In her younger years, my mom, had
a green thumb. When we moved in to our
first home in Novaliches, Philippines, we had a large lot and
she grew a mini forest within. She grew
fruit trees like mango (Indian Mango and Carabo Mango), avocado, bayabas
(guava), and guyabano. She also had flower plants such as roses (red,
white, and violet), kalachuchi, and poinsettia.
Our subdivision was formerly an
agricultural land so the soil was really fertile but my mom would still insist
on putting fertilizer. No, we don’t buy
the commercial ones. Our house was
adjacent to a carabao gracing field so every now and then, my mom would take us
to “harvest” dried carabao dung for her garden.
Dried carabao dung isn’t smelly
so it was just like picking up a lump of soil.
We would pick up sacks of it to bring back to the garden where my mom
would ground them up and scatter amongst the plants.
Other than carabao dung, my mom
would also use urine to “water” the plants.
When we were little we had an “arinola” or urine bucket just in case we
get the urge to take a leak in the middle of the night and with our bathroom
still a far way off our bedroom, it was practical in the physiological as well
as the horticultural sense.
Urine is rich in micronutrients
needed by plants; however, it needs to be diluted with water lest you want your
plant’s roots to burn.
It has been a long time since we
moved out of that house and the one we live in right now does not have a
carabao gracing field and I do believe my sibling and I have outgrown our
“arinola” days but my mom still cares for plants. Good thing that I love coffee---Starbucks
coffee to be exact!
Coffee bean waste also happens to
be a good organic fertilizer. Waste
material of brewed coffee is dried to come out with “sapal”. You simply mix this with the soil and you
have happy and blooming plants after!
Starbucks gives away “sepal” to customers who have a green thumb.
