Plant highlight: Bell Peppers

Bell peppers are known for their high vitamin C content, which is good for the immune system.  Aside from vitamin C, it's also packed with many other beneficial vitamins A, B6 and E.
These peppers come in a beautiful array of colors that can be eaten raw or cooked, it easily jazzes up a meal and can be served in a variety of ways.

8 benefits of growing your own vegetables

1. You save money

If I took note of the amount of vegetables we have thrown out, I'm sure it's already worth thousands.
Nobody wants to go back and forth the supermarket, so you have to purchase everything you need for the week or two, the vegetables sit on your shelves or the fridge and they go bad pretty quickly (That happens to us all the time!), especially when you live in a warm and humid country like the Philippines.
Vegetables usually end up in trash which is equivalent to throwing away money.
If you grow your own vegetables, it's available for picking just when you need them, you minimize the waste and save your hard earned money.

2. You eat fresh 

Since you're harvesting vegetables from your garden just when you need them, you are guaranteed freshness.
Fresh ingredients always taste best, obviously.

3. You eat healthy

It's so easy to eat junk when chips are just there in the pantry.
Same goes with eating healthy, it will be irresistible to pick and eat those vegetables when they're growing in your garden!
Many vegetables like peppers and tomatoes double in their vitamin content when they get to ripen on the plant, store bought ones are usually harvested prematurely to be processed and transported, and fully ripe ones sell at a higher price because it took more time before they were able to be harvested.

4. Food safety and less contaminants

You may be concerned that your backyard or balcony is not the most sanitized place to grow vegetables, but the good news is that you can do something about it.  You can clean the space to make it ideal for planting.
The thing with buying products off the shelves is that we totally have no clue as to where and what conditions it was grown in, even the process of handling and transport poses potential risks of contamination.
When you grow your own vegetables, you know what you're feeding your plant, you have control over it's growing conditions, you personally plant and harvest them giving you the peace of mind that what you are feeding your family is clean, free of pesticides and nutritious.

5. It's very rewarding

If you've tried growing anything from seed to a full grown, fruit bearing plant then you know what I mean.  Gardening for beginners is a hit or miss, there will be instances where seeds just won't germinate and it gets frustrating, and when they do, it's still survival of the fittest as not all will make it to a full grown plant, you will lose some plantlings along the way due to many different reasons (root rot, fungus,etc.) But when you are able to care and nurture them to a point where they are sturdy and healthy plants, it gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment.
It's also a great way to teach children the value of working for food, it will give them a better perspective as to the hard work it entails, and understand better why food shouldn't be wasted.

6. It's a lucrative hobby

If you have the space to grow plenty of vegetables, more than you need to feed your family, then you can sell the excess produce to your friends.  If it's still too much then you can sell them on weekend markets too!
You're pretty much making money out of a hobby.
Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life, right?

7. It's good for your health and well-being

Gardening is good for your physical and psychological health.  It encourages you to get out of the house, get some sunlight, fresh air, and a light exercise--aids in fighting depression.
Tending to the plants also relaxes the mind, plants are amazing and interesting, it's a lot of fun watching them grow.
It also gives you a sense of responsibility and importance knowing that a living thing is dependent on your care to survive--just like that of having pets.

8. It's eco-friendly

By growing our share of produce, we are minimizing the bad effects of pollution caused by processing plants and factories.
In this little way, we are contributing to the efforts of saving mother Earth.  It may not cause a drastic change, but it starts from one home at a time.

Still hesitant to grow your own vegetables?
Given all these benefits, what else is stopping you?  

How to grow an endless supply of Basil without buying seeds again

Basil seeds are pretty cheap, they're only 75 pesos for a packet containing... a lot of seeds. (You think I'd count them? hahaha)
So, why would you bother saving seeds when you can just buy them right?
Well, if you're an extreme cheapskate then there is no need for an explanation why.
If you're practical, like me.  I would say why not?
Why would you buy something that you already have?
It only requires little work and you get an endless supply of seeds and plants for free!

The seeds come from the tiny flowers, each flower contains four seeds on average.  Imagine how many seeds you'll end up with with just a single plant!
You can't use up all of it, but you can always give them away to friends, which I plan to do in an effort to encourage them to start growing their own food as well.

Let's go back to the process of seed saving.
You can either cut off the stalk with the flowers and then let it dry, or just leave the plant alone until it dries up/dies.

Smells really good!

You see those black stuff? Those are the seeds.
Each tiny flower contains four of them.
It was very time consuming picking them out gracefully.
The best way is to just shake it and crush them lightly for the seeds to come out, then you can just sift it later to get rid of unwanted debris.

That is pretty much all you need to do.
Keep the seeds in an envelope, label it (name and month when you saved the seeds) and you have tons of seeds to replant, giveaway or sell if you want.

Plant highlight: Sweet Basil

We currently have five pots of sweet basil sitting on our balcony.
But since we are in need of more space for other plants, I am considering to uproot three of the five tomorrow.
The plants have started to flower, which means it is towards the end of its life anyway.
The leaves aren't looking very good and they're not growing to be as big as they did before.  But before I kill off my first herb plant, let me take you through the stages of growing sweet basil from seeds.

Sweet Basil is a pretty common herb plant, you can purchase a small plant at any garden center.  They sell for only 100php for three plants, more or less.  Pretty cheap right?  For such a versatile herb as basil, it's a great buy.
Though it is readily available, we prefer to grow almost everything from seed, just because it's fun.

It is a very easy plant to grow as the germination rate of seeds are very high. (That's also why we ended up with more than we needed).
The seeds were sown last November 2016 in individual cells with a regular potting mix.  Once the plantling emerges from the soil, it grows pretty quickly, you will see growth within the day.  This makes it the perfect plant for first time gardeners like me.  It's very encouraging when you see something you planted from seed blossom into a healthy plant.

Remember, each tiny plantling will grow into one basil plant.
I didn't think about that when I decided to bunch them up when I transplanted them into a bigger pot.  As the plants grow bigger, they need more space to spread their roots so make sure to transfer it in a rather spacious pot, per plant that is.

Just water it everyday, preferably early in the morning or in the late afternoons.
The plant thrives, even in shade.

Basil plant likes being topped off.
By topping off the plant, you will encourage side growths, this will make your plant bushier, meaning more leaves for you to use!
So please feel free to harvest from your plant often.

The plant will eventually throw out little white flowers in a stalk.  You can snip them out as they start to grow to delay the plant from flowering.
Frequent harvesting will also give you a longer harvest season off your plant.
The tiny white flowers are pretty and even decorative and edible, but the stem will start to turn woody and the leaves will be less flavorful once the plant starts to flower.

These flowers contain seeds that you can replant for another season.
I will share with you guys on another post how you can collect the seeds from the flowers and never have to buy Sweet Basil seeds ever again!

The birth of a new hobby

I have always been my dad's sidekick slash assistant in a couple of things—cooking, fixing broken things, anything that needs assembling (he's quite a handyman)—my role as sidekick even extends to his hobbies.
He's more encouraged to pursue something when I show interest in them as well.
I'd like to think that he enjoys having a hobby buddy.