Instead of buying seed starter pots or seedling pots from the garden supply store, I just make my own out of old newspapers*. It only took me less than 30 minutes to make the entire batch you see below. Apart form newspapers, I also used old kraft paper.

*I don’t subscribe to any newspapers. I get all my news online. If you do the same, you can just do what I did and get old newspapers from your neighbors.

These homemade pots have the following advantages:

• You’re recycling old materials.
• It doesn’t cost anything to make.
• You don’t have to worry about root trauma when transplanting your seedlings. Just put these into the soil (or unwrap them gently) when you are ready to transplant, and the paper will eventually disintegrate.This comes in handy for plants that don’t transplant well, such as cilantro.

Here’s a video I found which shows how to make them:

The picture from the left is a shot of the arugula sprouts from my garden project. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m starting off with spinach, arugula, cilantro, garlic, and bunching onions. So far, the spinach and the arugula are sprouting nicely. Especially the arugula, which seems to grow a few millimeters every hour.

I’m basically going to follow Mel Bartholomew’s square foot gardening method, which you can read about here. The idea is to plot your garden by the square foot for an efficient layout. This makes crop spacing easier, since you don’t have to do the math. Also, instead of using existing soil, you’ll be using a soil-less mix out of perlite, peat moss, and compost.

I’m not going to follow it to the letter, especially since I’m having a hard time finding the materials to make my own soil mix. They say that in tropical countries, you can replace the peat moss with coir or coconut dust. I wasn’t able to buy perlite, which is weird because the Philippines is one of the top importers of this mineral. Maybe I just don’t know where to look for it. Still, I’m definitely using soil-less potting mix bought from the store until I can make my own.

I’m going to start out with a 3ft by 2ft container, which I still have to build. But, as the picture above indicates, I’ve already started my seeds. In the 3×2 container, the square foot gardening method allows me to have 51 plants. 51! I say that’s not bad.

Read below the cut to get the nitty-gritty details.

What I’m going to plant:

• Spinach  – 18 plants
• Arugula – 4 plants
• Garlic – 9 plants
• Cilantro – 4 plants
• Bunching onion – 16 plants
• Total: 51 plants in a 3ft x 2ft area

Here’s what I’ve spent so far:

• P 254 for seeds.
• P 90 for 10kg of organic potting mix
• Total: P344.00

Here’s the time I’ve spent on the garden so far:

• 2 hours for filtering and sifting compost
• 1 hour total for preparing my seedling pots
• 2 hours total for planting
• Total: 5 hours of work

Notes:

• The cheapest seed packets I got were P35/packet from a stall in Megamall. Only one of my seed packets isn’t from a local company. I highly recommend buying local, because not only is it cheaper, but the seeds are suited to our climate.
• I still have so many leftover seeds for future use. I have to store them properly to make the most out of the money I spent. See the list of resources below for instructions on saving seeds.
• I’m starting the garlic from bulbs bought at the market. See below for instructions on how to do this.
• I got the compost for free. I built a compost bin in our backyard and gathered kitchen and garden waste for several months. Some worms dropped by to help But the compost bin is now broken because I used untreated wood.
• I made my own seedling pots out of newspaper and craft paper (from my fine arts days), which I will discuss in a succeeding post. It’s free and I’m recycling stuff

Lessons learned:

• Rebuild compost bin to a 2-bin system. One bin to use at present, and another bin with materials that are in a further stage of decomposition. This time, I’ll use hardwood and treat it with linseed oil, which isn’t as toxic as varnish.
• Because of my very fertile soil (thanks to the compost and the potting mix), almost all of the seeds are sprouting. This means I can lessen the seeds to 2 to 3 per seedling pot.

Resources:

If you want to learn more about the concepts I raised above, feel free to visit the following websites:

• How to make compost – Full instructions. Easy to understand.
• How to grow garlic – How to grow garlic from cloves.
• Square foot gardening – An efficient way to garden.
• Planning a vegetable garden

Hello everyone I’m starting the week with an announcement. I have a new project that I’m working on, and I’d like to share it with you.

The project is to turn this back yard…

… into a thriving, productive vegetable garden.

(And yes, that’s a rooster in a coop. I built that coop, by the way.)

This means that from time to time, I will be writing about my progress here. To keep things in the spirit of the blog’s theme (frugality), I’m also going to record the money and the hours that go into this project. This way, I’ll be able to tell if it’s cheaper to grow my own food or to buy from the market/grocery.

Why else am I doing this:

• I’d like to learn how to grow my own food. It’s a useful and practical skill to have. Also,I love the thought that even if I stop working and drain out my emergency fund, I’ll always have something to eat.
• I also want to learn first hand about food production. What does it take to keep the soil fertile and healthy? What nutritious native crops are often overlooked or thought of as weeds?
• I’d like to have a healthier diet. Although I’m already eating less meat (and almost no red meat at all), I’d like to improve my diet, as well as improve the quality of the food I’m eating. I’ll be growing all my plants the organic way to lessen the chances of me and my family ingesting harmful toxins from pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
• It’s “practice” for the time that I’ll be living on a farm in Pangasinan.
• I love gardening. Even if it turns out that harvesting my own vegetables is more expensive than buying from the market, I’d still do it because it’s fun, satisfying, and relaxing.

What will I grow?

• I’m going to start with leafy vegetables and root crops. So far, I’ve planned and plotted a 3ft x 2ft container to hold some spinach, garlic, onions, arugula, and cilantro (wansoy). After that, I hope to grow “fruiting” crops like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc.

As the months go by, I’m going to write about my progress here, so stay tuned. Don’t worry, though, I’ll still write about other money matters.

How about you, do you have a food garden at home?

How to design garden

I’ve always dreamed of growing my own herb garden, especially since I love to cook and prefer to get herbs from my own yard rather than the grocery store. It’s rewarding, cheaper, and healthier (since I don’t use fertilizer or sprays).

Recently, I’ve taken a step towards this dream by planting some stuff. I already have oregano in my garden. Oregano is great with tomatoes and tomato sauce. Very easy to grow too. We just got a stalk from a neighbor and planted it.

We also have sili (chili peppers), which is all-purpose. We add it to vinegar, soy sauce, and dishes. I don’t know if it’s because I’m part Bicolana, but I really love spicy food. Because of this, having sili in my garden has been useful.

Pandan is also present in my garden. We use it to flavor poultry, sometimes for rice, and it will be excellent with buko for drinks and desserts.

As for my new gardening project, I want to plant more herbs from seeds or seedlings. I’ve started with cilantro and curled parsley. The curled parsley is notorious for growing slowly, but it’s very useful for many dishes. I imagine I’d be using it to flavor garlic bread, pasta, and even for garnishing.

My cilantro is growing a bit (see photo) . Cilantro is commonly called wansoy in supermarkets. It’s great for Chinese and Mexican dishes. I use it to add flavor to tacos.

I also want to add the following plants to my garden:

• Basil. Great with tomatoes. You can simply put basil with tomatoes and cheese on a sandwich and it’s absolutely delicious. My partner loves it
• Thyme. Generally used for soups, and is great with tomatoes or eggs. Also useful as tea for respiratory ailments.
• Tarragon. This smells really good. My mom worked in a restaurant/farm for the most part of my youth and whenever I was visiting the farm, I would bend down and smell the tarragon or rub the leaves onto my fingers. You can infuse it in vinegar to make tarragon vinegar, or in oil to make tarragon oil.

Do you have any gardening experience? If so, what plants do you grow? Feel free to share in the comments.