Starting a garden doesn't have to be on a large plot of land. In fact, we can start gardening from our own yard.
It doesn't feel like time has passed very quickly. This month, I have been doing gardening activities for 6 months. I continue to learn about organic farming, even though it's not easy. But it's all very exciting.
In fact, I forget a lot of negative things and currently gardening really helps me to focus on the good things in my life. I have started to be able to sleep on a schedule, without over-thinking. I can also feel calmer even if I just drink coffee in my own garden.
There have been many positive changes during these 6 months. Alu is very grateful that God guided me to start gardening. It's not easy. Before this, the empty space beside my house and in front of my house was only overgrown with weeds. It took great courage to get to this point today.
I started to dare to explore the bales. Including the space on the terrace of my house, which is in a different location from my main garden. My main garden is next to my house, meanwhile, my small terrace is of course in front of my house.
In this post, I will share how I use my terrace space to plant water spinach. While on the land next to the house, I planted water spinach in a raised bed. But, for the terrace, I use polybags to plant these water spinach.
Well, I also linked my video that I just posted today on my YouTube. You can see this complete video on how to plant water spinach from seeds until harvest. This video is available in several language subtitles which you can click on the top right.
Water spinach seeds are classified as large seeds. That's why planting water spinach doesn't require a seeding step. We can sow seeds directly in the planting medium.
First, I prepared some polybags. For planting media, I use soil, roasted husks, and organic fertilizer. At the sowing stage, I made a pattern of 3 straight lines per polybag to spread the water spinach seeds. Then, cover lightly with soil so that the water spinach seeds can germinate well.
After sowing, don't forget to water them twice a day. Also, the most important thing when planting on a terrace is to add protection to the polybags. Especially, if you have lots of cats in your house.
Here, there are lots of stray cats. So, as a protector, I added the stick that I usually use for skewers. This method is very effective in preventing stray cats from sleeping in polybags.
Within 4 days, it was quite high. This is because water spinach is relatively easy to grow and care for. Also, it can be harvested anywhere from 25 days to 30 days. That's also why, in Indonesia, the price of water spinach is very cheap. Water spinach is very suitable for beginners who want to learn to grow vegetables in small areas, especially using polybags.
Apart from water spinach, I also grow other types of vegetables, namely mustard greens, and pagoda mustard greens. This doesn't stop here. I will add other types of vegetables by considering the duration of sunlight in this terrace area.
For fertilization, I use liquid organic fertilizer from compost, but I buy ready-to-use products. If you make it yourself, it will take time. So, I decided to buy this product and it has proven to be good for the plants in my garden. Fertilize 7 days after planting. Do it once a week.
We need additional fertilization because the planting medium uses polybags, so the nutrients absorbed by the plants will be more limited compared to planting in raised beds.
15 days old like this condition. It already looks lush and very fresh. Because it is organic without pesticides, you can see that some of the water spinach leaves look hollow. That's because grasshoppers really like these fresh green vegetables. Yummy!
Entering the age of 25 days, I harvested these delicious and fresh water spinach. My harvesting method is by cutting the water spinach stems, leaving a few stems near the roots.
In this way, the water spinach will grow sprouts again. We can harvest repeatedly with this harvest method.
I hope this post inspires us not to be afraid to start gardening even if we have limited land. Happy gardening. <3
Thank you for reading my blog and reblog if you want my blog this time worthy of reading by others.
Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari
Anggrek Lestari is an Indonesian fiction writer who has published two major books. Now She is a full-time content creator. She has a goal to share life, poem, and food content that makes others happy and can get inspiration.
Contact Person: authoranggreklestari@gmail.com
Discord: anggreklestari#3009