Uses of Weeds in a farm/garden

Weeds are part of the ecosystem in an organic farm. We should not aim to eradicate them. Weeds can attract insects, many of which are beneficial. Weeds can enrich the soil through the interaction of their roots and soil microbes.

My approach to weeds is that I trim and remove some of the weeds when they become overwhelming, competing for sunlight and space with my crops. I do not think that weeds can compete with crops for nutrients in the soil because if the soil is reasonably healthy, there would be more than enough nutrients for both crops and weeds. It is more the question of whether the plants are able to absorb the nutrients available in the soil. If the soil is poor in organic matter and microbes, it would be difficult for our crops to absorb the nutrients available in the soil. Simply said, organic matter and microbes in the soil help transport nutrients to the roots of the plants.

Weeds removed is a valuable resource. It is a good material for mulching. Many would dry them before using them as mulch. I often use them fresh. If the weeds regrow or if their seeds germinate, I am not too bothered. If one spends a lot of effort killing off the weeds and their seeds before using them as mulch, he/she is wasting time, because in an organic farm, there’s bound to be weeds thriving. We also should not be aiming to eradicate all the weeds.

I believe I have made a conclusive observation in these few months of growing brinjal. I use freshly cut weeds to mulch around my brinjal plants and the results are rewarding. The plants bear many flowers and fruits. I can afford to apply less fertilizers too. I think as the fresh mulch are breaking down, the nutrients and organic matter that go into the soil proliferate the microbial activities in the soil around the brinjal plants, benefiting them. The fresh mulch consists of about 70% of Cutgrass and 30% of other weeds. I consciously avoid using Creeping Spiderwort in the mulch as it is too aggressive and invasive. When we collect weeds for mulching, it will therefore be convenient to carry two buckets, one for Creeping Spiderwort (to be killed by sun-drying thoroughly), and the other for the useful weeds.

Experience in growing Roselle

I started growing crops as a volunteer in the farm of a non-profit organisation in Singapore in June 2015. Where possible, I attempt to use permaculture and natural farmning approaches there.

I'll record my experience of growing roselle in the farm:

We grew our first batch of roselle in June 2015. The seedlings were transplanted at the end of June 2015 to the plots around the aquaponics ponds. They grew well except for the few plants nearest to the (now) tool shed. These few plants were badly deprived of morning sunlight due to blockage of the plants grown by another volunteer. We had good harvest of good quality roselle calyces for two months.  Black bone powder was used by sprinkling lightly around the plants once every few weeks during flowering and fruiting periods. Composting tea was applied twice a month before flowering.

In February 2016, the second batch of roselle were grown using the seeds saved from the first batch. Seedlings were transplanted to two grow beds which received good morning sunlight. The plants grew healthily until in April 2016, when one of the roselle plants suddenly died in a day or two, with leaves drooping and turning dry and yellow. After a few days, I pulled out the whole plant, but the surrounding plants also got the same problem within a few days. I then tried to leave the dead plants on the plot, it took a longer time (10 to 20 days) to get the same problem. To me, it is highly probable that the problem had been caused by root knot nematodes in the soil. The second batch of roselle can be considered as a failure, although a few plants were able to resist the disease and produced some harvest.

Before I grow the next batch of roselle, I will grow French Marigold (Tagetes patula) in the plots. It is well known that French Marigold can effectively suppress root knot nematodes.

Believing that the second generation roselle plants were prone to root knot nematodes, and also that the quality of the calyces was not so good as the first batch,  I planted a few roselle plants (in early June 2016) from my first generation seeds in the Permaculture plot because I am afraid the the second generation seeds have been hybridized by the roselle plants of another variety growing very near my first batch.

Very near to Permaculture plot,  another volunteer is growing roselle of the other variety nearby. I therefore waited until her plants have reached maturity and bearing flowers before I planted my roselle plants from my first generation seeds, hoping that although I could not separate the two varieties by space (I do not have the authority to ask her to remove her plants),  I could at least separate them by time.

My Permaculture Food Forest

I have not updated my blog for two years. The reason? Well, I have been putting all my time and energy into something. I was so fully committed that I even quit my job for it. That something is to create a permaculture food forest.

The permaculture philosophy was developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970's. The term permaculture combines the words permanent and agriculture. In Bill Mollison's words, permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.

