BED PLANTING AND ANNUAL FLOWERS SEMINAR AT CEDARHILLS GARDEN CENTER

I LOVE gardening.  I am obsessed by it.  I wake up in the morning and I go straight to my veggies and seedlings, I even talk to them.  During rainy season, they are like my babies, my little plants and seedlings... I carry them all inside the house if the rain gets too strong.  I carry them back, one by one, outside if the rain stops.

I LIKE to experiment on seeds.  I get seeds from kitchen scraps and tissue germinate them, one by one.  Proud to say, I have a 90% success rate in tissue germination.

KALE

HONEYDEW

I LOVE it when my hands get dirty with all the seed germinating, transplanting, getting rid of weeds and ants and eventually harvesting.  Harvesting is the most rewarding part of being an urban gardeneer.

If you go and visit my instagram, 80% of my posts are garden related.  

So when I heard that one of my favorite garden centers in Quezon City, CedarHills is looking for bloggers to cover their event, I volunteered!  I know that as an urban gardener I will learn a lot from the seminar.  

THE SEMINAR:

The speaker for the day is Mr. Ton De Rooij, who flew in from Netherlands to share his expertise on annual flowers.  According to him, annuals are flowers that are in bloom year round, easy to maintain, very colorful and starts from seed.  He said that annuals that started from seeds usually have a healthy, wider foliage close to the soil, and stems shooting from the sides.  Annuals that grow from cuttings have the tendency to grow taller, will yield inferior flowers compared to those who started from seeds.

He also showed us nice pictures of annuals planted in cities, hotels, resorts and houses. The colorful annuals add up to the beauty of any architectural structure.

EAST-WEST SEED and FARM-READY

CedarHills Garden Center is now in partnership with East-West Seed Co.  It was established in the Philippines in 1982 by Simon Groot, a Dutch agriculturist who saw the need for seeds that were adapted to local conditions in Asia.

At the time, the vegetable seed industry in Southeast Asia was little more than a seed trading system. No one was doing vegetable plant breeding, which involves years of trials, selection, crossing and investment. Simon Groot saw the opportunity for locally-developed hybrid seeds, and all the remarkable characteristics they were known for, like higher yields, better disease tolerance, better shelf life and extended growing seasons.

Together with Glenn Goldsmith from California and tropical agronomist Gerard Grubben from the Netherlands, he founded East West Seed companies in the Philippines and Thailand, and later on, Indonesia and Vietnam. Today, East West Seed Co. distributes seeds in 53 countries worldwide. From Africa to Asia, Australia to America, East West Seed Co. continues to bring farmers better seeds for better yields.

East West Seed Co is the favorite brand of local farmers. That's why 90% of the local vegetables that we consume in our homes must have come from this seed company :)

THE INSTRUCTIONS WILL MAKE PLANTING AND GROWING EASY FOR THE GARDENING NEWBIE

THERE"S EVEN A SCANNABLE BAR CODE IF YOU WANT TO RESEARCH MORE ABOUT THE VEGGIE

Farm-Ready is a sister company.  It is a seedling nursery company that aims to help urban gardeners start their own garden.  Not from seeds but from germinated seedlings.  

CEDARHILLS GARDEN CENTER 

Why is the ideal garden center for all gardening enthusiasts?

1.  It is a one stop shop for all your gardening needs.  Seeds, garden tools, soil, fertilizer and many more.

2.  If you don't like to start from seeds, they have grown herbs, flowers and the ever popular succulents.  They have plenty of the rare kind too.

3.  excellent hands-on workshops.  Sad that I missed their workshop on succulents. But they have an upcoming Urban Gardening Workshop that I think I would LOVE to attend.

All of you gardening enthusiasts and urban farmers, visit CedarHills Garden Center now. Summer is an awesome time to start getting your hands dirty on your gardens.  Or pocket gardens if you have limited space.  They are inviting everyone for their Grand Re-Launching on April 1.  Drop by CedarHills Garden Center and pat me on the back when you see me there  :)