F.A.I.T.H.
Gardening
(Food Always In The Home)
Sustainable Agriculture
Training Pac
1998 Sommer Haven Ranch International
INSTRUCTIONS
This Training Pac has a text and a separate workbook that contains the exercises
for the text. Follow these steps:
1. Read through the entire text to obtain an overview of the text content.
2. Become familiar with the Objectives at the beginning of each section.
3. Then reread the text while completing the exercises in the Workbook.
Contents
Page
Objectives . 1
I. Introduction . 2
II. Ten Steps to FAITH Gardening
Step One: Locate the best site for the garden .. 4
Step Two: Provide enough space .. 6
Step Three: Thoroughly prepare the soil 7
Step Four: Fertilize with compost . 8
Step Five: Plant one-third to early maturing vegetables . 9
Step Six: Plant another one-third to semi-annual vegetables. 10
Step Seven: Plant the remaining one-third to annual vegetables 11
Step Eight: Plant the surrounding area of the garden
to permanent crops . 12
Step Nine: Plant reserved portions on time . 13
Step Ten: Practice crop rotation .. 14
III. Other Garden Practices ... 15
Objectives
When you have successfully completed this Training Pac you should know:
Reasons to grow vegetables
Steps to successfully begin and grow a garden
Practices that will help in the garden
FAITH Gardening 1
I. INTRODUCTION
Importance of Vegetables
1. Vegetables are essential to our daily diet. Rich in vitamins and minerals,
these plants contribute enormously to the nutrient requirements of the
human body.
Many people do not eat enough fresh vegetables every day
2. In the Philippines, for example, the average per capita consumption of 12.4
kilograms of green and yellow vegetables is far short of the recommended
allowance of 32.4 kilograms per year, write Generosa T. Medrena, a senior
science research specialist of the PCARRD Monitor. In the Philippines,
Filipinos just do not grow enough vegetables.
Reasons for low vegetable consumption
3. Many people do not know that vegetables are a cheap source of natural
vitamins, minerals and proteins and therefore do not grow enough of them.
Scientist believe that ignorance is the reason for low vegetable consumption.
A general lack of knowledge prevents people from having a simple home
garden.
Home gardening can reduce a familys daily food expense
4. Home gardening should be taken seriously especially by families with low
income and whose members are nutritionally at risk. Daily food expenses can
be reduced about 20 % if home gardening is practiced.
Closer knit family
5. Working in the garden helps strengthen family ties.
Vegetables from home garden are superior
6. Fresh vegetables from home gardens are generally superior that those sold in
markets that might be polluted by exposure to dust, insects, fertilizers,
insecticides, and because of handling, vitamins and minerals are lost.
Additional Income Home Gardening
7. Sometimes, home gardens produce more vegetables than a family can
consume. The surplus may be shared with neighbors and friends or sold in
the market to add to a familys income.
FAITH Gardening 2
Other Benefits From Home Gardening
8. Home gardening can improve the appearance of your home lot. A yard with
lush-growing vegetables is very pleasant to look at.
The FAITH Garden Technology
9. In 1974, to promote home gardening, the Asian Rural Life Development
Foundation in Davao Del Sur, Philippines commenced to develop a practice in
its farm a simple but effective vegetable growing technology called FAITH or
Food Always In The Home.
Fresh Vegetables for you every day
10. As its name suggests, the FAITH garden will produce a continuous and
sufficient supple of fresh vegetables for your family everyday. However, it is
not felt that FAITH gardening is the final word in family gardening. This is
only an attempt to develop a home garden that can provide adequate food
with minimum cost, labor and land utilization. It is meant to be used as a
guide.
FAITH Gardening 3
II. The Ten Steps To FAITH Gardening
STEP ONE:
The criteria for good site selection is a good water supply, good soil drainage
and fertility, sunlight availability, and good air circulation.
Good Water Supply
Water is an important factor in plant growth. In the dry season, it is a vital
requirement of the vegetable grower. You should plant your vegetables in a
sight where you can easily obtain water for the plants.
Good Soil Drainage
Establish your garden on a slight slope to provide drainage, especially during
rainy season. If your land is flat, dig drainage canals or ditches around the
planting area.
Soil Fertility
Soil-the natural medium for plant growth is the primary resource of
agriculture. The soil in your garden should be fertile enough to make plants
grow. It should contain humus, a form of plant food. The types of soils needed
for vegetable gardening are :
1) loam (23 to 52% sands, 20 to 50% silt and 0 to 27% clay)
2) silt-loam (0 to 50% sand, 50 to 88% silt and 0 to 27% clay)
3) clay-loam (20 to 42% sand, 18 to 52 % silt, and 27 to 40% clay.)
Sunlight Availability
Your garden site should receive sunlight throughout the day. Growing plants
need sunlight to manufacture food.
Good Air Circulation
Air circulation refers to the intensity of wind passing through your garden site.
Strong winds are not good for young plants. Your site should have natural
windbreaks, including hills, trees and houses.
FAITH Gardening 4
LOCATE THE BEST SITE FOR THE GARDEN
Faith Gardening 5
STEP TWO:
Provide Adequate Garden Size
The ideal garden size for a family of six is 96 to 100 sq. meters. This size should
supply enough vegetables every day.
