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Building a little Urban Oasis

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  Greetings from Wan Ying! My edibles growing journey started in 2010 when I could not get trusted sources of pesticide free edibles, but refused to accept that. Take Charge Yourself #TakeChargeYourself #NotHappyChangeIt #TakeChargeYourself Aimed with the lifelong motto of "if you are not happy, change it. If you cannot change it, accept and adapt, get the best out of it",  I went on my edibles planting learning journey and eventually achieved self sustainability  since 2012. Tired of  the constant struggle to find a place to plant a little something, we went on to design and patented (patent id: 10201708994T) an aquaponic soil-based home vertical system to enable ourselves to plant edibles in our homes. My space, my way. 30by30 Dream of Individual #30by30 #Empower&BeInspire Land is so scarce in Singapore. Between using the space to build roofs over the heads for the citizens and growing food, the former will always take priority .  But if we can inspire and empower 30% o

Finale of our Eco Series

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Our Thoughts Note:  For this eco series, 90 to 95% of all the materials used are all recycled/up-cycled materials except when safety is concerned. Materials needed for building structure like beams, roof cover are acquired, all others are recycled/upcycled. No part of writeup from this site can be reused in any way without written permission from the blog writer. #Reduced #Reused #Recycled #BeTrueToYourself We have come to the end of our eco series. Our writeup ends, but our actions will not. They have been imprinted into us already. We have started and will continue.  Make every effort to reduce buying and reuse what you have is the message we are trying to drive at, as long as safety is not compromised.  Recycle is the last resort. You don't need to recycle if you do not have extra. Throwing stuff into the blue bin or giving it to the rag and bone man do not solve the problem. It just makes you feel good, the problem is outsourced, some one is doing it. Seriously, how much of tho

Hardy Crops Series #1: Okra (秋葵)

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Background Note:  This writeup focus on growing different type of Okra and the respective farm to table concept. Simple delicious meals that can be easily whipped up and serve in the most back to basic and down to earth form.  万事浅中出.  No part of writeup from this site can be reused in any way without written permission from the blog writer. #JapaneseOkra #ChaiTaiRedOkra #BLHGreenOkra #StarOfDavidOkra Okra is a relatively easy crop to grow in hot tropical weather. As long as your soil is loamy, watering is sufficient and with good sunlight ( Average to strong is fine. They are not fussy), they will grow and fruit. Having high yield is a different story.  We grew 4 cultivars of Okra this round. Two from self saved seeds and 2 from stored bought seeds. They are selected based on taste and nutritional value.  For the green okra, we only go for those that are crunchy, softer body, non hairy since there are lots of choices in the market. The red okra however, we have yet to find a perfect on

Eco Trick #11 Simple Leaves Collection System

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Background Note:  For this eco series, 90 to 95% of all the materials used are all recycled/up-cycled materials except when safety is concerned. Materials needed for building structure like beams, roof cover are acquired, all others are recycled/upcycled. No part of writeup from this site can be reused in any way without written permission from the blog writer. As much as we can, we wish to keep the trees. Especially matured trees. They help fight global warming, give shade and keep us cool. However, we have to learn how to manage the dropped leaves and twigs that can pose issue to our shed's roof.  Our roof gradient is not steep ( due to cost reason which we will skip here ). Debris gathered on roof. This not only can cause potential early damage to the roof but also mozzie's risk.  How to build something over the roof easily, cost effective, does not block  the sun and yet easy to clear away debris, hence pose zero mozzie risk? The team looked through all the existing materia

Brassica Oleracea Series #4 Kale

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Background Note:  This writeup focus on growing behaviours of difference kale cultivars in same settings, compare and contrast the different cultivars. This post is purely based on growers' observations, your results may vary. No part of this can be reused without written permission from the blog writer. #CurlyKale #LocalKale #TuscanyKale We have grown kale from both the seeds and from shoots. We have tried difference cultivar of kale over the years too.  In term of taste, we love the curly kale best, all types of curly kale from various countries and may be called slightly difference names but they all look similar.  The young shoots taste good even when eaten raw as kale salad. We love them stir fry or lightly blanch. Below shows a closed up picture of curly kale. The local kale and Tuscany or Tuscany-like kale however taste hard to us. They are perfect to make into kale pesto or juice. Super nutritional food. Below is a picture of Tuscany Kale. Kale is an easy and fuss free crop

