Gardening wise...

Dear Family & Friends

My journaling seems to be about gardening these days...but this is the time of the year...and I really can't help it. I hope that you will join me in this enjoyment - for it's just pure joy - being out in the greenery.

Our entire village population is now busy with growing food in their gardens. I'm constantly amazed with all the hard work they do...putting me to shame because most of them are old people. Retirement is not a concept. Today I'm going to show you just one photo of Baba Maria (grandma Maria) garden when my daughter visited her yesterday.

THIS IS NOT MY GARDEN. This is Maria's garden - a typical garden in our village

Baba Maria lives on her own and like many, she manages her garden herself without any garden machinery - just hand hoe tool!! Yet it is all neat, everything in straight line, and very productive too. There's a lot of planting because this production will be food for the entire year. But sad to say, to achieve this...they have to use chemical spray. Now.... that's a big No NO for me:(

THIS IS MY VEGETABLE GARDEN.  A vast difference from our neighbours' one

Most of them are not impressed with my chaotic gardening style...and they think it is because I'm a foreigner and I do things differently, or don't know how to do it right??! 

I admire their neatness...but I don't agree with keeping the soil bare and exposed. I like to work with nature and I have to respect and keep my environment from any poisonous chemicals. My style of vegetable garden bed are very different from theirs. Although I maintain veggie beds, I don't grow them in a monoculture way. I mix and match different veggie in several group with a bit of flowers here and there. This deters and confuses the pest from attacking the plant that they are looking for. 

my walking onions, is starting to produce little onion bulbs

In contrast, my garden is also very full all year round with various plants. Most of my neighbours have their garden all cleared up once summer harvest is done. ...perhaps a few winter veggie in autumn but mostly everything is put to rest with clean soil - not even a weed in sight, till spring. Although I don't work as much as they do - strength wise, yet growing as many perennial plants and leaving plants to self seed keeps my garden looking busy all year long.

a closer look of the top head - I think they look like the Medusa 

Talking about perennial plants, I must show you my favourite onion: the walking Egyptian onion. These grows all year round...they survive winter freeze and at this time, they are producing little bulb onions, not underneath but on top! They look like Medusa:) If I don't harvest the bulbs, it will bow down to touch the ground and grow more onions!! Just one of my garden secrets...having free food from the garden without doing too much work is to plant plants that grow themselves:)

Let's be wise in all our ways. Then, we learn to enjoy the free gift of life:) Have a good day!

Yours