VITAMINS IN THE BACKYARD
“ILIKE to talk to plants.” My forehead furrows visibly at the remark made by the man sitting across me at a local café in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The grey-haired man who’s clad in a dark blue batik shirt over a pair of black slacks smiles as he takes in my puzzled look.
“You’ll be surprised that plants can respond if you communicate with them,” continues the bespectacled gentleman who, as it turns out, is research geneticist Dr Chew Boon Hock. Eyes dancing with mirth, he recalls the time when he got angry over his non-productive seedless guava tree.
“So I told the tree, ‘if within two months you still don’t have flowers, I will chop you off’. Then I went away for quite some time and before you know it, I came home to a tree full of flowers, but no fruit. My friend joked ‘you asked for flowers only what? You didn’t ask for fruits’,” recalls Chew, chuckling.
The inter-relation between animals and plants has been scientifically proven and Chew has even given talks and seminars on this topic. But now he wants to share his knowledge through the written word. Having worked in the field of agriculture for more than 30 years, Chew decided to share his knowledge on organic farming by penning his first book, Grow Your Own Vegetables.
With Chew today is his lovely wife, food chemist Chia Joo Suan who already has three books under her belt, namely What’s in your Food, You’re What You Eat, and Eat Well, Live Well.
Chew’s own comprehensive 184-page book, which contains a compilation of his published articles for the past six years with added information and updates, doesn’t only cover gardening, but also reflects the 77-year-old’s passion for agriculture and the organic and healthy lifestyle that he’s leading with his wife. Chew encourages gardeners and farmers to practise mixed or multiple planting. Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi), Chew had been working on resistant genes for crops against pesticides. Unfortunately, he says, these genes don’t last and will disintegrate after three or four years. The pests can also mutate their genes to be immune to the resistant genes.
Continuing, Chew adds: “I realised that there’s no point in continuing the research so I decided to work with nature and do something that won’t damage the ecosystem. If we’re able to establish an equilibrium in our ecosystem, then every living thing can live harmoniously. The pests still need food but we can decrease the food they take.”
How are we going to achieve this? Well, Cabbages that Chew grew in his garden at home.