Eco Trick #10 Building Support & Trellis with Recycled Window Grilles

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Background Note:  For this eco series, 90 to 95% of all the materials used are all recycled/up-cycled materials except when safety is concerned. Materials needed for building structure like beams, roof cover are acquired, all others are recycled/upcycled. No part of writeup from this site can be reused in any way without written permission from the blog writer. #IdeasOnWhatCanBeUsed #MatchingNeedsToWasteCollected In all growing, support structures and trellis are typically needed especially when you are growing climbers. We do acquired some trellis for our melons but we wish to also recycle/build as many trellis as we can for those less demanding/sensitive crops. We intend to grow some "almost perennial" crops like passionfruit, Huai Shan (Chinese or Japanese yam) and they all need some kind of support or trellis.  We chanced upon some to be discarded window frame and grilles. Saw their potential. The owner is kind enough to gift them to us. As usual, we sat down and get our

Brassica Oleracea Series #3 Cauliflowers from Shoots

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Background #CommonForAll Note:  This writeup focus on growing behaviours of difference cauliflower cultivars in same settings, compare and contrast the different cultivars. This post is purely based on growers' observations, your results may vary. No part of this can be reused without written permission from the blog writer. Once the first generation cauliflower (from seeds) are ready for harvest, cut off their crowns as shown in picture above. Choose a few healthy plants, removed the lower leaves, leave only 3 to 5 leaves and fertilise them lightly to let the young shoots sprout/grow.  Matured cauliflower plants are prone to aphids once they aged, so do check carefully and regularly. Unhealthy plants will not have strong offshoots and may cause trouble for the rest of your garden. Seedlings from Parents #Seedings #InitialGrowing #Cisbay #AGNLite   The photo above shows the young shoots which appear 2-3 weeks after you cut off the crown. You can then remove all the old leaves and l

Eco Trick #9 Building Simple Door with Pipes

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Background Note:  For this eco series, 90 to 95% of all the materials used are all recycled/up-cycled materials except when safety is concerned. Materials needed for building structure like beams, roof cover are acquired, all others are recycled/upcycled. No part of writeup from this site can be reused in any way without written permission from the blog writer. #IdeasOnWhatCanBeUsed #MatchingNeedsToWasteCollected Any built up enclosed sheltered area will need a door. Green house door will need to be netted too to prevent tiny pests from entering the plot.  We need to build a custom door with fine netting, relatively strong frame yet easy to mount to the green house round side pillar. Most importantly with minimum cost as agriculture margin is extremely low. Last but not least we use recycled materials too, to stay true to our eco focus. The team looked through all the existing material gifted to us till date, then set our brain cracking. Seeing The Light Bulb #DiscardedPipes #RecycledB

Brassica Oleracea #2 Cabbages from Seeds

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Background #CommonForAll Note:  This writeup focus on growing behaviours of difference cabbage cultivars in same settings, compare and contrast the different cultivars. This post is purely based on growers' observations, your results may vary. No part of this can be reused without written permission from the blog writer. Cabbages (front row) are typically huge and need lots of space to grow well. We also have concern on aphids and cabbage loppers. Being in a new site full of butterflies of all types, we really have great concerns if we can grow it well with minimum effort. We tried with only 2 cultivars first during year end (around Nov timeframe through Jan). The extreme wet months gave us hell. We have lots of challenges as a result. Gotten all sorts of cabbage loppers issue too. Cabbages are magnet to aphids too. At present, we managed to keep them at bay, by using neem cake powder and soil enzyme during soil treatment process. We used planter beds of 120x120x25 (LxBxH) cm for o