One of the may reasons that I fell in love with our apartment is the lovely bit of balcony/deck that runs the length of our apartment. Having even just a little outside space here means that we have space to grow some veggies.
Before we came to Singapore Partner and I had gathered some information about the limited availability of organic produce and high cost of such produce in this country – $9 for a yellow pepper (!!!!). Most of the organic produce in Singapore is imported from the US or NZ.
Back in Seattle we were spoiled by our weekly organic produce delivery from our CSA. On Wednesday mornings I would wake up and there would be a lovely box of produce at our back door.
Weekly CSA delivery from Full Circle Farms
While one can get organic produce delivered in Singapore, I am just not too keen on that. From what I have seen at the markets you really need to be able to pick through things to find the best items – delivery may not guarantee me the best carrots, beets, or lettuces. Plus, I really have no excuse – we live two elevators and an escalator ride away from a grocery store which does stock some organic produce.
While I may be getting completely spoiled by our proximity to grocery stores, I still cringe each time I purchase a box of organic spinach for S$8. It only took buying two boxes of spinach for me to decided that it was time to get the garden going.
I had had grand intentions of purchasing unique, organic, heirloom variety seeds before we left the States, but as the date of our departure grew close, and the dissertation defense, and the sale of the house, and the movers, and….. well, you get the idea. So, picking up organic seeds to bring to Singapore became a last minute errand one day while I was looking for something else at Home Depot. (Oh, how I miss Home Depot, Lowes, and Target, and Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods…. Okay, okay, this is material for a whole separate post.)
Seeds for the garden
I may not have picked up the ideal seeds – I don’t know what if I am inclined to trust a Martha Stewart brand of USDA Organic Seeds – but at this point I am so grateful that I snagged them. When they arrived with the movers last week, I could not wait to get them out of the space where I hid them in my luggage. Yes, because I was not sure about the legality of bringing organic vegetable seeds into this country, I buried them deep in our stuff and sent them with the movers.
Even before the seeds arrived I had been searching the interwebs for gardening places and organic soil mixes in Singapore. On Monday I trekked out to one of the gardening centers and was directed towards an organic soil and compost mix that is designed for vegetables.
Bio-Organic Potting Soil
Mixing up the potting soil with water so that it is evenly moistened before planting the seeds
For now I am using make-shift containers just to get the seeds started.
Here I am sowing seeds in egg crates, the box kiwis came in, and the packing from the powerstrip we purchased
Even though it was a bit overcast this week, there has been enough sun and heat (go figure) that some of my seeds I planted on Monday were sprouting by Wednesday. I am pretty excited.
The first shoots and leaves of lettuces
