HARBEST TIMES
an eNewsletter published by HARBEST COMMUNICATIONS No. 7 September 2007
Featured Activity
HARBEST EDIBLE GARDENING
sow and grow your own vegetables now!
Please pass this eNewsletter to
your friends and let’s promote
a green revolution at home. Or
you may send in their email ad.
In case you don’t want to receive
our newsletter. please inform us.
Red Rapid Lettuce
Dear friend of Harbest,
Have you ever planted your own vegetables? Not yet a green thumb? Let’s paint your thumb green, red and
yellow and allow you to harvest tasty kitchen vegetables and fruits. As Unilever is now at the forefront of
campaigning for children to eat delicious vegetables with their TV ad on Knorr vegetable soup seasoning,
Harbest is actively awakening families to grow fresh and clean vegetables and short-term fruits in their
backyard – on the ground or in containers. Vertical or horizontal, through its Gulayan sa Barangay.
This is our first issue dedicated to this family activity. We shall introduce you to the possibilities of you
growing your own food. Simple technique of planting leafy vegetable in pots and plots will guide you.
The Edible Gardening 101 provides some basic pointers while the Edible Gardening tidbits give you more
interesting information on basic gardening. Learn about urban farming from Greenhills and set up your
own pick-n-pay vegetable garden. There’s a page too on gift ideas from Harbest.
Why not start today? HARBEST has introduced its varied HOME GARDEN vegetables seeds as well as
herbs, flowers and ornamentals from KNOWN-YOU SEED CO., of Taiwan. Popular and easy to grow.
Let’s SOW AND GROW today. And color our world with Tito Knorr pinasarap na gulay!
Toto Barcelona 0917-5203260
Vegetables you can sow and grow at home
Vega
Phoenix
Fond May
Fragrant
Green Pod
Kaoshiung
Jade Dragon
Vantage
and harvest after a few weeks, for your daily delicious home cooking with Tito Knorr and Uncle Heinz.
Read on for more interesting feature. We, of course, welcome all your suggestions and articles.
HARBEST TIMES e-Newsletter for friends of Harbest
10 t h Anniversary
No. 7 September 2007
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Hi! mula sa friends mo in Harbest
Gulayan sa Barangay - Edible Gardening 101
kami po ay handang maglingkod sa inyo. Call or text
us when you need any of the HARBEST products and
services for your edible gardening needs.
Again, that green thumb question makes us doubt if we can
really sow and grow our own tomatoes and melons. Here we
present basics on edible gardening for you to start.
Janet Serdan
0917-8474861
URBAN HARBEST – Home Gardening seminars
Home garden greenhouse system
Rosalie Rotoni
Home Gardening Dealership Inquiry
0917-8807411
Gina Castaneda
6717411 to 14
Home Garden Seeds Dealers ordering
Customer services
Emy Omila
0917-5392683
Harbest Dealer's order and shipment
Harbest Bonsai and gardening products
Venus Monta/ Tina Lucero
0917-8173034
Harbest Pangasinan Branch, Carmen, Rosales
along highway, near boundary with Tarlac
harbestpangasinan@yahoo.com
Merisa Redoble / Clarissa Boysillo 0917-3272378
Harbest Cebu Branch
032-2557109
Rm. 2-E, Capitol Centrum Bldg, Escario St.
Cebu City. Behind RCBC Escario
harbest_cebu@yahoo.com
Janet de la C e r n a / R u v a C a y m e 0927-2179760
Harbest Davao Branch
082-2240688
Rm. 305, Bernardo Bldg., Magallanes Street
Davao City. Beside Grand Men Sheng Hotel
harbest_davao@yahoo.com or
harbestdavao@gmail.com
HARBEST EDIBLE GARDENING CENTER
SM Megamall, ground floor, Building A,
Across National Book Store
02-6873808
Open 10am -9pm daily
Customer Hotlines
Rosalie or Ging
6717411 to 14
Email: itx@pldtdsl.net or harbest@harbest.com.ph
No. 5 Rosemarie Lane, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City, MM
Office of the President
0917-5203260
or contact any of our branch offices near you.
We welcome inquiries for dealership. Please
contact Rosalie.
1. Learning by reading and looking. There are so
much reading materials available now at National Book
Store and the internet that it is really a matter of going
through them to start painting your thumb green. You can
also watch your friends grow their own vegetable patch or
attend gardening seminars. Then make that first move to
sow your own seeds.