FAITH Gardening 6
PROVIDE ENOUGH SPACE
STEP THREE:
Successful vegetable cultivation depends largely on how well you prepare the
soil before planting. Vegetables grow and yield better in well-prepared soil.
Soil preparation
There are no hard-and-fast rules in preparing soil for vegetable planting. Much
depends on the terrain, the soil type, the size of your garden, the vegetables you
want to plant, and the season.
How to prepare the soil
Prepare the land manually with a hoe and rake. Do not work the soil when it is
very wet so as not to destroy the structure. Clean the site and save cut grasses
and weeds for composting. Dog the land at least two times to a depth of six to
eight inches, harrowing with rake and pulverizing clods between diggings.
Making drainage
To provide good surface drainage, make raised beds four to six inches above the
ground level. Raising beds this way facilitates your work, it also helps provide
paths through the garden.
FAITH Gardening 7
THOROUGHLY PREPARE THE SOIL
STEP FOUR:
Basket and Trench Composting
Make compost baskets of wire or shape flexible bamboo strips around stakes to
make round forms at least one foot high. Make holes in your garden plot 6
inches deep and large enough to accommodate the baskets, spacing the holes
one meter apart. Then place the baskets in the holes. If you prefer trench
composting, dig a trench 6 inches deep and place bamboo stakes along the
sides of the trench. Then weave bamboo strips around the stakes to form a
fence about 6 inches high along the sides of the trench.
Procedure in Basket and Trench Composting
Put decomposed materials and manure (goat manure, chicken dung, etc.) in the
basket or trench first, then grasses, weeds, and ipil-ipil (Leicaena leucocephala)
or kakawate (Gliricidia sepium) leaves. There is no need to turn the composting
materials. Just keep on adding new materials. After the harvest, remove the
basket or trench and work the compost into the soil to make the soil more
fertile and to improve its structure. Then place new compost materials in the
baskets or trench for the next crop.
Method of Planting
The time to plant seeds/seedlings in your plots depend on the state of
decomposition of the materials in your compost baskets or trench. If the
materials at the bottom part are nearly decomposed you can plant
seeds/seedlings immediately. If most of your plant materials are still fresh and
green (called green manure) plant seeds/seedlings two to three weeks later.
Plant seeds/seedlings two or three inches away from the compost baskets or
trench. Then water inside the baskets or trench not the plants directly. The
roots of the plants will grow into the basket or trench.
FAITH Gardening 8
FERTILIZE WITH COMPOST
STEP FIVE:
Plant Early Maturing Vegetables
Divide your garden into three sections. Set aside the first section for vegetables
that you can harvest in two to four months, such as soy beans, tomatoes,
radish, mustard greens, cow peas, sweet corn, sweet pepper, mung beans,
carrots, etc. Do not plant the whole section; reserve one-half of the section for
relay planting.
FAITH Gardening 9
PLANT ONE-THIRD TO EARLY MATURING VEGETABLES
STEP SIX:
Plant semi-annual vegetables
Set aside the second section for vegetables that are harvestable in six to nine
months. These are winged bean, bitter gourd, eggplant, okra, squash, garlic,
onion, cucumber, ginger, and others. As in the first section, plant one-half of
this section and reserve the remaining half portion for relay planting.
In the Philippines: (Chayote, upo, patola, wax gourd, ampalaya, kundol)
FAITH Gardening 10
PLANT THE OTHER ONE-THIRD TO SEMI-ANNUAL VEGETABLES
STEP SEVEN:
Plant Annual Vegetables
Set aside the last section for planting year round vegetables like lime beans,
sweet potato, cassava, peas, etc. As in the first and second sections, plant only
one-half of this section and reserve the remaining one-half for relay planting.
In the Philippines: (patani, kangkong, alugban, tinangkong, kamote, and kadios)
FAITH Gardening 11
PLANT THE REMAINING ONE-THIRD TO ANNUAL VEGETABLES
STEP EIGHT:
Plant Surroundings to Permanent Crops
Plant the surrounding area of your garden to permanent or semi-permanent
plants like papaya (pawpaw) pineapple, sugarcane, banana, citrus and short
fruit trees.
FAITH Gardening 12
PLANT THE SURROUNDING AREA OF THE GARDEN TO PERMANENT CROPS
STEP NINE:
Replant promptly the reserved portions
Replant promptly the reserved portions of your FAITH garden. This will further
help ensure continuous and adequate supply of fresh vegetables in your home.
In the first section (the early-maturing vegetables) plant the reserved portions
when the first crops start to flower. In the second section, plant the reserved
portions when the first crops are about four months old. In the third section
(year round vegetables) of your garden, plant the reserved half-portions when
the first crops in the other half are bout five months old.
FAITH Gardening 13
PLANT RESERVED PORTIONS ON TIME
STEP TEN:
Rotate your Vegetables
When replanting, practice crop rotation. This means that you plant leguminous
vegetables (like soybeans, bush sitao, string beans, etc.) to garden plots where
non-leguminous vegetables (such as tomatoes, eggplants, okra, kangkong, etc.)
were previously planted and vice versa. Crop rotation helps prevent the spread
of pests and diseases and also improves the fertility of the soil in your garden.