The purpose of my food forest was, of course, to produce food for consumption. Permaculture principles were the guiding principles when I created and designed my food forest. Rather than the conventional way of growing just a few crops in neat rows and frequently applying fertilizers and watering, I grew a large variety of different crops, trees, shrubs, vegetables, spices and herbs. I created habitats for the different organisms in my food forest, both above and in the soil. We had two smalls ponds in the forest and a larger one by the side of the forest, attracting a variety of aquatic creatures (frogs, dragonflies, etc.) To improve the soil, I added a lot of organic matter to it, not by purchasing large quantities of fertilizers/compost and transporting them to my food forest, but by growing cover crops and plants (such as legumes) and then digging them into the soil or mulching them on the soil. Biodiversity brings stability in my food forest. The more diverse my crops, weeds, insects, birds, soil creatures (including microbes) were, the more stable, healthy and productive my food forest would be.

In permaculture, humans produce food by working with nature. However, most of the food the we eat today are produced by factory farming, which has no or very little regard for nature.

I have been dreaming for a permaculture food forest for over two decades. In June 2013, my wife and I rented a greenhouse in Neo Tiew area and started growing vegetables organically. After a few months, my wife and I decided to rent the open area (860 square metres) just outside the greenhouse to create a permaculture food forest. In the following months, we worked very hard almost everyday. We even worked in the farm on New Year Days and Chinese New Year Days.

Our leavy greens grown organically inside greenhouse

After a year's of hard work, with friends coming to the farm to help on Saturdays, our food forest began to take shape. We had over 50 different crops: trees, shrubs, vegetables, spices and herbs, some of which were grown in order to revitalize the soil. Our roselle plants were doing especially well - prolific and producing red calyces of superior quality. We had more than 60 roselle plants in our food forest! The soil had improved tremendously. I did not test it scientifically, but I could see and smell it. The soil creatures must be thriving.

Our food forest on 28 May 2015, habitats for a variety of creatures.
Landlord's workers had cleared the vegetation around our food forest.

You might have noticed that I have been using past tense in the paragraphs above. Yes, because, sadly, our food forest does not exist any longer. It was suddenly destroyed by the landlord on 29 May 2015.

In the morning of 29 May 2015, the landlord's workers came to our food forest with their excavators and bulldozers. They dramatically eradicated all the trees and plants. In just 3 days, they completely cleared everything in our food forest, which my friends, my wife and I took almost two years to create.

Please watch the video in HD (1080p)

The landlord said he is going to let a big company come in. I don't know what this big company will do on the land with their big money. If they are going to lay concrete on the soil, that's death sentence to the soil (yes, healthy soil is very much alive, with microbes and so many soil creatures). It is always sad to see soil being killed in this way, even on designated agricultural land in Singapore. An example is growing vegetables in huge and sophisticated-looking glass greenhouses (which almost totally shuts off nature) built on concrete-covered soil.

People are so disconnected from nature and soil, on which our own survival depends.

On 8 June 2015, my wife and I returned to the farm and took a few pictures:

It is really saddening to see that the healthy soil I'd been helping to restore in the past 2 years had been reduced to muddy clay in just a week's time. The following video shows the soil after the workers had just dug it up, on 30 May 2015.

Urban Wild Red junglefowls in Singapore

Wild red junglefowls are commonly seen in different urban districts in Singapore in recent years. There is a group of more than 30 wild red junglefowls residing in the field and trees near the junction of Upper Thomson Road and Sin Ming Avenue. It is interesting to watch the behaviour of these ancestors of the domestic chicken. I managed to capture on video some of their fascinating behavior, including fighting and mating.

Video part 1/2 (be sure to watch the part where two young males fight, starting at 1:23)

Video part 2/2 (be sure to watch the part where a popular hen was mating with one of the cocks and then ..., starting at 1:26)

Once, while they were leisurely foraging on the field, they all suddenly started to run towards the same direction, to the trees and hedges, calling frantically as they ran. It was indeed a very astonishing sight - more than 20 chickens dashing across the field frantically. I immediately realized they must be running for their lives, and started to look around for the danger that these chickens were running away from. No, I didn't see any dogs or cats. Only when I looked towards the sky did I see a raptor flying up towards the roof of a high-rise building, which indicated a failed attempt by the raptor to catch one of the chickens for a meal. Now I know that the red junglefowls are alert, though they don't look like so, and can run really fast.

