Kulitis in my Smoothies

Organic kulitis in the backyard

 I did not plant this, they just grow in the garden and they grow abundantly when I started to take really good care of them. Kulitis provides a wonderful healthy ingredient to my green smoothie.

One day, I took a half day leave from the office and decided to eat my lunch at home. My cousin served fried tuna and ginataang mongo - yummy! I was famished but had to stop myself as I looked at the unfamiliar green leafy veggie in my ginataang monggo. I asked her what it was and she said, “that is kulitis.” Kulitis, what? Right, it’s the plant that I kept on pulling from my small garden thinking it was a grass. Yes kulitis for me was just a perennial, annoying grass that grows anywhere that has soil. Oh boy, was I wrong!

Greens: Kulitis, Sweet basil, Orange mint, Gynura procumbens

Fruits: A little portion of pineapple, mango, avocado and guyabano

Superfoods: Spirulina, Maca, Camu camu berry and Cacao nibs

I initially only used romaine lettuce in my green smoothie. But romaine lettuce is a bit pricey and sometimes unavailable, I had to substitute it with cheap but equally (or more) nutritious greens. Also, the experts are saying we should not use the same leafy veggie in our green smoothie for longer than a week – we need to substitute it with something else. Anyway, I alternate romaine lettuce with kangkong (swamp cabbage), pechay, bok choy, camote tops, saluyot and alugbati. When I learned that kulitis is edible, I took special interest in growing them and grow them, I did! I grow them because I want to stock up on green leafy veggies at home for my green smoothies. So now nothing beats having my own fresh (yes, super fresh!) greens in the backyard, I have them when I need them. Awesome!

Container Gardening

I am very determined to grow my own vegetables. The thing is, our soil in the backyard is unsuitable for vegetable gardening. I have grown some veggies in my yard but they don't grow as healthy as I want them to. I have potted herbs at home and I’m glad they are thriving but I’m not satisfied. Some of my herbs don’t look healthy. This week, I bought a protector net to give my herbs a little shade since they are directly under the sun. I hope it’s going to help. Maybe what my herbs need is a little tender loving care.

I understand, good soil equals good vegetables. But constrained by our depressingly hard backyard soil, I decided to plant my veggies in containers and pots. Yep, the answer is Container Gardening So, to help materialize my plans (and to please me, I supposed *wink*), my dear hubby bought commercial garden soil, the ones sold by sack. They don't come cheap, so I hope they are good.

Anyway, going back to my determination to grow veggies, I bought vegetable seeds from, guess where? The hardware store! Yes, hardware stores sell packs of flower and vegetable seeds. Check out their lawn and garden section.   

The garden stuff I bought. Two sacks of garden soil, 6 rectangular pots, fine compost, protection net, 
a couple of garden tools and vegetable seeds. I bought all these from Ace Hardware (SM Store)

Here are the seeds I’ve bought so far:  Okra, regular and cherry tomatoes, black beauty eggplant, baby carrots, onion, mustard and pechay. I bought some really nice containers, too, and yes, additional garden tools. I am really excited. Oh, and I also bought fine compost to condition the soil I bought. I am going to check out some stores for organic fertilizers. Yes, I am also determined not just to grow vegetables but to grow organic vegetables.

I have spent about PhP1,700.00 for everything. I know, I could have bought lots of veggies with that amount but I don’t’ mind at all. The cost is not the point, it’s the joy I derive from working in the garden, seeing my veggies grow, harvesting them, and yes, enjoying them!

Of Veggies and Herbs

This is one of the things I do during weekends...gardening.

My potted herbs

I love veggies (ok, not when I was younger, hehe) and I have always wanted to have a vegetable garden, more than a flower garden.  I am fortunate to have space at home for a veggie garden but not so fortunate as to the quality of soil I have. To satisfy my desire for a veggie garden I bought garden soil and put my plants on pots. I have veggies that grow on the ground but most of my plants are potted.

I have four greens in my garden. Pechay, Amaranths (Kulitis), Water spinach (Kangkong) and Malunggay. I used to have kale but they were not bearing good leaves anymore I had to pull them out.  

Anyway, in addition to my green leafy veggies, I also have herbs. Oh I love herbs! I mix them in my smoothies and also in my green salad. I have rosemary, tarragon, sweet basil, Thai basil, mints (choco mint, spearmint, apple mint, orange mint), stevia, onion chives, Italian oregano, parsley, fennel, dill, lemongrass (tanglad), yellow ginger (luyang dilaw) and green onion.

I also have green tea plant and gynura procumbens (for hypertension).

Some fruits and veggies in my backyard

In addition to my veggies and herbs, I also have fruits trees. There's mango, rambutan, calamansi and guyabano in our backyard.

Gardening makes me happy. It gives me healthy food, it brings me peace and it allows me to exercise at the same time. So yes, gardening is probably one of the most pleasurable things to do in the world ;-)

Re-landscaping my garden

I bought plants and organic fertilizer at Calinan a few days ago to add to my garden at home. Got them for a measly P200.00! Check them out!

 Cheap at P200.00, yeah? Those stalks at the back are horsetail plants

I want to hire a professional landscaper to redo my lawn but I am financially constrained at the moment so I'll have to do it within my means. Translation: I will have to do it myself, hahaha!  I have very little idea about landscaping so I'm browsing the internet for inspiration.

I have always liked to have plants around me. In fact, I have plants indoor, too - in my living room, in my dining room, in my bathroom. I also have one in my office. A few years back I tried my hands at dish-garden making but without success, so I plan to take up formal studies this time. Hmmm, I'll see what I can do about this. I have way too many plans in the my head! I guess this is what happens to a single mom who is left to her devises every Sunday.  Yeah, kids are out with their dad almost every Sunday leaving me home alone. It's not really bad, I am accustomed to this arrangement already and I actually like it. It's quiet at home and the silence allows me time to think and plan, sometimes work on some bring-home office stuff, or do some DIY self-pampering. Ok, got sidetracked there....Let's go back to gardening and landscaping, lol.

This is how my lawn looks at present:

Very dry, right? Lifeless :(

Look, there's a banana tree there! Nobody planted it. 
I decided to let it grow to provide contrast. I actually like to see it there

There's a swing in my lawn that needs repainting, it used to be very blue, 
now it's partly rustic brown, lol

The trunk with few orchids on it belongs to my very sweet Rambutan tree

I want to improve the overall look of my lawn but I cannot do this in a single sitting because for one, I don't have the resources, and two, I don't have the luxury of time. I can only work on my garden during weekends, specifically, on Sundays.

For this plan to materialize, I will need the following:

1.Flower pots, pots, and more pots in different sizes and shapes
2.Garden stones (I hope these are not expensive)
3.Garden soil (the soil in my lawn is silty and compacts very easily, not really ideal for gardening)
4.A shovel
5.A pruning shear (my good old one broke down last week)
6. Cement, sand and gravel, white paint (if necessary)

Purchase of these stuff will depend on my available resources, overall however, I think I am good to go. So, good luck to me!

Help anyone?