I found some photos of the Purple Potatoes that my Mom took while I was on vacationing in the Philippines.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Purple Potatoes Progress (April 18, 2011)…
I found some photos of the Purple Potatoes that my Mom took while I was on vacationing in the Philippines.
Anticipating the Flight…
So after frantically getting everything set for this upcoming month long trip to the Philippines. I’m here at D’s house in Hayward waiting for him to get out of his half-day at work and finish up packing and get all the last minute things done before we have to leave for the airport at 9pm.
My friend D asked me a few months ago if I would like to accompany him to his family get together/vacation in the Philippines. I’ve been wanting to go a while now, but just haven’t worked out… but since I no longer have a job (just freelancing), I figured that it would be the perfect time to go.
This will be my first time back to the Philippines in 41 years (since 1970)!!! We left when I was 1.5 years old, so I don’t have any recollection of my birth place. I’ve just seen the few family photos when I was a baby.
I’m a bit nervous and of course excited… Excited to finally see my homeland and the people, the culture, the food, fruits, plants and all things Philippines. I’m a bit worried, because people have been telling me about pick-pocketer and thieves who will steal things from your hand, but I hope that is exaggerated… but even then, I’m not planning on bringing my DSLR camera to congested places like Metro Manila and the malls…
Oh, I’m, really excited to take lots of photos…
I don’t think I will be able to see any of my relatives during this trip, which I’m bummed about, because D’s family has a set itinerary and it’ll be difficult to stray from that, but I hope that I’ll at least see my Uncle Dave when we are in Manila… Hopefully, I can return soon to Philippines like when my Aunties take a vacation. It’ll be much easier to see all my relatives, plus I’ll have more experience with how things work there.
So… any tips or pointers from anyone for this upcoming trip to Philippines?
Purple Potatoes Planted…
I planted most of the Purple Potatoes that I found sprouting into two 7-gallon Geopots. I saved the unplanted Potatoes to give to my sister-in-law.
I’m a Winner!…
I entered some contests a few days ago on various garden blogs promoting the new book “Garden Up!:Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces“.
Today, I was surfing Google and discovered a new feature (to me) called Google Blogs Search… so I was curious and plugged in my name… I say a line that said, “Congrats to Joel Ignacio for taking home the $50 gift card from Annie’s Annuals!”
That is sooo cool!… I won the $50 gift certificate for Annie’s Annuals from Compost in my Shoe…. and I didn’t even know it… I love Annie’s Annuals!!!… Now I have to figure out how to claim the prize.
March 14 Gardening…
I’ve been away from home for a few days and got back this afternoon and started planting.
First thing my Mom told me when I stepped out into the backyard was that our Zygopetalum Orchid opened it’s first bloom. This made me really happy. We purchased this as a bare root Orchid at the Pacific Orchid Expo three years ago.
I purchased a Asiatic Lily called Tango Blend from OSH in El Cerrito. There was an spot in the front yard filled with weeds, so I removed what I can, added new soil and planted all six bulbs. I also planted some Agrostemma in clusters here and in two other locations in our front yard.
I planted two of the three Pepino Dulce into 5 gallon pots which will be placed in the front yard. Here, they will get full sun and hopefully produce a lot of fruits. I’ll plant the third one into the SFG soon.
In a continuing effort to incorporate veggies into our front yard, I planted all the Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ seedlings into the two big clay pots, which now has the Sweet Peas and Agrostemmas. I think this will make a nice and colorful filler for the pot and also provide some veggies!
Epidendrum Wedding Valley ‘Sakura’ flower…
I love the flowers on this Epidendrum Wedding Valley ‘Sakura’ we recently purchased.
Grafting 2011 Batch 3…
Our Peach is just starting to bloom and the Apples look like they will break dormancy soon, so I grafted the last batch of Peaches/Nectarines, Apples and a Persimmon.
– Nectarine ‘Silver Lode’
– Peach ‘White Hale’
– Nectarine ‘White Rose’
– Peach ‘Lola Queen’
– Apple ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’
– Apple ‘Pink Pearl’
– Apple ‘Pink Parfait’
– Apple ‘Lady Williams’
– Apple ‘Pippin’
– Apple ‘Belle de Boskoop’
– Apple ‘Royal Gala’
– Persimmon ‘Chocolate’