How to Videos , containers gardening, DIY self watering, organic edibles
Growing cool seasoned plants such as strawberries outside their ideal zones is not difficult as long as we understood the plants’ signals. From the experience of seeds grown plants, we first recognized what are the healthy signals. For strawberries, the most indicative of health is red or vivid stems/crown. Next are open faced leaves, upright […]
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We love growing and harvesting our own vegetables at home. Nothing quite beats the taste and texture of our own plants. It is also immensely gratifying to see the whole journey from seeds to cutting the leaves for a meal and to be able to harvest again each week from the same plant. […]
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Our indoor gardens are often challenged by limited space and sun but it is still pleasant to live surrounded by plants we love. Since 2015 to accommodate our expanding strawberry garden, we grew vertically on our windows as well as horizontally on tables by the windows. We made pots out of recycled PET ( polyethylene […]
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My friend of over 20 years, Ling, brought me some homegrown sugar cane in February 2018 and they were amazingly juicy and sweet. To enjoy these, we hacked the long hard stem of the fruits at the joint which will break after a few hits. From the top of each shortened stem, split […]
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The general rule of thumb for anyone who loves kale and wants fresh harvest regularly is to grow 3 to 4 plants per family member. Grow your own at home saves money, as this is a cut and grow plant. As a gauge, a 10 weeks old plant will yield 5 big leaves […]
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There are about 135 varieties and under them, 1900 species of ice plants. Originally discovered in the dry and barren South Africa’s mountains, they thrived better in sandy soil. In addition to leaves, their flowers are also edible. Beautiful plants grown by Dr. Wilson Wong, creator of Green Culture Facebook group. […]
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Thanks to Jack Yam’s sharing with easy to follow tutorial and accompanying photographs, a lot of gardeners learned how to grow microgreens. With Jack’s permission, his pictures and instructions are shared in this post. Step 1 – Recycle any plastic container suitable for growing! Drill or cut holes at the base for […]
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I love this aromatic herb for many reasons. It adds flavor to any dishes and packed a punch in health benefits. Coriander or Cilantro’s health benefits – Reduce levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and increasing levels of HDL Lower blood sugar and pressure improve bowel movement Rich in vitamin C, K, and protein […]
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In 2015, when we started planting strawberries, we thought keeping them cool in our tropical climate was important. As we grew and learned more about strawberries, we found it was possible to grow them in our natural environment without too much fuss once the seedlings established (4 months ++). Thus, this discovery, the […]
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Healthy Aloe Vera looked like the above illustration. The following notes and illustrations are from Eric Lim (June 11 2017) who hope they are helpful to fellow gardeners. Unhealthy Aloe Vera symptoms – Aloe Vera plant problems and solutions – How to grow aloe vera – Interesting information about Aloe Vera from my readings […]
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I was a noob myself in 2015 and still remembered how I start. What seems common sense to seasoned gardeners may not be so clear for new gardeners. I read a lot of posts in every group that I joined. Do some reading in gardening books and watched online videos and yet, with […]
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We all know that plants have different preferences for where they rest their “feet” (roots). Some plants preferred very dry medium, like rosemary and lavenders, while others thrived in moist but well-drained mixes. Generally, plants do not tolerate having their roots soaked all the time. Thus, it is important to know how to […]
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And … COWGIRLS ! 🙂 In every group of various communities, there are bound to be a small group of rebels who are not satisfied with the ordinary. They defied every established rule to do things their own way and explore new boundaries. These are the grapes growers who do so in Singapore high […]
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Our country, Singapore, measures 50 km (31 miles) from east to west and only 27 km (17 miles) north to south but supports over 5 million multinational people. Due to lack of landmass, most people lived in high rise apartments, and have no private outdoor gardens. But as I discovered after creating my […]
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Notice I did not add a “tree” behind the papaya in the title? There was some debate during the sharing of this post in our group (SG Farming in Apartments) whether a papaya plant is a tree, herb, or both! 🙂 What is interesting about the papaya plant is that it has three […]
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My okras seeds came from Alan Tan’s amazing edibles garden and were sowed on December 27, 2015. These were amazing fresh seeds that germinated in 4 days. Alan Tan took much care to prepare these seeds for sharing among the gardening communities. We were gifted with red and green okra […]
