How To Start Organic Gardening at Home in Bacolod City, the Philippines

Congratulations for making an effort to start organic gardening!

I’ve been doing organic gardening for 5 years now in Bacolod City, and I’ll share with you valuable inputs I learned throughout those years.

Here goes:

1. Educate yourself.
   • Here are the websites that have helped me:
     • Facebook Page of Perfecto Jojo Rom.  Be sure to check out his photos and captions and status updates because everything is there.  https://www.facebook.com/jojorom76.  If you can, I suggest you get hold of his manual, “Urban Container Gardening:  A Home Farming Manual”.  You can order from him directly through his Facebook account.  He typically replies within the day.  
     • Learn Organic Gardening at Growing your Greens, a YouTube channel.  John has a multitude of very helpful videos.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnFheTbVpASikm0YPb8pSw
2. Start making compost with your kitchen waste.
   • I blogged about converting kitchen waste into organic fertilizer using a compost bin.  Please check that out.  With your compost kitchen waste, you can use it to feed your worms to produce vermicompost.
3. Start your worm bin.
   • I blogged about producing vermicompost using a worm bin.  Please check this out.  Worm castings or vermicompost, to me, is the secret.  If you have it, you can grow anything!
4. Prepare your garden soil.
   • I learned this recipe from Jojo Rom:
     • 1 part dry and sieved ordinary oil (in Ilonggo, this is called “bonbon”).
     • 1/2 part vermicast (worm castings or vermicompost) or any animal manure (except horse’s and carnivorous animals like dogs and cats)
     • 1/2 part carbonized rice hull
     • 2 parts semi-composted coco peat, rice hull, or sawdust
     • 1/4 part ash
   • Here are the sources of sawdust.
     • All furniture shops along Lopez Jaena St., Bacolod City.  They dump their saw dust either in their compound or outside.  You can haul them for free.
   • Here are the sources of rice hull.
     • All rice mills along Sum-ag road, Bacolod City.  They dump their rice hull either in their compound or outside.  You can haul them for free.
   • Here is the source of rice hull ash.
     • LT Trading Rice and Corn Station along Sum-ag Road, managed by Mr. Ivan Tayco Lirazan.  https://www.facebook.com/ivan.lirazan
5. Start planting!
   • Start with plant-and-forget crops, fast growing, nutrition-packed veggies like alugbati (Malabar spinach), kamote, kangkong, malunggay, pechay, and cassava.
   • Here are the sources of seeds here in Bacolod City.
     • Harbest Agribusiness Corporation.  http://www.harbest.com.ph/contactus.php
     • Various suppliers.  https://bacolodpages.com/Business-line/agriculture/plantsflowerstreesfruit-treesseedlings
6. Prepare your organic fertilizers.
   • At home, we fertilize using worm castings or vermicompost (vermicast), urine, and/or vermitea.
7. Prepare your organic pesticides for pest control.
   • • I blogged about pest control in organic gardening .  These are real life situations, so please do check it out.
   • Here is another one way.  This material is not mine, and I totally forgot where I got this.
   • 

I’ll update as we go along.  Please email me if you have any queries and/or feedback.

Happy organic gardening!

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