Hello Hive Gardeners!
February just sprung up like a cat hiding behind the wall that mischievously leaped right at us. Love is in the air all of a sudden. Red paper cut-out hearts are suddenly making their decorative appearances on shop windows as well as notifications of Valentine Dinner packages. The icing on the cake was when I spotted these grasshoppers on a rendezvous above me while I watered the limes.
For my second garden journal in the Hive Garden Community, I'd be sharing with you the status of the stone and concrete plant boxes, recent additions to the garden, sowing seeds in various containers, and making use of tissue paper rolls in gardening.
In case you're interested to read the previous garden journal entry here it is:
Hive Garden Journal #1: A Garden Tour and Building Plant Boxes
We moved to a small rental home inside a resort in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines back in 2021 as part of a minimalism exercise when we downsized and moved from a two-story seaside rental home several blocks away to a two-bedroom 70 square meter bungalow. The first entry features a garden tour and construction of stone and concrete planters and a gravel patch at the front yard.
New Residents in the Garden
My enthusiasm for edible plants led them to occupy the majority of the garden space. Hence, my ornamental plants are quite limited. I'm more intentional in placing decorative varieties due to a plethora of mosquitoes.
Proper placement leads to a better appreciation of plants. Ideally, they should not be crammed into a small space. Like in any design endeavor proper balance is key.
These spurted new blooms after being damaged by the typhoon.
My "plantita" neighbor, who we'll call Mme S. has a beautiful collection of unique plants. *Plantita / Plantito * is a term that sprouted during a quarantine plant parenting trend which means a person who is obsessed with plants. 1
I enjoy watching her tend to them daily. She manages to control the mosquitoes by zapping them with an electric racket before sunset when the mosquitoes are the most active.
To my surprise and glee, she gave me these newly repotted babies after a short conversation about her gardening tips while watering plants but she didn't know their names:
Neither did I, so I used a plant-identifying app to know what they are. According to the app, the one on the left is an Elephant Ear and the one on the right is a Begonia. It seems unlikely they're correct when I googled them. What do you guys think? What are these plants?
I gave her a pot of mint in exchange since she didn't have any and promised to give her vegetable seedlings from the seeds that I have purchased from the Agrivet Shop in Moalboal Public Market, Camille @millycf1976 recommended.
The intentional or unintentional humor behind the branding for each vegetable seed, I couldn't resist sharing. Whoever was in charge had so much fun naming them. Bongga means fabulous in the Filipino language.
Fortuner I assume is related to the brand of a Toyota van. Its relationship with the eggplant is still mind-boggling, perhaps to highlight its size, but the description of the eggplant or Talong is just hilarious. "Ang talong na tumatagal" means, the eggplant that lasts." which sounded like a naughty double entendre in the local language. Anyway, I'd leave that to your imagination.
Sowing Seeds
Over the years, we have accumulated a lot of "we'll-plant-them-someday" seeds from France for a future home. I have decided it's time we use them and so I started sowing them all.
Both plant boxes are now filled up with garden soil. With the use of wooden barbeque sticks to mark the location of seeds and wooden ice cream spoons for the labels, the seeds were sown there directly. I'm lazy like that.
I am not even sure if old seeds would even work so let's see.
Garden Log of Seed Starters: There will be different kinds of tomatoes - heirloom variety from a crossbreed of a french tomato and a local one, Monfavet tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, string beans, eggplants, chayote, squash, dark opal basil, haricot verts, local chilies, radish, mogettes (white beans), parsley, coriander, etc.
Mme S suggested that I use egg crates for seedlings. A great idea for a newbie! Why not?
How to Make Tissue Paper Roll Seed Starter Pots
This toilet paper roll seed starter was a tip I got from a diving instructor friend, Paulo who used to live in the house of Mme S. There are many variations available online but I made a step-by-step guide in case you haven't tried this before.
