Creating My Dream Urban Garden

I've always wanted a vegetable garden of my own ever since I was a kid. I remember many years ago, we tried to plant some seeds in the lot behind our house.. not one plant lived, however after a couple of months, we were surprised that one peanut plant actually survived and we harvested that -- to my amazement.

Last June husband and I finally moved to our own house, and at last I thought, I can finally start planting my garden. I started with herbs - the ones you can buy from Ace Hardware or Handyman that already has a pot, growing medium and seeds. I bought some basil and peppermint.. and lo and behold! the herbs lived!

Then I started buying more seeds (Ramgo) from Handyman. Also bought some Gro-kompost (also Ramgo), growing pots and fertilizers. I tried planting tomatoes and peppers (siling pangsigang) next. I managed to sprout them, but the tomatoes became too leggy (I didn't know this then) and my peppers have curly leaves. Then I started researching.. like actually reading blogs - just like this one! - and watching lots and lots of youtube videos (my favorite is California Gardening). That started my actual obsession with my vegetable garden.

I joined Facebook groups (Manila Grows Food and Gardener's Tambayan) and learned so much from these as well. Also created an Instagram account (IG: Growinglemon) for my gardening obsession (yes it's an obsession!) and the gardening community in IG is amazing as well! You get to see what others are growing and take it as inspiration, you can ask questions and one or more will answer you in no time!

Now I have started growing other plants - Eggplants, Parsley, Bell Peppers, Garlic, Onion, Sunflower, Marigold, Zinnias, etc. But even if my garden looks kawawa, I still managed to harvest from my garden - cherry tomatoes, eggplants, siling pangsigang, bell peppers and some herbs.

I am encouraging everyone to start their own vegetable gardens. It's an amazing feeling to be able to grow plants from seeds, and an even more amazing feeling when you harvest the fruits of your labor.