Do you love to grow vegetables and to share your knowledge?

Hi Norm, I'm pasting a link to the article I saw about urban gardening in Dumaguete. And yes, I will PM you with my email addresses. As of this moment, I think I will be moving to Dumaguete within the first two weeks of February.

PIA-R07 | City dwellers urged to undertake urban gardening

Apparently the link will not post, but in a google search you will find it if you use the keywords Dumaguete and "urban gardening" .

John

 

Norm, the mulching plastic and a lot of other gardeners dreams is located at Nejoses , not spelled right. Anyway its located south of the new Mc dee`s on the opposite side ( west) just before the bank. It looks like a clothing store, go in and on the left side is imported and local seeds, flowers and veggies. The silver up, is a mulching plastic that is black on one side and silver on the other.
Sure when we can get togather on it, you or any one else can get starts. Have given the to many now.
A good mulch is the coir, cocnut ground, its in the Valencia ag in lip tong. 100peso a 50 kilo rice sack full. I just got another 10 sacks the other day.

 

maybe its lip tong, go south past the san pablo or whatever its called big church in Valencia by the park, there is a very small sign its on the left, past cemetery, then a little steep down and up again on the road, its I think the next Small left turn.
Larry could give better directions I think. I know mine is terrible.

 

Great thread, i got in touch with these people to buy the worms for composting Periurban Vegetable Project - Empowering Urban and Periurban Poor Communities through Integrated Vegetable Production in Allotment Gardens since 1997 , very reasonable prices and an excellent site for growing your own ,

i would be interested to get some stuff going when i get back, , i am beachfront dauin though,, i seen my neighbour has sweetcorn going , but i not sure what i can grow by the sea?,, the bags would be fine i guess,,,

 

Hi guys, I'm also interested in growing my own fruit/vegetables and followed this thread with keen interest.
I got a small garden, approx. 200 square meters, in downtown Dumaguete and I'm lucky of having a semi-retired Provincial Agriculture employee to get me started. He has successfully grown string beans, okra, aubergines, cucumber, pak choi, papaya, kalamungay and tomatoes.
I got some top quality seeds from Italy, to include borlotti beans, beef heart tomatoes, melon, zucchini and some funny looking twisted squash and peppers. I also kept some Greek and Spanish watermelon seeds from last time i gorge myself. Anyhow, I got these seeds and will try my luck and see what happens. I shall keep you informed on the results in due time. Has anyone successfully grown any of these vegetables from imported seeds before and which is the best month for planting them?
The garden is south facing hence getting sunlight from approx. 10am to 3-4pm. I planted Bermuda lawn in 1 half and used the other half to grow vegetables. The string beans are grown on netting and the tomatoes are supported by bamboo and fishing lines.
I also got some mint, rosemary and basil seeds from the UK. I would really be happy if i succeed in growing these 3 herbs, time will tell. Local calamansi are not difficult to grow in bags also. Strawberries ?! Sounds good, i assume they would only grow in high up Valencia were the climate is cooler.... well done!! Do they sell composting bins in Dumaguete?
I would also use matured cow manure as fertilizer what do you say about this?
One last thing.... what is the border control's stance when it comes to imported seeds? The watermelon seeds i intend to take over are loose and not from a sealed bag: any problems in the horizon when i arrive in the Phils? Do i have to declare them on the immigration card? I do not know why but i got a gut feeling that if i was to declare anything i will have to climb a mountain of pain...


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The only time I had a problem was when declaring anything . your call, My mother brought me a big list and she didnt understand she needed to declare any and sailed right through. Many guys just mail the seeds to their addresses here. I ordered some from the US from Ca. seed co. and took forever b4 they released them to continue on in the mail. Mom mailed some to me in an envelope and they came without any hold up. Yes I have herbs and few spices growing here, seen many others growing them too.
The 2 reason for berries in a bag is because termites like the mature woody roots and also the wet season wreaks havoc when they are in the soil. I think Southern Ca. has similar temps as here in the summer, yeah, they produce nearly 80% of the berries sold in stores.
I seen while web searching high temp strawberry strains, a tunnel house in saudi growing strawberries, hydroponically.
For green beens that actually are tender and have a real green bean flavor might suggest trying one called black jordan, for me its the best i have had here, the nearest thing to the ones I canned back home.
B4 I forget again, if any is pondering canning anything, there is a store 1234 or 4321 that has jars 17 small, 25 large, quart and replacement lids for a peso,1. cold packing is mostly what I do, pickles, tomatoes, soup, any I dont want to always grow, And its quick and easy, Does not cost but a fraction of the 50 peso a can of tomatoes, etc.