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Gardening is no longer about just growing plants! Its a combination of great D.I.Y ideas like this and plant knowledge which will allow gardeners to grow plants that are typically out of the zone. And that’s why I love Wanqing Lee’s icebox idea for a tropical strawberry planter. For material cost of less than […]
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The idea is simple. Reared some marine life, be it fishes or shrimps, then channel the aquarium water to feed vegetables. It’s a self-sustaining system that auto-irrigates your edibles while you are on holiday! Sound great, right? But this post took me the longest time to write, even though I told Ethan Phang […]
Continue ReadingFinally! A well documented hydroponics experiment contributed by member Cher Keng Heng and posted in our “berries crazy” group, SG Farming in Apartments!!! Gardener Cher Keng Heng grew his strawberries in his office, where the environment is cool at 22C all day long (24hours) and I am assuming 7 days a week. Ideal strawberries environment indeed! […]
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Orange capsicum’s journey began on September 27 2015 with seeds from fresh supermarket capsicums. This is the second time I grew capsicums after culling my first crop due to fruit flies larvae infestation in the pot. Rather than applying pesticides, we culled the above plants. The larvae’s problems were too serious. […]
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Update 2018 – Hydro Rice in natural nutrients began! Test trials underway. In land-scarce Singapore, it is not impossible to grow rice for fun and where space allowed, for our own consumption. We thought this is a great gardening project to do with children as well. Hopefully, with the experience, our urban kids […]
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This post summarized what I learned from readings and gardeners who grew these wonderful fruits in 2016. Anne Ang’s potted longan plant. First, there were not much written about growing longans from seeds. Fruit trees from seeds tend to take too long to mature and carried an additional risk they […]
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Just for fun, I wanted to see how far I can grow peaches in Singapore! For any hard crust seed, it is better to remove the hard outer covering before sowing. Personally, I like to check the condition of the seeds too before I sowed them. Our fruits, after all, were not harvested fresh […]
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UPDATE 2018 – Successfully grown in non-circulating hydroponics (KRATKY) and began 3rd generation seedlings trials. This variety was acclimatized to SG natural environment by 2017. The parent plants of this variety began their journey on January 16 2016 in soil. This is Alpine heirloom Pineapple strawberries, a low growing variety with […]
Continue ReadingWhile most of us fret over insects invasion on our chilli, tomatoes or capsicum plants, Pak Mat believes that “Prevention is the best cure!” Pak Mat made his own organic insects repellent which he sprayed on his plants once a week. This is his recipe : 1. Garlic (ratio : 3 Garlic to 1 […]
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Fancy homegrown peanuts? If your garden is sunny, it’s the easiest edibles to grow, even for beginners! Jessica said she did not expect that growing peanuts was so easy. These were the raw peanuts she sowed in her raised beds. Jessica shared how easy in 4 steps – Sowed […]
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UPDATE 2019 – GROW LAVENDERS IN LIQUID WORKSHOP AVAILABLE! Our Unique curriculum includes how to acclimatize lavenders for our climate! These plants are able to renew growth from dry wooden barks on their own. Hardy acclimated lavenders are easier to maintain in our climate. This is how the […]
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Rosemary plants are one of the easiest herbs to grow once we understood what they need. As a novice gardener in 2015, I could not say the same as I was a serial killer of rosemary plants bought from nurseries, even though I followed their instructions of care faithfully. I did not understand then […]
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UPDATE 2018 – HERBS WORKSHOPS IN LIQUID and SOIL BASED 2016 – SOIL BASED Ms. Erin Lee started with 2 pots of thyme 🙂 Like many of us in Singapore, Thyme is a difficult herb to cultivate in our humid weather. More times than not, they died very quickly. Erin […]
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You guess right, is Mr. Alan Tan! And who would ever guess this amazing garden of international sunflowers varieties and wild organic edibles garden existed at all if Alan had not shared pictures with the gardening communities of Singapore?! It existed not in some plush location, but a corner of a construction site […]
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Ever reminisced about what we were doing when we were 21 years old? Certainly, mine was not even close to what I love doing now – growing strawberries. My hobbies then were stars away from what this young man loved doing. I am still in awe by what this young man built in […]
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Ever wince when you have to throw away expired raw kelp because you have forgotten to use it? Instead of throwing out expired raw produce in May 2015, I decided to make my own plant food and liquid feed. STEP 1 – Rinsed a few times in cold water to rid of salt […]
Continue ReadingLiving in a small apartment and no space for homegrown vegetables? This was Lim San’s tomatoes harvest from a cup! Too busy! No time to tend to a garden? How about a Do-It-Yourself – Automatic watering garden out of free-of-charge recycled containers? Having no land […]