2. Sunlight. All vegetables and fruits like Red Lady
papaya need sunlight. At least 6 hours a day will give
enough chlorophyll for your plants. So check the location
for your plots and containers. And give them enough room
to breath
3. Soil. Prepare your garden plots well. Till your soil with
your trowel or hoe. Remove big stones and weeds,
recondition your soil with humus and effective
microorganism. Make sure it is loose enough to have
aeration but firm enough to hold the seeds and roots. Make
raised beds of 6” to 10” to drain rain water well. You may
apply mulch to protect your plants from too much rain.
Make sure you are working on a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.5.
4. Seeds. Buy good quality seeds to make sure you get
great tasting veggies and fruits. There are several reliable
suppliers of gardening seeds. Harbest can provide you with
a whole range of Chinese vegetable seeds and herb seeds
for your edible garden. Visit us at www.harbest.com.ph for
your selection. Or our nearest dealer to you.
5. Water. You should have readily available water for
irrigation. Using recycled water (without soap!) or saved
rain water can help you conserve Mother Nature’s health.
Although make sure you don’t over water your plants or
drown them with improper drainage during heavy rain.
6. Tender Loving Care. Your daily watering, regular
weeding, removing bugs and worms that eat your leaves
ahead of you, feeding your growing veggies with the right
food called NPK and other micro nutrients.
It’s great exercise to be bending your knees daily and work
under the morning sun. Good for your health too aside
from the nutrients your veggies will give you.
Eat Fresh. Grow it!
HARBEST TIMES an eNewsletter for Friends of Harbest
10 t h Anniversary
No. 7 September 2007
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EDIBLE GARDENING TIPS & tidbits
SEEDS are alive! Treat them with care. When
buying, make sure your seeds are fresh. Not
displayed for many years or exposed to heat and
cold for too long. You might leave the seed packs in your glove
compartment in the open parking lot. They will choke to death!
Eat 5 cups of vegetables and fruits a
day.For cancer prevention.
If you are not planting them immediately, specially
if you bought them from a garden store in one of
your travels, keep them in a cool, dry place. A
drawer or the ref veggie compartment will do.
NOT IN THE FREEZER ha. When packing for home, protect
your seed packs from too much pressure. Place them in a hard
box or wrap them with foam sheet. But do not forget them when
you get home. Sow immediately to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Your seeds should be sown and covered with soil,
0.5 cm to 1 cm deep. Amapalaya seeds are sown
half covered vertically, with the pointed portion
facing down. Since it has a hard seed coat, break the upper
pointed side a little just enough to let water wet the inner core.
Ask Harbest for details.
Make Edible Gardening a family activity. Involve your kids and lola. As
you gain confidence with your first harvest of Chinese Kang Kong after
30 days from sowing, you can grow more types of oriental leafy
vegetables. Such as mustard, radish, pokchoi, yu-tsai-sum, kalian,
hong haw or garland chrysanthemum (edible flower?) and many more.
Email us for your complete colored seed catalogue in pdf format.
Soil is where your seeds grow into nutritious
veggies and fruits. Understand it well. The rule
of green thumb is it should be loose to let your
roots breath and grow. But firm enough to
cover your seeds and let it germinate as well as support your
plants. Learn to do composting with EM 1. Read Sustainable
Farming book of Keith Mikkelson, available at Harbest.
Try the HARBEST LEAFY VEGETABLE
GARDENING KIT for beginners. Just
P190 per set (P220 in province)
complete with your choice of seeds (one
type), Growell medium, deep tray,
fertilizer and instruction printed on the
bag.
Available at the HARBEST
EDIBLE GARDEN CENTER, ground
floor, building A, SM Megamall. Across
National Book Store. So easy to grow
your own veggies. Harvest in about 30
days.
You may mix GROWELL planting medium 50:50 with
your garden soil to loosen it. Fine garden soil can get
compacted when watered and may choke the tender
roots. You can also mix your home-made compost .
Send us your email for a pdf copy of Dr. Raffy Guerrero’s
Practical Vermicomposting Guide.
Don’t throw away those excess peebles and gravel
from your house construction. They can be used as
foundation for your vegetable plots. A layer of gravel
with peebles can provide a good drainage under your
garden soil or for your pots. But do not forget the canals to
drain off excessive rain water. Or else you will have a waterlogged garden.