 

Thanks for sharing robgie, you just confirmed my fears.... nothing to declare then and fingers crossed, play the ignorant!
I really hope to get some mint growing, it should not be too difficult if kept well watered... beautiful when added to cold beverages while rosemary, great for any roast, termites permitting.

 

I haven't used bags down here…although I have heard of it. We can buy very large plastic pots UV resistant from China (I'd guess at around 50 litres for under $10 each and they last forever….have had some for a decade or more…The beauty of them is I can move them according to the weather conditions…..ie too hot - move them in the shade under trees, or the patio…too much rain in winter…patio they go…We can also buy plastic tubs for around the same price - bigger surface area - but shallower - and they work well for lettuce, silver beet, spinach, cabbages, pak choi, etc….My wife assures me that mint grows just fine on Negros…certainly near Bacolod where she's from….almost a weed there at the time….I have to fiddle here a lot with coriander - easy to grow when it's cool….but this time of year it's 100% shade and plenty of water or dead in a day….
Re Saudi…wonder if they were using air conditioners to bring the temps down…..Farmers there get all kinds of subsidies (water, power, fertilisers, etc…) …and are entitled to slave labour (Thais, Filipinos, Indonesians, Sri Lankans, Bangledishis etc who they pay poorly - if they pay them at all). The whole Saudi agricultural system is a joke…..the government pays up to 80% of what it costs to grow crops….and the end products, of wheat for example - as in bread, are also government subsidised at the retail end.

 

Finding the gardening product you need when they are hidden under dresses

One of the most difficult things to do in this town is to find something special in a retail store here. Some stores sell seeds hidden behind dress supplies, while other hid plastic planting bags behind houseware signs. He are a couple of places that I have found in town that have hidden gardening supplies, actually there were also noted in previous posts but here is more complete location information.

The store with the dresses in the front window as described in an early post is "Nijosa" which is located at 342 Gov. M Perdicies Street. It is amazing to go into a store with window displays of female clothing and find gardening supplies (and many other unrelated items too). It has a good supply of seeds, fertilizers, small plastic pots for starting seed. The quantity is high with commensurate prices.

Although Nijosa carries little packets of fertilizer of a 500 MG size, if you really want fertilizer at a reasonable prices, then go north of the Central Market about one block on the east side of the street, to the seed company that sells fertilizer. Get to the area and you can ask any merchant there and he will know what store you are looking for there. Know what you are buying, because "Green Thumb" or some other outrageously marketing named product will cost you about 100 times what the same fertilizer will cost in it generic name, like Ammonium Phosphate or 16-20-0 (the same thing). I happen to use in use 16-20-0 in my landscape and garden needs. It is about 1000 P for 50 KG if my memory serves me right, verus about 150 P for 500 MG in Nijosa.

The store mentioned by Robgie is 1234 Housewares (again uses the camouflage program of display and advertising) has the canning supplies mentioned above as well as plastic bags of many sizes for growing plants in containers. Those bags can be located on the right hand side of the store, near the back. The store uses the typical zoo like form of logical displays with everything scared about The prices are good. 1234 Housewares is located one block north of Nijosa on the same side of the street The intersection that these two stores share is Gov. M Perdicies at the crossing of San Juan Street, one block south of the Siliman Portal building.

Anyone else has any secret stores or stores who like to camouflage their selling stock please post.

