The harvest from your garden is a priceless pleasure.
Gardening teaches us to work hard and stay patient to finally be able to harvest results. Unfortunately, from the point of view of money, gardening activities are considered meaningless compared to working to make money in large companies. Meanwhile, many small plots of land next to the house are left only for weeds to overgrow. What a shame.
I'm only human and I get a lot of life lessons from the phases of my life. When I was in my twenties, I migrated to the Indonesian capital (Jakarta City) I rented a small room in someone else's house to survive. I do not have the opportunity to do gardening activities. I was just busy working for a state-owned company at the time.
Right now, I'm a few days will be even 30 years. I've been a wife for a year now. I became more concerned about making use of even the slightest bit of bare land in my house. That's why I started gardening. Although, not easy as a beginner. It takes more motivation to keep going.
Starting With Planting Water Spinach
I planted water spinach (kangkung) to start a vegetable growing activity in the small garden beside my house. In Indonesia, we call water spinach with KANKUNG. Why water spinach (kangkung)? That's because water spinach is an easy vegetable to handle in my area. Also, it takes not too long to harvest them anywhere from 30-days to 40 days.
Water spinach (kangkung) is a type of vegetable that has crunchy stems. So it is very suitable for vegetables as a complement to serving protein and carbohydrates. Delicious served even if only by stir-fry method.
In addition, water spinach (kangkung) can be harvested repeatedly if it is harvested by not removing the roots. So, it is very profitable especially for home production.
Planting Seeds Directly In Soil
Another advantage of growing water spinach is that we can plant it directly in the ground without seeding. It is also called a water plant because it can be grown in water without the need for special care. Just like wild plants.
I loosened the ground first because it had not been used for planting plants for a long time.
I used a hoe to soften the ground texture. Also, I have to clean the weeds growing around my garden.
After that, I can immediately spread the water spinach (kangkung) seeds onto the ground that has been prepared.
Time to Harvest Water Spinach
After exactly 30 days, my water spinach is ready to be harvested. It looks so fresh and beautiful! I can't wait to cook them!
I don't fertilize at all. So they're organic. Because it is not fertilized, water spinach leaves look with holes.
Grasshoppers really like to eat my water spinach leaves. Which means that these vegetables are fresh and pesticide free. Bugs love them!
I'm already prepared with my harvesting equipment! I used a bamboo basket and a pair of scissors.
I'm not going to pull out water spinach (kangkung) by the root. I'm just going to cut their stems using a pair of scissors. Their stems are also crunchy, so it's easier to cut their stems.
After the water spinach stems are cut, new shoots will grow. If they are not cut, they will become vines and begin to take root to propagate themselves.
I can harvest them whenever I want. They won't rot if I harvest them late. Their young stems will also always grow again. So, very profitable!
I got a basket full of water spinach. In fact, I was only able to finish half of them cooking for one day. While the other half I gave to my mother-in-law.
In my next blog, I will share food recipes with water spinach ingredients. See you!
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