Vegetables are shallow-rooted plants. Pokchoi (?)
can grow well in a two inches deep gardening soil
medium. Eggplants can bear fruits in a 12 inch deep
pot with fertile soil. With a 2m2 garden, with full sun,
you can grow a variety of veggies for your kitchen. No space?
grow them vertically with pots or vertical lettuce post. Send us
your email address and join our mailing list. Expect our updates
on vegetable gardening.
harbest@harbest.com.ph or
itx@pldt.dsl.net.
Protect your seedling from ants, pets and
birds. You can easily make your own
seedling nursery. Essentials are it should be
about one foot above the ground. Use Sanko
plastic crates to raise your seedling trays and make a canopy
with PE film and enclose with fine nets.
Dishwashing soap can be an effective pesticide. Mixing it
with a little ground hot pepper will add strength to your solution of
organic pesticide. Although the most effective pest control in home
garden is still “piscillicide”. Pisilin mo ang uod. Kadiri?
use gloves. To kill snails instantly, sprinkle a few grains
of salt on their flesh, and soon you will see a foaming
mad snail cursing you.
Surf the internet. Ask Yahoo! vegetable gardening, organic
gardening, vegetable pest and diseases, how to grow your
own vegetables, recipes and many other topics.
Try www.leafy-green.org and www.harbest.com.ph
No. 7 September 2007
10 t h Anniversary
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HARBEST TIMES an e-Newsletter for friends of Harbest
Delicious oriental vegetables you can grow
Leafy Vegetables
Pinakbet
As well as Herbs, Flowers and Ornamentals
For our complete Catalogue. Write us
Be a HARBEST HOME PARTNER.
You can become a dealer for these saleable
seeds and other gardening supplies, tools
and books. Just email us your intention and
we will gladly guide you to be a great
partner in Harbest Bizniz Opportunity .
Contact us today for more details.
thru our email at itx@pldtdsl.net or
harbest@harbest.com.ph or text email ad
to Kaibigan hotline 0917-5203260.
Tel. No. 6717411 to 14.
Ask for Rosalie.
HARBEST TIMES e-Newsletter for friends of Harbest
10 t h Anniversary
No. 7 September 2007
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Using the GROW YOUR OWN LEAFY VEGETABLES gardening starter kit
will start you off asap in vegetable gardening. The pictures show you the
easy steps in sowing and growing your own Chinese Kang Kong. From
preparing the GROWELL planting medium made from organic materials –
washed cocopeat, charcoal rice hull and organic fertilizer – to sowing and
watering daily. In 3 days the seeds will start to sprout. Just apply a solution
of urea – one teaspoon mixed with one gallon of water on the 3rd week.
Pulverize the urea to dissolve it faster. Or if you prefer, use organic foliar
fertilizer. Make sure your plants are exposed to sunlight daily. They loved
the sun. In 30 days, it is ready for harvesting. You may cut one inch above
the ground and new leaves will grow again for another harvest in 25 days.
Just remember to water daily and apply once your fertilizer.
Kang kong is a rich source of natural fiber. And the cheapest source at that.
Delicious too cooked in wok.
Growing
your own Chinese Kangkong
TY variety. Matures in 30 days. Tender and
nutritious. Cooks in 2 minutes. Just stir fry
with garlic and a little salt or blanch in boiling
water, drain and add oyster sauce or bagoong.
HARBEST TIMES e-Newsletter for friends of Harbest
10 t h Anniversary
No. 7 September 2007
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Grow your own Lettuce
in 45 days. For salad and
sandwich.
Leafy GRAND RAPID lettuce by your green thumb?
Why not? Lettuce seeds are so tiny. And yet it can grow into
a delicious salad ingredient in 45 days. Just follow the
simple steps in the picture. First, sow your seeds in seedling
trays if you are planting a whole 10 meter plot. If not, just
sow the seeds directly, 2 to 3 in a hole. Seedlings are ready
for transplant in 3 weeks. 12 can fill the deep tray that go
with your gardening kit.
Do light watering, meaning don’t pour water to break the
tender leaves of the young seedlings. The Growell medium
may dry up easily during hot days. It may be necessary to
water twice when it gets too dry. Apply urea solution or
organic fertilizer on the third week before transplanting and
another time on the 5th week.
Grand Rapid loves the full sun after transplanting. Though
you may keep the young sprouts under shade until the 10th
day.
Don’t delay the harvesting to avoid bitter taste.
Great for salads and sandwiches. Eat fresh. Grow it!