Et voila! Line them up side by side and place a book on top of it to flatten the bottom overnight and fill it up with soil. The biggest advantage to this is the convenience of directly planting it on the ground.
I am also experimenting with Genovese basil cuttings using re-purposed well washed yogurt pots. I have also planted basil cuttings directly on the ground. I am curious to see which one would grow faster.
Before I end this post, I'd like to share that the lemongrass has grown well since.
What's your favorite seed starter container? Which plant-identifying app would you recommend?
This is my entry to the first Hive #GardenJournalChallenge. I'd like to tag @sahiba-rana and Loy Bukid @oniemaniego to join the fun.
Thank you for reading and reaching this far in the post. Have an excellent weekend! Happy gardening!
Reference:
Metro Style: 5 Indoor Plants That Are Perfect For The New Plantita
Cover image edited with Canva
"I am an old soul who simply loves coffee, who finds joy and beauty in both tangible and the unseen."
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Looking great so far @discovergarni. I love to see the egg trays were you start the seedlings in. I always do that too. It is very convenient. 😎 great start 🌱🌱🌱🌱 grow well little ones.
Yay, Egg trays = 1, tissue rolls = 0 😁 It's my first time using egg trays and I love it.😊
I haven’t done the tissue rolls, will give it a go when we have our garden later this year 😎
It's great that you are taking advantage of your garden to plant the vegetables, so they are fresher. I love this idea to recycle the Tissue Paper Rolls.
Hi @alborhada, I've always been fascinated by edible plants. Hopefully could add some ornamentals too. Would need to devote some time making the tissue paper roll pots, but it works out well folding them while watching something. 😊
Try it friend, you will love to see how your garden is filled with that peace and tranquility that plants give you. And you can always have great ideas to make recyclable pots.
Oh yes, peace and tranquility. I used to have mums (chrysanthemums) and vincas in the previous houses we lived in. Unfortunately, the repotted plant didn't survive in the last house we stayed in. The row of chrysanthemums started from one single plant I purchased in the mountains and the vincas from seeds. I will plan for it when I find them in a garden shop in the city.
Oh, it's look beautiful, I tried to plant one of these and it didn't thrive maybe it was that I placed it in the shade.
They seem to spread on their own which I love because they keep blooming one after the other. This one had sun but was not too exposed. It got rain but the fence provided some protection from strong winds. We visited the house just recently after the typhoon and they're still there.
Omg, a grasshopper landed on my arm last week and I jumped ten feet. Poor little guy. It went like this:
Grasshopper: 'Oh, she looks nice. Seems to like plants. Should I go say hello? Yes, I think I'll land on her arm'.
Me: WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH (flings grasshopper in air)
Grasshopper: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH
I love love love the name of the eggplant - very funny. I know @plantstoplanks would appreciate that one.
Your raised beds look amazing - like they've always been there! And the seed pots are very cute - I din't think of folding them over like that - what a great idea!!!
Loved this post - so well presented too! Thanks for joining in!
@riverflows you know me so well. Had a good laugh over the eggplant description! Squash and eggplant--the jokes just don't quit!
Love your garden journal @discoveringarni! This has made me excited to get going on our seedlings. I especially love the toilet paper roll starters. We've repurposed a lot of items to use in gardening, but never those! Might have to start saving them. Can't wait to see how your garden grows this coming season!
🍆🍆🍆🍆
😂
Hello, @plantstoplanks, I'm curious about the squash jokes 😁 Haha, I think once the eggplant shows up in the garden, it'll remind me of the package tagline every time 😂
Thank you, I owe it to my previous neighbor so I'm happy to pass that along. Looking forward to seeing what you'll grow this season too.
The zucchini and other summer squash around here "last a long time" as well, haha. We grew Zucchino Rampicante last year for the first time, and besides being quite fun in shape, they just kept coming all season long. I was swimming in squash!
I just got out in my garden this afternoon and got a little bit of clearing out done. One bed at a time I'll get my little garden ready for the spring!
