Succulent newbie

I admit, I find them cute but never in my imagination that I would include them in my garden. I bought one or two in the past, but I was never really into it. I'm more of a flowers-topiaries-lush foliage kind of plant enthusiast.

Maybe I want to challenge myself. After months of gardening and have been successful naman even with sowing and germinating seeds and planting my own vegetable patch(although I killed some plants, but its part of the process), I thought of going to the next level. Pero ayoko pa din ng cactus. 😃 I don't want to be pricked whenever I touch them.

I went to Dangwa in Manila from our place on an early Saturday morning to start off with my succulent hunting. It is known for flower arrangements and a wholesale flower market but you can also find lots of succulents and cacti there since they mostly came from one place where they are being grown, Benguet. After thirty minutes, I arrived at this succulent and cacti heaven. 

I spent at least an hour and a half scouring the best possible haul that I could buy. I almost forgot to take a picture because I was so engrossed in shopping. I didn't even get the chance to take a video.

This was part of my first day haul. I got nine varieties and a lush Begonia plant for p250($5). Prices range from P35 each to P150($3) depending on the variety. I enjoyed it so much that I went back the next day!😃

For my first potting session, I chose the Jellybeans or Sedum robrutinctum as my first ever. 

It is known as Jelly beans or Christmas cheer for its red color tipped leaves. They are best exposed to sunlight and should be planted in a fast draining soil made of pumice, perlite, sand and a bit of vermicast. It is advised to water after a week or two from planting. 💚

Pls. visit my Youtube channel to watch how I did it! 🙂

#jellybeans #succulents #potting #gardening #sedum

Finally, harvesting Pechay!

I've been attempting to plant vegetables in our small garden. It is true that I love ornamental plants,  especially flowers, but having one's own vegetable patch is a different ballgame. One needs to at least find five minutes a day to inspect one's produce. You need to make sure that it is receiving enough sunlight and watering, fertilization and free from pests. So far I have grown Basil, Pepper, Lemon Okra(it has yet to flower though) and now, Pechay from seeds. I propagated Kangkong or water spinach, Kamote or cassava tops and Alugbati naman through cuttings. The only setback that I had was having leaf miners during the early stages, but through helpful videos I was able to cure it. 

Let me share with you the simple joy of harvesting to add it in our Nilagang(stewed) Pork by lunch time through this video... 🙂

click! >>> Pechay, at last!

my Garden's evolution and a new Youtube channel

Hello! It's been awhile. I hope everyone's good on your side of the world. On my end, like everyone else we adhere to the health protocols as much as possible after almost six months of community quarantine. Manila is still in General Community quarantine. My brother wasn't spared by Covid 19, but thankfully, he just suffered mild symptoms like lack of sense of smell and slight fever. With God's grace, he was fine after three weeks of self-quarantine at home. Plus, my sister who lives with him was also negative from Covid 19 after undergoing a swab test. 

This pandemic really opened up a lot of opportunities for us to cope. One hobby that is making me sane till this time is gardening.

I've always love plants and buy them whenever I see something that interests me. Last year, when my Mom died, I neglected my garden because of grief. I lost the appetite to pursue even my other hobbies, like baking and collecting teacups. But due to the pandemic, I became seriously involved with gardening again. The lockdown made me focused on what was around me, not only inside our home but, including the garden.  

         fresh flowers for Mom+

It is only this year that I researched thoroughly and watched many videos about plants in terms of care and propagation, because honestly, in the past years, a lot have died due to my improper care and not enough knowledge of each plants' characteristics. Nowadays, I even get to try planting veggies and herbs from seeds. I would like to add also that most of the landscaping is done by yours truly.  

I love flowers and evergreens. If I have a bigger area, I would like to add trees too, like a Fire tree, Crape myrtle and a Japanese maple tree. 

This continuous evolution of my garden made me create a Youtube channel  and started vlogging for the first time for inspiration and of course, for my personal documentation. I learned a lot from others so it is now my turn to share my own journey. Please do drop by and subscribe if you find it helpful!🙂 click this 👉🏻 youtube