FAITH Gardening 14
PRACTICE CROP ROTATION
III. OTHER HELPFUL GARDEN PRACTICES
Besides following the TEN BASIC Steps to FAITH gardening, observe other
needed vegetable gardening practices like:
Seed Treatment
Seeds should be treated with fungicides and insecticides prior to storage.
Treating seeds with these chemicals will protect germinating seed from pre- and
post emergence damping off disease. Some chemicals used are Orthocide
(Captan), Sevin 85S, or Brassicol (PNCB). Always try to get seeds from reliable
sources for best results.
Inoculation
Leguminous seeds should be inoculated before planting. Example, string beans,
cow pea, lima bean, garden peas, etc.
It prevents early nitrogen starvation of plants, thus reducing the demand for
soil nitrogen.
To inoculate put seeds in a big container, moisten with water, mix with
inoculant (available in agricultural supply stores) until all the seeds are well
coated. Be sure to use the correct inoculant for the legume you are using.
HOWEVER you can still plant leguminous crops without inoculating the seeds.
Hardening the Plants
Before transplanting seedlings in the garden plots, harden them first for
several days. This is done by exposing them gradually to strong sunlight in the
field if they had been shaded. You can also harden seedlings by gradually
withholding water from them. Withhold more and more water as transplanting
time draws near. This method slows down the growth rate of plants. Their
tissues become thicker, less succulent and harder, hence the term hardening.
Hardening helps plants recover rapidly from the stresses of transplanting. A
succulent plant needs much water and nutrients for rapid growth. It cannot
tolerate dry field conditions. A hardened plant will grow slower after
transplanting but will resume normal growth much sooner than a non-
hardened plant.
Transplanting
A day before transplanting, water the seedbox or seedbed thoroughly to
facilitate pulling of the seedlings and minimize root injury. Then transplant the
seedlings to the prepared garden plots. After transplanting, firm the soil slightly
around the base of the plants, water then firm again. Starter solution (40 grams
FAITH Gardening 15
or approximately 4 tablespoons of complete fertilizer dissolved in one big
kerosene can of water) may be used in watering. If it is very hot, cover the
seedlings with leaves obtained locally such as coconut leaves or banana bracts.
Water Supply
Without water, fertilizers cannot be effectively absorbed by the roots and soil
nutrients cannot be transported to the leaves. Photosynthesis will not take
place.
Leafy vegetables should be watered daily. Garden fruit crops such as tomato,
eggplant, and sweet pepper need watering at least three times a week until they
blossom. Root crops do well with a small amount of water.
Cultivation
Cultivate or loosen the soil around the plants to enable their roots to expand
and develop fully. Plants with fine roots spreading out near the surface should
not be cultivated too deeply. Deep cultivation is needed only for deep-rooted
plants like radish, beet, and carrot.
Cultivate only when there is enough soil moisture. Do this late in the afternoon
or early morning. Cultivation maybe done with a hoe.
Trim Ratooning Plants
Some plants that need supports or trellises include cucumber, bitter gourd,
chayote, winged bean, Kentucky wonder bean, lima bean, snapbean and string
bean. Poles 2.4 to 2.7 meters in length are usually set in the ground to a
sufficient depth in a teepee-like arrangement.
Staking
Vegetables that need stakes include tomato, okra, eggplant and sweet pepper.
Stakes are used to support the plants and keep the fruit off the ground. Use
any strong local materials such as ipil-ipil, kakawate, and bamboo.
Mulching
Mulch can be made from any of the following rice straw, rice hulls, cut grass,
sugarcane bagasse, sawdust, and paper. Spread the mulch on the surface of
the ground, around the plants or between the rows of plants. Mulching controls
weeds by preventing sunlight from reaching the ground.
FAITH Gardening 16
Mulching (continued)
Mulching is very important during the dry season to reduce moisture loss and
to save irrigation water. Straw mulch keeps the soil moist even on the warmest
days. During heavy rains, mulch reduces the impact of raindrops on the soil
surface and prevents fertile topsoil from eroding or being washed away.
Plant materials used as mulch improve soil structure and increase soil fertility
when they decompose and become part of the topsoil.
Crop Protection
Insects, worms, and diseases are the principal enemies of vegetables. But these
can all be controlled. Success greatly depends on the prompt action. The best
and cheapest way to eliminate caterpillars , beetles, and insect eggs is to pick
them off the plants by hand.
Enriching the soil with natural fertilizers rotted leaves, grass, and straw
provides the natural chemicals that makes plants resistant to pests and
diseases.
You can also use insecticides and fungicides to protect a vegetable garden from
pests and diseases. Many of these may be sprayed or dusted on plants.
Acknowledgements
Sommer Haven International wishes to acknowledge the following:
Asian Rural Life Development Center
P.O. Box 80332
8000 Davao City
Philippines
For their permission and use of their book A Manual on How to Make FAITH Garden.
The text of this book is the basis from which this training manual was compiled.
FAITH Gardening 17