Hahaha, got it 😂 thanks for sharing that. Swimming in squash sounds cool! It reminded me of a long-shaped squash my daughter picked up from my father-in-law's garden.😁
Love zucchinis! They're quite expensive in our part of the world, quite rare to see because they're not available in local markets. They are usually supplied by organic gourmet farms most likely from the mountains. I have sown a few old seeds, let's see if they'd grow.
Sounds exciting! Wishing you a lovely weekend!
There are lots of surprises in the garden. Waaah, I think I would have leaped in the air if a grasshopper should fall like that out of nowhere, @riverflows. Haha, I can just imagine the guy up in the air. I'm glad the grasshoppers on the tree were too busy to notice anyone or anything else lol.
It makes me smile every time I see the eggplant seed package 😅
Thank you very much 😃 the next project would be to create a trellis for the string beans and chayote. Happy to participate as always.
Oh yes my chayote! I saw in in the garden the other day - I forgot I planted it! It's still smallish though..
It's always nice to see them sprout. Happy gardening this weekend!
Oh so excellent!!! I love the tissue paper roll seed starters, thanks for that idea. And I am inspired by your stone and concrete planters... I want to build something like for our place, though I'll use drink cans!
Then we'll plant our many "saved for planting one day" seeds. Thanks for the look into your garden.
Thank you and with pleasure, I am grateful to a friend who showed me how he did it a few years ago. Using drink cans sounds like a cool project, looking forward to seeing it when you do.
Hey Arni, your garden is awesome😍🙌
it's amazing how much you've grown in a short time.
I forgot everything about the Bongga beans; They should be super handy to have because you can do so much with them.
I love that you recycle all your materials instead of going to buy new pots, which would be just a waste.
Your basil, I get the feeling that those will do very well, just from the size of the leaves:)
I'm so happy to see this progress❤️
Hi Camille,
I've been carrying this huge bag of seeds since 2015. Some we tried growing in every place we lived but some are rotten already so jumping into a now or never approach and just sowing whatever I have left. The Bongga string beans go with many dishes so I would love to have some growing at home.
Haha, you saw the yellow Nesquick container? It feels right to recycle stuff even old toothbrushes for dusting off aphids from sick plants 😁 Thank you, it will make me so happy when they do sprout. ❤️
Wow! that's a lot of time to have the seeds, I'm happy you found somewhere accommodating for you to use them, and as you said, now or never.
Yes, Nesquick, yogurt, egg tray, and all:)
Gardening is a grounding activity that helps mentally anyhw, so this is a win-win exercise however you look at it!
It really is therapeutic and it's nice that Anaïs gets to participate in it as well 😊
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Sweet! Thanks so much @priyanarc and DIY Hub 😊
Those plants to me look like a type of begonia like you mentioned though I don't know the different varieties - there are a lot of different ones. I thought maybe it was a coleus but the tuber like stems don't match. The other green and white one looks like a variety of Garden Nasturtium but your app is probably right. I've never heard of an elephant ear.
Thank you so much, well noted. You're right, it seems like a specific type of begonia. The other one with the white border around the leaves perhaps it is a variety of garden nasturtium? We'll see when they both grow and bloom.
cool .... I like your small garden :) it is cool to see how they get up from this soil soon :)
but these grasshoppers are very large :)) .... I get them also in Summer end when they have all summer eaten lot :)
Hello there, we had a barrage of grasshoppers lately of different sizes. One even entered our bedroom this morning. These two in the photo are pretty large 😅 How do you repel them? A grasshopper ate a lot of mint leaves last year so I hope they remain on the left side garden away from the herbs.
An easier way is if you have chickens :)) they eat all and fast when they find them :)) ...., but if you have such a small garden then take rubber gloves and pick them up every week when you find them , so you don't have to use chemicals that harm the plants and your hard work. Also you must eat all this plants and fruits too there so try not use chemicals ;)
I'll try to lure the roosters walking around the next block in our garden haha. Our neighbors won't be happy lol. I guess the best solution would be to pick them up. Thanks for the tips. The chickens would be wonderful to have one day when we have a bigger space.
