DAY 50: Community Quarantine

    GABI AND ASH-  I have harvested gabi more times than the number of time food aids from the LGUs came. This is also true with my other good plants and to think that I have planted them before the lockdown.  

    Harvests may not be enough for food independence but it has helped cut costs significantly and ensured that portions of what we eat are garden fresh and are free of pesticides and artificial fertilizers.

    I have collected ashes from around the neighborhood and put them on my sitaw, ampalaya and patola. I read that it is a good fertilizers for these kind of plants. 

   SQUASH AND OKRA- The squash is getting ready to flower. I did not buy squash seeds, these are transplanted from seedlings that sprouted outside of our windows.

    It is a good habit to throw seeds everywhere or in a pot instead of mixing them in the trash for collection.

    I learned that there are two kinds of squash flowers, male and female. It's the female that turns into fruits and the male do not, its purpose is to pollinate the female flower.

  The female flower can be identified by a bulb below the petals while the male flower has none.

   In the absence of bees and other pollinators, pollinating squash is done manually by cutting off the male flower, making sure that all the pollens are in tact, and then putting it on top of the female flower. This should be done in the morning and the cut male flower must stay on top for the whole day.

   The okra is also starting to develop fruits. In a week or two, I think I would be harvesting them. if properly taken care of, trimmed or reduced, okra can live for years producing fruits but as they get older the quality of fruits diminishes.

   GCQ-  Judging rom the areas where quarantine were downgraded to GQ, it seems that people interpreted it as going back to the way it was. Vehicles flooded the streets, shoppers congregated in shops and stores, and pedestrians flooded the streets.

   Declaring GQ did not mean the virus is gone, it simply meant the level of transmission has gone down to a manageable level, but the cases of infection continues.

   Common sense dictates that cases will spike again in areas where GQ were declared becuase, again, the people do not cooperate. They think GQ is a clearance to go outside to galivant.