URBAN GARDENER GROWS FOOD IN PLASTIC DRUMS AMID THE QUARANTINE FOR THEIR FAMILY'S FOOD SECURITY

IN QUEZON CITY, Daisy Cu, 46, began growing vegetables in their residence as an attempt at food security and self-sufficiency. Cu has been tending ornamental plants and fruit-bearing trees for years now. Her free time during the quarantine allowed her not only to focus on cultivating her existing plants, but also to produce vegetables at home using plastic drums. Cu's goal to provide food for their family is what urged her to establish a decorative, yet an edible garden incorporating ornamental and food crops. "With the use of the blue drums, I was able to achieve my intention of creating an edible but decorative garden plus I was able to repurpose the drums as well,” Cu explained.

- VINA MEDENILLA

VEGETABLE GARDEN AS A PRODUCT OF QUARANTINE

The Quezon City-based gardener turned three parts of their household into thriving green spaces. First is their 20sqm roof deck, which she converted into a container garden with vegetables and fruits planted on it. The front of their house was made productive by raising vegetables and other ornamental plants in blue plastic drums. Lastly is their lanai and side garden where she sowed veggies beside her cacti, succulents, bonsai, and other ornamental plants like philodendrons and fiddle fig trees.

Cu's interest and affinity in gardening were mainly rooted in the influence of her paternal grandmother, whom she grew up with. “When I was in nursery school learning how to read and write, I was already watering plants at home, says Cu. She has been collecting ornamental plants since 1990. Her first plants were roses and she also tended other plants that her grandmother gave at that time.

Aside from food security, she also wanted to show others that gardening can be practiced by anyone, even without a green thumb.

OBTAINING FOOD FROM THE COMFORT OF HER HOME

Presently, Cu grows okra, eggplant, malabar spinach or alugbati, kamote, bitter gourd, pechay, patola, patani, saluyot, winter melon, squash, cucumber, zucchini, radish, kangkong, mustasa, sili, tomatoes, blue ternate, grape, chico, rambutan, macopa, mulberry, and herbs like oregano, rosemary, pandan, lemongrass, basil, and tarragon.