Form Your Own Garden Group
One way of stimulating interest in farming or hobby gardening is to form a group of similarly-inclined people. Just like what we have done at the Manila Bulletin. A number of staff members have informally formed the Vegetable Gardeners’ Club consisting initially of editorial staff members who are actually planting vegetables for their own consumption.
No, it is not a group registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is just a group of men and women interested in planting vegetables in their home gardens. There’s no membership fee and there’s no definite date of meetings. But discussions could be held any time whenever members of the group find themselves together over lunch or elsewhere.
The thing is that every member is proud of what he is doing. Johnny Asuncion, for instance, once excitedly related that he had counted more than 40 fruits from just one Diamante Max tomato plant that he grew in his backyard. He even knew exactly how many days he harvested the first fruit from the time of planting. And he claims that his plants are the first things he visits when he goes home. And also the first things he checks when he wakes up in the morning.