Gardening advocacy continues

It seems there is no stopping this gardening advocacy that the Tarlac Heritage Foundation and the Philippine Army have been pursuing since 2012, first in Tarlac, then in Malacañang Park, and now at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.

The garden at Fort Bonifacio yielded a bountiful harvest of vegetables during a festival on July 18, attended by soldiers headed by Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda, members of the THF and other cooperating parties like East-West Seed, Corvill Agricom and others.

The garden is a 1,500 square meter vacant lot with hard compacted soil that had to be improved to make the veggies grow. A team of 17 AFP personnel that includes officials and privates worked hard to coax the problem soil to produce a bountiful harvest of pakchoi, pechay, mustard, upland kangkong, spinach, okra, eggplant, ampalaya, upo and others.

The work force received valuable guidance from the agriculturists of East-West Seed as well as from Corvill Agricom of Tony Cortes. In the process, the army personnel who worked on the project were able to learn the improved techniques of growing high-value vegetables. The technologies they learned will be theirs to keep for life and to share with others.

As Dr. Isa Cojuangco of THF said, the Hardin ng Lunas, as the garden is called, aims to develop idle camp lands and make them productive for the benefit of AFP personnel and their dependents. It also aims to create a healthy lifestyle among members of the AFP, their dependents and their intended beneficiaries. The project also aims to teach interested parties proper organic gardening skills and techniques.

At the same time the project also aims to encourage a love for agriculture among our people, meaning farming, backyard gardening, container gardening and the like, so that more people will be able to make a positive contribution to the food chain.

As. Dr. Suntay remarked during the

ANTHONY A. CORTES holds a couple of patola harvested in one of the two gardens at Fort Bonifacio. He is the president of Corvill Agricom which supplies an organic plant growth enhancer that speeds up the development of the vegetables. He is an...

JUNILO SALIBAD is a member of the team of gardeners that was in charge of taking care of the Hardin ng Lunas from land preparation to nurturing the plants so that they develop properly. The team was supported with technical advice from East West Seed...