By Zac B. Sarian Would you believe that a rooftop garden measuring only 16 square meters can produce enough vegetables for the consumption of a family of five? Well, that’s what Edgar S. Godin will tell you. He has been growing as many as ten kinds of vegetables in his rooftop garden for a few years now. And he himself is quite surprised that he can even sell some of his produce to his neighbors. And what are the vegetables that he is planting? One of them is the Diamante Max tomato, a hybrid developed by East-West Seed. One time, he planted 24 seedlings of Diamante Max from which he harvested 27 kilos. That means, he got more than one kilo per plant. On August 6, 2017, Edgar planted 15 eggplant seedlings and 20 okra. These were more than what he usually planted previously of these two veggies. They were in addition to the camote, kangkong, pechay and two varieties of pepper that were already growing. His intention was to have extra harvest that he could sell in their sari-sari store. He related that by the last week of September, he started harvesting from the eggplant and okra. Because the rooftop garden was very visible to passers by, many of them inquired if fruits were already available. Edgar estimates that he was able to harvest 1.5 kilos of eggplant and 20 to 30 pieces of okra every week during the whole month of October. And he was able to sell what his family could not consume. When the okra had stopped flowering, Edgar cut their stems leaving about a foot above the growing medium. Then he planted beside the topped okra stems with Diamante Max tomato. After a while, the okra began sprouting new shoots and in no time they started flowering and bearing fruit again. The tomatoes, meanwhile, also started flowering. The tomatoes were transplanted on November 7 and during the first week of January 2018, he started harvesting the ripe fruits. Edgar adds that just before last Christmas, he transplanted five seedlings of Galaxy ampalaya. As of January 5, the amplaya vines eree starting to climb the trellis. He expects that before he harvests all the tomatoes, the ampalaya will start bearing fruit. And up to this time, the 15 eggplants that were planted at the same time with the okra continue to reward the Godin family with their tasty fruits. Because Edgar’s vegetables are very healthy and fruitful, many have been asking him what fertilizer he is using. Well, he says that since the vegetables are intended mainly for their own consumption, he only uses organic fertilizer and no chemical pesticides. To quote him, “Here’s what we do. We have two plastic containers (balde) that we use as compost bins. All our kitchen wastes like fruit peels and vegetable trimmings are consigned to the two containers. Every three weeks we are able to collect enough compost which we use for fertilizing our vegetables. Every time we transplant seedlings, we add 35 percent compost to the garden soil that we use as planting medium.” Aside from compost, Edgar also uses fish extract to supplement the compost. Fish extract is really effective in boosting the growth of his plants, according to him. To prepare the fish extract, he just crushes the fish or passes it through a blender and collects the liquid which he mixes with the water for watering his plants. He applies this two weeks after transplanting. Edgar concludes that growing your own vegetables really gives you a wonderful feeling. The vegetables that you yourself grow taste much better than what you can ever buy from the market, he stresses. And he exclaims: “Believe you me.”