You Can Grow Your Own Vegetable And Fruit Garden at Home
Take inspiration from this homeowner who now enjoys a fruitful harvest from the edible garden in her own backyard
For some, planting fruits and vegetables in their backyard isn’t the most exciting thing to do. After all, it’s so much easier to grab these from the produce aisle of the supermarket. No need to get down on your knees and get dirty.
But oh, the joys of seeing your hard work produce a bountiful harvest! Just ask Donna Cuna-Pita, a stylist and lifestyle writer, who stumbled upon the secret to growing her own fruit and vegetable garden at home (you can see her beautiful home in the link below).
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“To be honest, it was all trial and error,” says Donna, whose mother, an avid gardener, influenced her to putter around in the garden. In the home Donna shares with her husband Patrick and her two kids, the backyard is sloped, so topsoil quality isn’t the best. She started planting vegetables that were easy to grow: tomatoes, eggplants, kangkong, kamote, pineapples, ginger, and herbs.
In her latest Facebook post (below), Donna transferred some of her vegetables and herbs to pots located nearer to her dining room and kitchen.
You can grow it from grocery produce
Believe it or not, most of these were started from vegetables and fruits Donna had bought from the grocery. She explains, “My fruit-bearing trees (rambutan, lanzones, langka, avocado, guava, coconut, lemon, calamansi) were bought from Mahogany Market in Tagaytay. The chesa, duhat, and marang were grown from seeds of fruits we ate.”
And then there were those that literally grew out of nowhere. Banana plants sprouted, courtesy of the birds in the area whose droppings likely fertilized the soil.
Grow only what you enjoy eating
Donna made a smart move to plant fruits and vegetables they regularly eat, and are low-maintenance. “Okra and eggplants are prolific plants. They bear fruit non-stop,” Donna relates. The kangkong, malunggay, and kamote come in handy for salads, sinigang, and other everyday dishes.
“We just get as needed or if the fruits are ripe for the picking,”” she adds.
Earn a bit of money from it!
Speaking of picking, Donna’s fruit trees have yet to bear fruit until after five years or so. But Donna is able to sell her excess kangkong and kamote tops to other residents in their village.
Donna takes her green thumb all the way inside her home, where she has ornamental plants and indoor banana and malunggay trees. Caring for them is easy as 1-2-3: “We just water them as needed and make sure they’re positioned correctly to get enough sun or shade.”
Donna makes gardening look easy—and it could be for you, too, if you take these beginner tips from her: “Choose items you can easily take care of. Decide what kind of garden you like—edible, fragrant, cactus, etc.” She also suggests joining plant groups online or organizations so you can find like-minded people to share information with.
READ: 5 Online Gardening Groups You Must Follow Now
It may take some time and plenty of hard work, but what makes it worth it, as far as Donna is concerned, is “having these constant reminders of the abundance and great beauty that surrounds us every day.”
Homeowners can also try growing their edible gardens in small, hydroponic or aquaponic planters. Click here or on the link below for sources and ideas.
READ: This Tiny Planter Can Grow A Vegetable Garden In A Small Home
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