HARBEST TIMES an e-Newsletter for friends of Harbest
10 t h Anniversary
No. 7 September 2007
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ms.Janet Serdan of Urban Harbest conducts an Edible Gardening
seminar for home gardeners. Basic procedure in vegetable container
gardening as well as in vacant lots is done with powerpoint presentation
for easy comprehension. At P600 seminar fee, the participants get a
two-hour orientation, a Primer on Vegetable Gardening book and one
free Grow Your Own Leafy Vegetable Gardening Kit. An easy way to
start coloring your thumb green.
Harbest also conducts a 6-day hands-on training for vegetables and
short-term fruits like melons commercial production. This is for
beginners who are planning to develop his farmlot or inherited farm and
for those seriously into commercial high-value farming. Email
harbest@harbest.com.ph for more details or go to www.harbest.com.ph
The use of AGRI+PLAS seedling tray can be applied by serious
urban farmers to produce high-quality vegetable seedlings.
Healthy seedlings grown in a mini-greenhouse from Harbest is the
foundation of a successful vegetable urban farm.
The North Greenhills Homeowners Association Urban Farm
managed by Harbest staff converted a 2,000m2 vacant lot into a
very productive vegetable pick-n-pay garden center. Participants
to our Edible Gardening seminar during their lakbay-aral.
HARBEST TIMES e-Newsletter for friends of Harbest
No. 7 September 2007
10 t h Anniversary
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HARBEST CHRISTMAS GIF+IDEA
Please add mailing cost. We may not be able to serve some provincial order. This promo available at Harbest only.
VEGETABLE AND HERB SEEDS HOME GARDEN PACK P40.00 – P50/pack
give your loved ones the seeds to fill up their kitchen and dining table the whole year round with fresh produce. Your choice.
It’s cheaper by the
dozen
12 + 1 FREE
LEAFY VEGETABLES STARTER KIT P190.00 ( P220 in provincial branches )
easy to grow leafy vegetables for 6 to 60 years old. So affordable yet enjoyable for all!
Spinach
Pai-Tsai
Grand Rapid Lettuce
Red Rapid Lettuce
It’s cheaper by the
dozen
12 + 1 FREE
GARDENING AND FARMING BOOKS
Select the best titles that your friends will love to apply in their garden and farm. They will remember you for these.
Urban Agriculture
P280.00
A comprehensive 53-page guidebook on urban farming. Different ways of container gardening.
Composting of kitchen waste. Written by CLSU Professors.
A Primer on Vegetable Gardening
180.00
A 213-page fully illustrated guide on vegetable gardening published by the Asian Vegetable Research and
Development Center (AVRDC Taiwan).
Vegetable Production Training Manual
3,000.00
Considered as the Bible in vegetable farming. Published by the AVRDC. Comprehensive. 447 pages.
Sustainable Agricuture by Keith Mikkelson
550.00
Simple and doable organic farming technique with easy to follow procedures.
Growing Vegetables and Other Edibles in Containers by UPLB
380.00
A comprehensive 211-page guidebook on growing tropical edible crops in containers. It also stresses
the organic way of growing vegetables.
Growing rich, tasty veggies in harmony with nature by Jef Van Haute
A 163-page book that explains the basics in vegetable gardening. Very instructional.
380.00
GIFT CERTIFICATE – SEMINAR ON EDIBLE GARDENING P600.00
Give a valuable two hour learning module that your loved ones will be most grateful. They will be too happy to share their produce.
With one free book PRIMER ON VEGETABLE GARDENING and one free LEAFY VEGETABLE GARDENING KIT. Seminar at the
Harbest Seminar Room, once a month. No. 5 Rosemarie Lane, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City. near Shaw Boulevard.
Printed as a Christmas Card for you to write your love notes. Great for birthdays and any occasion too.
GIFT CERTIFICATE – HARBEST EDIBLE GARDEN CENTER SUPPLIES
P500 & P1,000 denominations
Let your friends select the seeds, gardening supplies and books they need at the HARBEST EDIBLE GARDEN CENTER at SM
Megamall and all Harbest branches in Pasig, Rosales, Pangasinan, Cebu and Davao City.
Printed as a Christmas Card for you to write your love notes. Great for birthdays and any occasion too.
Contact Rosalie at 6717411 to 14, 0921-4879529, email itx@pldtdsl.net or harbest@harbest.com.ph. Payment thru
Metrobank Kapitolyo, Shaw Blvd., Pasig City. Harbest Agribusiness Corporation SA 062-3-06250338-7