 

catching up on some odds and ends

> To slow the white fly try silver up, seems to slow em down but wont stop them.

i made a soap/oil spray for white fly
1 part soap to 16 parts oil by volume
if that doesn't work, increase the soap a bit

> Norm, the mulching plastic and a lot of other gardeners dreams is located at Nejoses , not spelled right. Anyway its located south of the new Mc dee`s on the opposite side ( west) just before the bank.

good tip, it's Nijosa's and it's north of the new mcdo, on the other side of the street next to the veterans bank. they have the best garden section i've seen in duma. they even had EM, calcium nitrate, boron, lotsa fertilizer choices, various shade cloths and clear plastic sheeting, grow bags, even yellow sticky spray. lots of seeds including east-west seed company.

> Great thread, i got in touch with these people to buy the worms for composting http://www.puvep.com/ , very reasonable prices and an excellent site for growing your own ,

you can also get worms in duma from green farms systems, they grow worms on a concrete floor and also in 100k rice sacks and use worm compost in their greenbase vermicompost bio-organic fertilizer (p250 for a 100k sack). i can post a map and contact info if intersted.

>i am beachfront dauin though,, i seen my neighbour has sweetcorn going , but i not sure what i can grow by the sea?,, the bags would be fine i guess,,,

we grew eggplant and okra at beach front here. also, i was with www.fincasantamarta.biz for a spell and we grew sugar peas, various fresh eating beans, cukes, various asian greens, lettuces, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, okra, eggplant, tomatoes, sweet/hot peppers, zucchini and various summer squash, collards, kales, lotsa herbs, all in hot, hot green houses. we used shade cloth during the heat of the day.

> got some top quality seeds from Italy, to include borlotti beans, beef heart tomatoes, melon, zucchini and some funny looking twisted squash and peppers. I also kept some Greek and Spanish watermelon seeds from last time i gorge myself. Anyhow, I got these seeds and will try my luck and see what happens. I shall keep you informed on the results in due time. Has anyone successfully grown any of these vegetables from imported seeds before and which is the best month for planting them?

not to discourage you but local/tropical seed is probably going to do better here. we're growing some open pollinated temperate climate seed (imported) that we ''can't live w/o'' in hopes of saving seed and acclimating it.

the imported seed we bought came in paper envelopes and the seeds don't keep long in this climate, as we learned at the finca. the local seed we've purchased so far is packaged in air/moisture proof packages and we refrigerate them in zip-lock bags once opened (good seed!).

>I also got some mint, rosemary and basil seeds from the UK. I would really be happy if i succeed in growing these 3 herbs, time will tell.

i'm pleasantly surprised at the availability of herb seeds here. we have locally purchased peppermint seed in a pot and you're welcome to a start. basil grows like a weed, we have it planted as a pest deterrent..

>Do they sell composting bins in Dumaguete?

i haven't seen any but you could make one out of a large trash can or a blue barrel (available used at matio but not cheap). i made one out of strips of bamboo. i nailed 4 small panels of bamboo together but you could make a 'snow fence' out of bamboo and tie it into a cylinder.

>I would also use matured cow manure as fertilizer what do you say about this?

we just started making a manure tea and watering it in and then spreading the solids, covered with mulch, on regenerating beds.

>One last thing.... what is the border control's stance when it comes to imported seeds?

we received garden seed in a bb box.

> B4 I forget again, if any is pondering canning anything, there is a store 1234 or 4321 that has jars 17 small, 25 large, quart and replacement lids for a peso

that's 143 and it's located on perdices, near san juan, just ask a tryke driver. they also have a few pots. i do believe that store gets the award for having the most stuff jammed into the smallest store in town, you have to walk in sideways and turn yourself with caution.

> I haven't used bags down here…although I have heard of it. We can buy very large plastic pots UV resistant from China

bring them with you if you're doing a bb box

> We can also buy plastic tubs for around the same price - bigger surface area - but shallower - and they work well for lettuce, silver beet, spinach, cabbages, pak choi, etc…

you can also grow in plastic crates, green farms systems grows lettuce in used crates and also sells used crates for p100, these are the commercial heavy duty 53 x 36 x 33cm deep. 143 and matio (p375) both sell new crates.

>if you really want fertilizer at a reasonable prices, then go north of the Central Market about one block on the east side of the street, to the seed company that sells fertilizer.

thanks.. maybe this is the ag store i've been hoping for 8 )

norm : ))~