Editor’s rooftop garden produces beautiful veggies

Would you believe that a rooftop garden measuring only 16 square meters can produce enough vegetables for the consumption of a family of five?

Well, that’s what Edgar S. Godin will tell you. He has been growing as many as ten kinds of vegetables in his rooftop garden for a few years now. And he himself is quite surprised that he can even sell some of his produce to his neighbors.

And what are the vegetables that he is planting? One of them is the Diamante Max tomato, a hybrid developed by East-West Seed. One time, he planted 24 seedlings of Diamante Max from which he harvested 27 kilos. That means, he got more than one kilo per plant.

On August 6, 2017, Edgar planted 15 eggplant seedlings and 20 okra. These were more than what he usually planted previously of these two veggies. They were in addition to the camote, kangkong, pechay and two varieties of pepper that were already growing. His intention was to have extra harvest that he could sell in their sari-sari store.

He related that by the last week of September, he started harvesting from the eggplant and okra. Because the rooftop garden was very visible to passers by, many of them inquired if fruits were already available. Edgar estimates that he was able to harvest 1.5 kilos of eggplant and 20 to 30 pieces of okra every week during the whole month of October. And he was able to sell what his family could not consume.

When the okra had stopped flowering, Edgar cut their stems leaving about a foot above the growing medium. Then he planted beside the topped okra

EDGAR S. GODIN is very proud of his rooftop garden in his residence in Bulacan because he is proving that even a small space, as small as 16 square meters, can yield more than enough vegetables for his family of five. He can grow as many as 10 favorite...