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Strawberry plants with dainty flowers, lush green leaves, and vivid red stems do not remain pretty forever. Even in our climate, there will be a season for fruiting and dormancy. In dormancy, they rest but will not attain full dormancy as plants with winter. Our observation regarding winter in tropical strawberries post. […]
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I chanced upon a post by Ms. Yong Kit Chin on May 16 2015 about growing Meyer Lemons from seeds. These were her advice on how to germinate Meyer lemon seeds : Peel off the hard shell covering the seed. Use a nail clipper to pull the husk off. This makes it […]
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2018 UPDATE – HYDROPONIC MINT 2019 UPDATE – HYDROPONIC HERBS, VEGETABLES OR LAVENDERS WORKSHOPS AVAILABLE ROOTING HERBS METHOD Many herbs can be propagated this way. First, cut a stem from a plant or use any stem from the market with lower leaves removed. Stick the stem cutting in water until roots appear. […]
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During our live radio chat with DJ Mei Xiang from 883FM on March 18, 2016, Summer was asked how I was as a mom and what her childhood was like? I am glad to say I passed with flying colors as a mom! I love kids, and it’s my regret that due to […]
Continue ReadingNew data in 2017 – Strawberries are heat and cold tolerant at the same time. They are extremely adaptable plants once they are mature. This observation lead to new trials to see how far I can pushed this boundary. In outdoor trials, plants successfully fruit in spite of aphids infestation and without hand pollination. No […]
Continue ReadingLim San, a fellow gardener in our Facebook gardening group, “SG Farming in Apartments” , often shared his creative gardening projects with us. More than once, I was inspired by his recycling efforts to use plastic bottles or paper cups to grow edibles using either hydroponics or aquaponic methods. This time though, by his 10 […]
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2015 October 22 Our first experience with runners occurred after our plants began their fruiting journey. We had fruits on many flowering stems but also noticed odd little joints on some other stems. Members of our gardening groups who lived abroad and had strawberries in their gardens told us these were runners […]
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I remembered when I wrote this post in 2015, it was during the worst haze experience in Singapore. Many people were stuck at home. There were no schools. But it became the best time to make gardening crafts from recyclables. The original post in 2015 – Going away for holidays? Worried […]
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When reading posts on mulberries, one name keeps popping up. This lady with her bottomless pit of knowledge is Ms. Wisteria Lesley. I saw her posts in Green Culture Singapore and Urban Farmers (Singapore) quite by accident. Pictures of her lush plentiful mulberries caught my attention. I don’t think I ever […]
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Updated 2018 June 30 – We completed the full cycle journal on Kau Kee cutting to fruits and other observations. These plants continue to surprise while gifting us knowledge and food. As fresh berries were not available in our markets, we grew to share them with our family and neighbors. Last but not least, we can grow […]
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The goal is to test how to adapt strawberries to fruit without air conditioning in Singapore. On October 19 2015, I began the first outdoor trial with Alpine strawberries from my niece’s sickly lot. These outdoor plants had a traumatic start ! 🙂 Summer and I decided to self pollinate the strawberry flowers in the […]
Continue ReadingWhy? The most obvious reason is the taste. If you have the chance to meet my daughter, she will tell you with shining eyes, “because they taste like jelly beans!” Imagine, strawberries that looked and tasted like jelly beans, and packed with vitamins and all the natural goodness that jelly beans don’t have! Just ask […]
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When Alan Tan visited me on Oct 26 2015 and saw my new transplant strawberry patient, he said, ” This one cannot liao! “… and for most plants, he would be right too ! 🙂 Treatment – Strawberries plants CAN RECOVER ! 🙂 Alan Tan’s sick seedlings also recovered under his excellent care 🙂 […]
Continue ReadingThe plants that often intrigue us in Singapore are ones thats not meant to grow in our tropical climate! 🙂 Lavender today (Oct 29 2015) from one post in our Facebook group, ” SG Farming in Apartments”, and strawberries are my all time favorite plants to grow in Singapore! If we cannot put our plants […]
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Home Made Compost is possible in crowded, urban tropical cities like Singapore. This process of recycling kitchen green waste into compost for gardening is good for plants, ourselves, and the environment. Look at how my edibles garden turned out with this “homemade” super soil for yourself! From THIS – An abandoned dying citrus […]
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More than half of our 30 strawberry plants died from transplanting woes than from Singapore tropical weather. This is an experience earned the hardest way. And the reason why this blog is set up, to share our knowledge. 2 weeks old Seedlings Transplant Young Seedlings ( 1 – 3 […]
Continue ReadingPossible to add ground coffee to top soil without increasing pests in tropical Singapore’s apartment? No Time!!! Rushing for work in the morning!! Strawberries care is only for people who are not working? 🙂 Actually, it takes less time than you need to water normal plants and still add to the acidic and cooler soil […]
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