Yep if you neighbors have cool car ... look that this chickens not get on the car :)) or you have some red eyes on your home all time :)) ... but yes ... try take them up and make sure you put them in a paper bag and then broken them off ;) , don't take them away from the house, they'll be back soon :)) ...paper bag you can compost with them .
Haha, I can imagine them returning, like the toad that I chased away with a water hose. He was there again the next day so I picked him up and set him free far away. I didn't see him this morning so I'll do the same with the grasshoppers. Will send them off to an empty land far from here. 😁
I hope it works :))
I am excited about the next update that you are going to post regarding your crops. By the way, your garden is really tidy (^_^)
Haha, feeling O.C. lang po. I hope the old seeds sprout, fingers crossed. I'm excited about your garden too!
I will surely follow the challenge and add in my garden journal here.
Thanks for nominating me:)
Hi Sahiba, my apologies for the late reply. I had been running around with errands yesterday. Look forward to reading about a gardening or landscaping project you've been working on.
WOW!!! Quhe maravilloso que hayas compartido este post, me encantó! no imaginas lo agradecida que estoy de haber visto esto, y también agradecida que apoyes y crees con reciclaje para la naturaleza, es realmente muy amigable tu trabajo. Un super abrazo para ti y espero que tu jardin siga floreciendo.
Hello Ana, it makes me happy to read your message, thank you. At home, we found ourselves reusing things as much as possible instead of throwing them away. Can't wait to share them with neighbors and friends once all the seeds sprout. Wishing you a lovely day ahead!
Whoa, your mini garden is looking great and it would be lovely to see the new seeds when they begin to come out of the soil :)
I use google lens to identify plants but most times, it gives me incorrect names :) The first one that your app identified as an elephant ear might be a type of variegated caladium although I'm not really sure. The second one is a type of Begonia :) I also have that one in my wee garden.
Thank you for identifying it and for your kind words 😀 I googled Variegated caladium and found a photo that looks exactly like it. When I asked my daughter's teacher who's into plants, she said they call it a secret pocket plant? It turns out the secret pocket plant is another name of variegated caladium? So thank you 😊
How was your experience with Begonia? Looking forward to reading more about your wee garden.
You are welcome, I am not really sure if I was correct though :) It is funny that I also don't know the majority of my plants. Secret Pocket Plant might be correct and I am also boggled whether they are the same as variegated caladium, lol!
I think begonia can survive on its own :) I don't really tend to them as often as I wanted but they don't seem to care and still thrive on their own hehe.
Thank you, it's quite a relief to hear about begonia being low maintenance 😊
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Such cool news, thank you 😃
Welldone on spotting these grasshoppers, Arni :) and love your lemon grass plant. I wish I could find one here in NZ.
I used egg trays for seedlings as well but haven't tried the toilet paper roll method. Will do it next time. Thank you for sharing.
Haha, I was used to the small grasshoppers so I was really surprised to find them. I haven't seen any lemongrass plants when we visited NZ. Are the lemongrass stalks available in the supermarket? I remember NZ borders are very strict in bringing in agricultural products and food.
Congrats on your minamilism and gardening journey! Eggplants can be prolific and lasts several months of harvests, but surely it's also the only *eggplant* that lasts long, bongga! lol
If you want to explore biofertilizers and biopesticides I recommend the following:
Quite a long list, but I talk about those on my blog and Instagram (Loy Bukid).
Thanks for the tag Arni! I will try to post my garden journal tomorrow if I don't feel like procrastinating. 😅
Omg, will be stalking your Instagram now 😀 I am one of your subscribers on Youtube by the way. The only thing I know from the list is fermented fruit juice. I will be checking these out. Can't wait to read your garden journal post.
Thank youuu, haha! I'm jumping around social media, but I'm mostly on Instagram now, see you there 😅
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