Frank from Indonesia

Frank

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Hi all... I am Frank, a Belgian living in Batam(Indonesia) since 2011. Enjoying a simple life and trying to get more selfsufficient... hence, that's why I am here. I am an absolute beginner when it comes to gardening. Started twice already in the last couple of years and failed... well let's see... twice also. But, I am not giving up
I love Mark's video's(not too commercial) and just today, I found out there's also this website... tataaa here I am. I will probably be reading and/or asking questions here, because I am not qualified to give answers, yet.
That's it for now and have a great day.
 

DivingTemptress

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Hi Frank and welcome !!
My husband and I have been to Indonesia on Scuba expeditions 5 times, it is absolutely lovely there !! I have not been to Batam but of course we flew through Singapore each time. Depending on how much land you have to grow on, I would suggest you start with fruit trees sooner, rather than later. There are so many veggies that will grow probably year round there, we will all be happy to advise you but even though I can answer some questions, I always have questions of my own LOL

Grow what you like to eat, sometimes it seems like the things that will grow for me, don't suit my taste buds. Start with the easiest and don't try to do too much in the beginning. Some success is better than none, and you will learn from the failures too, so just keep trying.

Happy Gardening,
P J, the Dirt Diva
 

Frank

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Hello PJ, nice to meet you... I love Singapore, we try to go there a few times a year! Much nicer than Batam(I call it a ****hole, but it's my ****hole) it's nothing like where you do your scuba-expeditions, I am sure about that. Bali, I guess, you spend your time in Indonesia?

We don't have much land at all, most of my gardening is done in polybags and pots. My garden is about 5m x 10m and I have about 20m x 20m roof, to put some plants on. I recently got myself 4 raised beds and 3 raised pots(if that even exists)

This year, I did start with fruit trees, because the other plants always fail(I am not giving up)... we got Lengkeng, grape, a few different lemon/orange, star fruit, Markisa and a papaya... so far only Lengkeng gives fruit.

Further, the easy stuff like beans, mint, pepper plants, tomato ... are giving me a hard time(too much rain) on the other hand, I go some salad and kale growing(was not expecting that) It will be a case of what to plant where. As I said, I am positive that I will make it work... I have got plenty of time.

Wanting too much at the same time was exactly what made me fail the first time. I found out that it's useless to have 36 different pepper plants, if you can't even grow 1.

I guess, the first couple of months, I will be doing a lot of reading on the forum and probably ask some questions... answering them, I'll leave to the pro's at the moment.

If you and your husband ever fly to Singapore again and want a guide, I am availabe. Or, it's only an hour ferry to Batam from there... feel free to stay at our place.

Happy gardening to you to,

F.
 
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DivingTemptress

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Hi Frank,
Nice to hear back from you !! I had to look up Lengkeng - we call that Longan and it will grow here in Houston, but my hubby prefers lychee, so we bought 2 varieties. I also grow Starfruit and citrus and papaya. When it comes to peppers, we have not had much success for the sweet ones, only the hot peppers, which I will not eat. I am Italian and am spicy enough without eating spicy LOL My latest attempt is working for our fall garden with sweet corni di toro not bells. they are long but very thin, unlike the pictures that show them about 3 times the width as mine, but they are tasty.

Very cool that you plan to grow on your rooftop, that might keep you home cooler ??


It is very kind of you to offer your hospitality, although with covid I am not sure how long it will be before we are willing to risk traveling. We usually have at least 6 hours layover in Singapore and some trips it was 12 or 13, so it is a definite maybe ;)

So far we have been to Sulawesi, Ambon, Jakarta, Bali, Manokwari and Sarong and diving through the Raja Ampats. Everywhere unique and beautiful nature with gracious and friendly people.

I thought you might like to take a tour of my garden from April


and the update Enjoy, please subscribe, like and comment, I would like your feedback !

P J, the Dirt Diva and DivingTemptress
 

Frank

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Hey PJ,

How are you doing?

Like your husband, I prefer Lychee to, but my father inlaw brought me a Lenkeng... it will do for the moment. Most of the fruit goes to the birds anyway. I just trimmed my tree down, waiting for it to recover and start fruiting again.

You say you're Italian. You live in USA for a long time? You speak without an accent. To my shame after 9 years here, my Indonesian is still very, very bad.

Yes, the plants on the rooftop keep it cooler and there's a paranet over the roof to keep a 50% shade... that and the airco of course. I still need to figure out what will grow best on there. Okra, eggplant, kale and salad are doing fine up there. I do need to put them in bigger pots/planter bags next time.

Wow, you've been to more places in Indonesia than I have. I love Bali and the people over there. It's way different than the people and environment here. We want to travel Indonesia, when we are to old to fly far. 2 years ago, we spend a few days in lovely Rome, you probably been there. A while ago, I broke my wife's Rome souvenir and now she wants to go back.

I already saw 1 of your YouTube video's. The 40+ minutes that's for this evening. You got a very nice garden. It's the garden, that I want to get in the future. I was surprised to see that you grow a lot of the things that I would be able to grow here(or am growing here). I doubt if we could grow the berries around here, but I might give it a try in the future. This might be a dumb question, but do you have snow over there? I didn't see a lot of vegetables, might be too hot for those or just not your kind of thing.

That's it for now, take care and stay safe.

F.
 
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