Filipino Kitchen gardening

There had been a lot of changes on the lifestyle of the typical Filipino nowadays. The lifestyle of the modern Filipino is very much different compared to the lifestyle of the typical Filipino back on the 90's. Back then Filipinos can be seen outside of their houses compared today where Filipinos are stuck at home at the front of their computers. It is saddening that although the Philippines is trying hard to industrialize its economy, compromises has to be made and one part of that is the lost of interest of the Filipinos on nature.

Many Filipinos nowadays especially the youth find nature to be taboo although many old Filipinos are still fond of nature as seen from their gardens but it cannot be denied that the typical Filipino has lost its priority on gardening. Filipinos back then have always been fond of the "hardin" but today because of urbanization the garden-loving Filipino has encountered problems about cultivating plants.

Some of these problems are limited time, cost and space. As previously stated, urbanization had caused Filipinos to lose time for leisure activities like gardening.
Some Filipinos also find the cost of the plants to be expensive or not worth it. Filipinos would rather buy other things instead of these plants but Filipinos should reconsider the cost especially when talking about kitchen gardening which I would tackle in detail. Aside from time and cost, many Filipinos also find space to be a factor which limits their garden. Setting-up a front or back garden in the Philippines is quite rare as the typical Filipino has limited space.

Kitchen Gardening

       There are a wide variety of plant to choose from when considering a kitchen garden. Kitchen gardens abroad are really made up of vegetables and herbs which can be picked and eaten fresh any time but the big downside of it is that it is time-consuming and requires a lot of labour which is something the typical Filipino would find hard to do. In this post I would only list some of the plants which are easy to grow and which need little care. Herbs and spices are one of the plants that falls into our category. They are easy to grow and need little care. Here is a list of the usual herbs and spices found on the Filipino cuisine:

1. Bird's eye chili or siling labuyo (Capsicum frutescens)

This herb should always be present in the typical garden of the Filipinos as the leaves, flowers and leaves are used on many Filipino cuisines. This herb is very easy to grow and consumes less space.

2. Chinese celery or kintsay (Apium graveolens)

3. Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius)

4. Lemon grass or tanglad (Cymbopogon citratus)

    There are also a handful of other herbs which are easy to propagate which the modern Filipino can use to cook non-native dishes. Adding a variety of these herbs to your garden not only beautifies your home but also bring new tastes to your dining room.

1. Basil (Ocimum basilicum)