Tropical Permaculture in the Philippines: Update 2

It's been a while since my last update, but there hasn't been much to report. Partly, that's because things move a lot slower here—there's a lot of wait-and-see, and he'll ask someone who'll ask someone else, et cetera, et cetera. But it's also because the wifey and I took a week long break to meet up with some friends in Boracay (which, by the way, was amazing). But we're back now, and I'm back on the grind. Things are on track and a general plan is starting to formulate.

Of the seeds that I planted in pots, all of them sprouted and most of them seem to be doing well, with the exception of the green onion. I'm not sure what it's problem is. The sitao (green bean), ampalaya, corn, and cucumber did so well that we were able to transplant them to various spots in the garden, and they seem to be going strong, though the sitao has a bug problem already. I also picked up some more seeds in Iloilo, on our way back from Boracay, so we'll be planting those soon too, hopefully. (There's watermelon, cantelope, mustard, white radish, tomatoes, bell peppers, pumpkin, cabbage, carrots, sweet peas, and a few more I can't remember). We've also got some peanuts from the market, so I'm looking forward to using them as living fertilizer.

The worm bin is doing well. I just put a little spot of organic waste in there, and about a week later, the worms have left me a nice, brown, slightly slimy pile of worm shit, perfect for fertilizing soil. I've only made a small amount of fertilizer so far, since I started with very few worms. But I've added more daily (we've been moving a lot of dirt in the garden and I've found a bunch), so I should be able to process more waste now.

The compost bin is also doing well, though I think I need some more green stuff. I tried to cut the materials down to little bits using garden shears, but that gets a bit tedious, and most of the input was 4-foot-long dried carabao grass, so a lot of it is in about 6-inch strips. Plus I added a little bit of soil (it's mostly clay here), and I found a sack of sawdust in a pile of garbage, so I threw some of that in too. And of course, I'm adding all the kitchen waste that doesn't get fed to the worms. It's doing well. It's hot to the touch on the inside, and at the bottom there's already a nice layer of fertile soil. I'm turning it once a week. I've got lots of room to add more stuff, but I'm also kind of lazy, so we'll see what happens.

We've cleared a good spot of land, but after doing so, it became clear that in the big open plot there's a big problem—the sun. See, the Philippine sun don't f*** around. In just a few hours in can lay waste to the hardiest carbon-based life forms, be they animal or vegetable. Thus, only a few of the plants we've got will actually thrive in those conditions. The rest will wither. So I've got a few solutions lined up. Long term solution: plant more trees. We've already got some coconut and banana saplings around the lot that could be moved, plus I plan to buy some other saplings as soon as this mysterious tree truck everyone tells me about makes an appearance. Medium term solution: plant a ton of corn, which will provide shade to nearby plants as it gets bigger. Immediate solution: choose better areas to plant. Which leads me to my next point.

I f***ing love bananas. I'm bananas. For bananas. And not just because they're delicious. Banana trees are godsends for tropical organic farmers. They grow in clusters, since new banana trees are formed from the 4 little shoots that pop out the bottom of mature trees. They've got huge leaves, and even on healthy trees, half of the leaves are usually dead and wilted. They fall off and decay, and the trees feed on that added nitrogen in the soil. Banana trees are mostly water, so when they die, the trunks decay super fast, too. What that means is this: if you've got a little circle of banana trees, you plant some raised beds around its base. The banana leaves provide dappled shade, protecting vulnerable young plants from the harsh sun. As the leaves fall off, or after you harvest bananas and chop down the trees, you can throw all of the organic waste in the center of the cluster, where it will decay. When it rains, you've got a natural fertilizer dispenser, adding nitrogen to your beds. At least, that's the theory I'm going with. We'll see how it works out.

We're using bamboo stakes to make the raised beds. Bamboo is cheap and plentiful, and works great to form pretty curves. Also, I use these big elephant ear leaves for spot mulching around young plants. It helps keep moisture in the soil and also discourages weeds from getting too close.


That's about it for now. There's a lot more work to do and a lot more things to plant, but I have direction now, and I'm excited about how everything is going to turn out.