My Garden Upstairs

I love plants, and having lots of them around.

Plants give off that certain scent and a cool sight

that I find refreshing. But given my very tight residential space,

it is a real challenge finding a way to grow plants.

   My small place is on the second floor. The whole area – including living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom – may just fit into a single room of an affluent home. It may allow for keeping a house pet but not for growing plants.

   Indeed, space is a problem in the city. Homes are piled up one above the other in order to maximize the use of every surface area. Living quarters are compact, designed to utilize space to the last inch.

   The high air-pollution in densely populated cities is partly due to the lack of ample vegetation. For example, all space in urban centers is overrun by humans and almost every bit of ground is covered by concrete. There’s hardly space left for plants to grow. And so people have come to prefer plastic plants over the real ones. In turn, the waning public interest in planting has all the more left the cities gasping for breath.

   Plants consume carbon dioxide; in the process, filtering out many impurities in the air and making it safe for humans to breathe. Plants are also effective in neutralizing humid temperatures, cooling down the hot days and helping maintain ambient temperatures in homes and workplaces at comfortable levels. Besides, plants can also bring an air of serenity to the surroundings.

   I searched my mind for a way around my tight situation. Then it occurred to me that the narrow passageway to my front door could actually be turned into a garden. The outer side could be lined with plastic pots and empty tin cans, and the neighborhood kids would bring me good garden soil, for a little fee.

   It turns out that gardening in pots and cans is a great way to go where there’s no space for a garden plot. Plastic pots are cheap to acquire and much lighter to move around than clay pots. Empty tin cans are easy to collect – for free! And it need not be big hassle to fill these containers with soil.

   I use bigger pots for okra, eggplant and tomato, because they give the roots plenty of room. The upland kangkong and alugbati are okay in the smaller cans. Each container has drainage holes punched at the bottom, with a corresponding catch pan to contain runoff water.

   The seeds or seedlings I used came from the agricultural supply store downtown, where I also bought a sack of compost. (The kangkong and alugbati stems I got free from the garbage receptacle of the carinderia downstairs.) The compost was then mixed with soil and little sand and placed into the individual containers. I wanted my garden to be as organic as possible, without need for commercial fertilizer whatsoever.  

   The mix of equal parts of sand, soil and compost proved to be a good garden base. The kids got the soil and sand for free from construction diggings around. With regular watering, the front of the house was turning green in a matter of days.

   Water and sunlight are vital needs of plants, of course. I water the plants in late afternoon, as I come home from the office. The night ahead allows for less evaporation, so there is more time for the water to be absorbed by the roots. Direct sunlight only reaches my garden in the afternoon, since it is on the west side of the house; but the plants seem to be doing well, nevertheless.

   I have since learned to make compost from select biodegradable home wastes. There’s a so-called compost activator available in retail packs at garden stores that hastens the decomposition process. In no time the compost is ready to be placed into the containers of the growing plants, as added fertilizer.

   Pests may soon become a problem. For now I see a few tiny beetles, but no visible damage to the plants, so I just let them be. The aphids found on some of the leaves are yet easy to pick by hand. I continually seek advice from garden experts – or from the internet – on ways to deal with pests without resorting to pesticides.

   So far, the resulting benefit of my little garden is twofold: a ready supply of fresh vegetables anytime, and a maintenance-free, natural air filter. Not to mention how it has encouraged the neighbors to do the same. Those with whom I had shared kangkong and alugbati are now growing their own seedlings.      

   The Confucian principle applies here: “If you give a neighbor vegetable, he has vegetable for once. But if you encourage him to grow his own vegetables, he can have vegetable whenever he wants.”

   And there’s the adage: “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” It’s true. My garden upstairs is proof. 

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