes that are at least 3′ x 6′ or larger (Photo 1). If you prefer, individual garden tubs or pots, go for it. Here are a few special notes for particular vegetables (Photo 2).

  • Okra: 1 okra seedling can be grown in a container at least 12” wide x 11” tall
  • Atsal: 1 atsal (pepper) seedling can be grown in a container that’s 10” wide x 10” tall
  • Kalubay & Kalabasa: 1 gourd per 12”x 11” pots. You can plant more in larger containers.
  • Kamatis: Plant 1 kamatis (tomato) seedling plant in a 9” wide x 6” tall container. Depending on the variety, it may need a larger container.
Photo 2. Spacing and containers for sibuyas bombay (onions), gourds (kalubay & kalabasa), kamatis (tomatoes), & atsal (peppers)

Remember, don’t ever feel pressured to grow a huge variety in your kitchen garden. Grow what you regularly eat and use in the kitchen. I know beautiful, healthy kitchen gardens that specialize in different varieties of lettuce. And that’s it—just lettuce. If you have more time, resources and confidence, then add more vegetables each season. Be patient, enjoy, and grow at your own pace and skill level.

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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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click here to download free garden guides!

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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“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!

RELATED ARTICLES

order new garden design ebook today!

click here to download free garden guides!