This large group of red junglefowls roost for the night in the trees on the two sides of Sin Ming Avenue, hence some of them would need to cross the road to their roosting places when it is time to rest. At about 6:45pm, these chickens would fly across the road one by one. Many of them do not fly the shortest path across the road, but choose a longer flight path of more than 40 metres. Some would land on the ground and some would land in a tree. Occasionally, a few would take the risk of running across the road.

The field near the junction of Upper Thomson Road and by the side of Flame Tree Park Condominium is really a good habitat for red junglefowls. It has an area of about one hectare, with tall and short trees, and hedges too for small chicks to hide. Yes, small chicks can be attacked by adult males. Well, in Singapore, such a nice field would probably be "developed" in the future and replaced by buildings. Even before buildings are built on the field, the habitat would be disturbed regularly by noisy lawnmowers.

Would Singapore ever be bold enough to try what Paris is trying - natural lawnmowers, grazing sheep to mow lawns?

Sometimes, as I am watching those wonderful wild chickens, I would visualize a wonderful picture of the field with red junglefowls as well as other birds, a few black sheep and a few urban farmers tending to their crops. Wow, would this be the concept of Rubanization by Tay Kheng Soon?

Rooftop habitat gardening, organic farm

A few months ago, I attended a talk by two NParks staff who talked about Biodiversity on Rooftops in Singapore. This is an exciting concept to me and I quickly form the idea of rooftop habitat gardening.

I live on the 18th floor. When I look out from my balcony, I could see a lot of rooftop spaces which can be utilized for rooftop biodiversity. If carefully planned, rooftop green spaces provide wildlife corridors to counteract habitat loss. These corridors allow wildlife to move from one tract of habitat to another.

I have visited some rooftop gardens in Singapore, including those of HDB multi-storey car parks  They tend to be more of landscape/ornamental gardens. Dull, ornamental, manicured gardens certainly cannot attract a rich variety of wildlife. I really wish to see habitat gardens on rooftops in Singapore. We can garden the rooftop so as to create natural habitats for certain groups of wildlife (such as birds, butterflies, bees, hoverflies, ladybugs, etc.) and at the same time incorporate organic edible crops. There are many well-known benefits of locally grown and organic produce.

The rooftop of the multi-storey car park in our estate has not been in use for many years because no residents would want to park their cars there - no lift access and no cover. It has actually been locked up for many years. I attempted to approach our residents' committee, HDB and Town Council on the idea of converting the rooftop into a garden for biodiversity and organic crops. After quite some effort and time (email exchanges and telephone calls), I managed to meet representatives from our residents' committee and Town Council together. It was a rather discouraging meeting. What I saw as an opportunity was what they saw as many difficulties. I remember some of the difficulties they mentioned:

• The car park rooftop is not designed for this purpose
• There is no lift access for the rooftop
• The car park is HDB's property and is for generating income

Yes, I could also see all these difficulties, and more. But, if it is the right thing to do, we should be able to turn the difficulties into opportunities.

I remember Winston Churchill's quote:  “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Well, the Town Council representatives did not turn down my suggestion right away, but said that they would discuss with HDB on this matter and then get back to me. Well, three months have passed, and I have not heard from them anymore. I guess this is their way of saying "No!" to me.

I also wrote to our MP. Again, I got no reply at all.

There are rooftop farms in cities around the world. In Hong Kong, which is a city rather like Singapore (a city void of open space), there are a number of rooftop farms. One of them is featured in this CNN report on June 29, 2011:

Crops out of concrete: Farming Hong Kong's urban island

In my recent trip to Hong Kong, I visited some organic farms, community gardens and rooftop farms. I was particularly touched when I saw the rich biodiversity in and around this organic farm I visited in Fanling.

There are quite a number of organic farms in the New Territories, providing a healthier and safer choice for the Hong Kong residents. Every week, there are a number of farmers' markets in different districts of Hong Kong, where the organic farmers sell their produce directly to their customers. I visited one of these farmers' markets - Organic Farmers' Market@Central, right at the central business district of Hong Kong. This market opens every Sunday. Although small (only about 10 stalls), this farmers' market is very vibrant. The stall holders are the farmers themselves. They are friendly and are happy to answer customers' questions on their vegetables. The stalls do not provide plastic bags. Customers must use their own shopping bags. I am also amazed by the variety of vegetables sold there. Below is a video clip I shot of this small but vibrant organic farmers' market.

It is also interesting to read this Malaysian lady's impression of Organic Farmers' Market@Central.

Back in Singapore, the only Farmers' market I know of is the one at Loewen Gardens. I do not know if they sell locally grown organic vegetables there.