A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free. — Nikos Kazantzakis
Since 2013, an area in the orchard has been unusable.
That's about 50 square meters covered under two fallen mango trees. Underneath the unproductive branches is a thriving ecosystem, imitating a young rainforest!
The center part of the understory is filled with dim-loving plants and unknown fungi, then the itchy Taro plants and the grasses gradually grow towards the end of the canopy.
But I don't need a rainforest right now, it was a tough decision not to seek permission from my dad and just execute the plan without him knowing it.
Pruning the Fallen Mango Trees
Recently, I started pruning the mango trees and then continued on cutting down horizontal branches nearest to the ground leaving the remaining branches to continue growing upwards.
When doing things like these, it always comes to my mind if I could hire someone else to do it or if I could get some power tools to ease the job. My right palm is full of blisters while I am also suffering body pains, but still bearable.
As of today, I was able to cut down a total of 15 branches from the two mango trees, at least three more to cut in the next few days. The orchard is now perceptively wider and brighter than before!
Creating new Raised Beds
I also started making the first raised bed out of the branches, twigs, and leaves. It isn't done yet, as I needed to find soil to fill it.
My initial plan is to further cut the fallen branches down into manageable sizes while simultaneously create more raised beds. I'll use the bigger branches as the frame and the smaller branches and the leaves as fillers.
It will be an extension of the permaculture garden but will also interplanted with young berry bushes and smaller fruit trees. When completed, I could expect a total of five raised beds to grow a variety of crops, but I'll just start early next year when the typhoon season ends.
Why Raised Beds?
Our property is the outlet of the annual floods, sometimes taking up to two days of waist-high flood and strong undercurrent. Conventional gardening plots increases the risk of erosion and crop damage.
Also, during the dry season, the soil dries up and hardens like rock, choking the plants until it withers. Raised beds are filled with tree debris, garden soil, sand, and kitchen scraps together with native worms, fungi, and bacteria to create an ecosystem that nurture the roots of crops while also health the soil underneath.
As raised beds matures, the plant materials decays into organic matters while also storing moisture and slowly releasing Nitrogen throughout the years.
In more than a year of building the food forest and growing the permaculture garden, there is no sure-fire solution to win against the wrath of nature, but raised beds are one of the most economic, resilient, and sustainable options to grow crops in both wet and dry months.
October Harvests
I have been waiting for the Luffas to continually bearing fruit since the time I first harvested one, and right now I have at least five female flowers and young fruits groing simultaneously!
Young luffas can be used as a vegetable on soups to add a sweet and floral flavor while mature ones can be dried to make scrubs, either for use on skin or in the kitchen.
I was also able tp harvest some green beans, the other pods were left to mature for seed collection. The seeds/beans will be sown next year alongside with the leafy vegetables.
So far, the one I am looking forward before the year ends are the sweet potatoes that I planted last month. It is an orange variety that grows small egg-yolk shaped tubers in less than four months.
How about you, what gardening improvements are you busy right now? Share in the comment sections down below! ;)
PINNED POSTS
| Clearing the Damage After the Storm Instead of falling into anxiety, I took time to make use of what the storm had given. | |
| Building Abundance with More Fruit Trees Amid the Economic Turmoil This year, I planned to initially plant 100 trees wherever possible until the year ends. | |
| Using Saltwater and Fire to Heal a Permaculture Garden Plant debris becomes natural mulch and organic matter. | |
| Harvesting Cucumbers After a Year of Labor As crops mature, harvest season began as well. | |
| Fermenting Fish Amino Acid for the Garden Crops It would be a sin to throw away such things, even the food scraps I turn it to compost now. |
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About Me
@oniemaniego is a software developer, but outside work, he experiments in the kitchen, writes poetry and fiction, paints his heart out, or toils under the hot sun.
| Onie Maniego / Loy Bukid was born in rural Leyte. He often visits his family orchards during the summers and weekends, which greatly influenced his works. |
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