Winning our battle against Food Insecurity through HOME gardening

Details: Category: Region 9; Published: 08 February 2022

No need for big space is necessary to start a garden where you can plant and harvest your foods. Indeed, a thought to consider because in every problem there is always a solution. Introducing the easy-to-do home gardening system. In this kind of gardening, you do not need that many square meters of land to cultivate. All you need to have is to be innovative in expanding your resources, patience, hard work, and a daily dose of sunlight and water.

In general, home gardening is defined as the cultivation of a small portion of land which may be around the household or distance away from your home. It can be described as a mixed cropping approach that includes fruits, vegetables, crops, herbs, spices, medicinal plants as well as livestock like chickens and hogs that may serve as the primary source of food and income.

Here are some home gardening methods that you can try at home.

Container Gardening. This is a micro model farming where a family unit or household is producing fruits and vegetables in special containers for own consumption to help improve the income, health, and well-being of its family members (Deveza and Holmer, 2002). This is also one way to re-use plastic bottles where you can germinate seeds and grow plants like tomatoes, onions, lettuce, mustasa, upland kangkong, and pechay.

Vertical Gardening. It is a special kind of urban/ home gardening suitable for small spaces, particularly for decorating the walls and roofs in various styles. It is an alternative gardening method for expanding the scope of growing plants in a vertical space. You can use this method to plant your favorite green vegetables like pechay, spring onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and many fruits and vegetables as you would like.

Hydroponics. This method has become a new trend in agriculture and food production. A gardening method using mineral nutrient solutions in water without soil (soilless based). Using this method, you can easily grow your food like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and herbs like mint, basil, and oregano.

Square foot Gardening. This gardening method is suitable for families with small spaces. A simple method of creating small, orderly, and highly productive kitchen gardens. Fruits and vegetables suitable for this method are like the ones mentioned above, such as tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, lettuce, pechay, and many more.

Recently, these home gardening systems became more popular because of the COVID-19 pandemic where most of us just stay home to be safe if going out in public is unnecessary. It is like hitting two birds using one stone. You produce fresh and accessible fruits and vegetables and it makes you healthy and free from diseases. And if you would like, you can also sell your fresh produce to generate income to sustain your daily needs. So, let us all plant together to achieve a food-secure household, community, and nation. #WePlantAsONE #SpreadIdeasOnHomeGardening

NO I Zamubec Alomar C. Adlawan, RND

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