How to grow organic culinary herbs

On 20 January 2024, Kooi Hoon and I attended a 1-day workshop on “How to grow organic culinary herbs” conducted by Gardens with Purpose.

Background of Gardens With Purpose

Gardens With Purpose was founded by Joanne Ng. As a mother of 3, Joanne saw the need of bringing nature and health to her family back in 2011. Hence, her dream to have an organic farm in Singapore was born.

However, she was faced with 2 major obstacles:

1. She had zero knowledge on gardening. In fact, almost every plant that she brought home from the nurseries died.
2. She was told that it was impossible to grow organic vegetables in Singapore.

Undaunted, the determined Joanne sought the advice from local farmers, experienced gardeners and even organic farmers in Malaysia and Thailand. She even made multiple trips to a university in Chiang Mai, Thailand to collaborate with professors specializing in organic agriculture in coming up with solutions for success organic farming in tropical Singapore.   

After several years of persistent experimentations, she finally came up with her own unique formula for successfully growing organic herbs and vegetables in Singapore

Today, Joanne together with her son Lyon Wong are dedicated to sharing their passions for organic farming and healthy living with as many people as possible through Gardens With Purpose.

Why grow organic vegetable and herbs

Here are 3 reasons why we feel that growing organic vegetables and herbs are beneficial:

1. Reduce the risks of consuming vegetables that are sprayed with pesticides made with synthetic chemicals.
   
   The Singapore Food Agency (SFA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment that oversees food safety and security in Singapore, has in place an integrated food safety system to ensure that food is safe for consumption. Source: https://www.sfa.gov.sg/food-information/risk-at-a-glance/use-of-pesticide-in-food
   
   Nevertheless, we believe that we can significantly further reduce the harm caused by such pesticides often used by commercial farms by consuming organic vegetables and herbs. Most organic farms use organic pesticides such as fruit enzymes and neem oil.
   
   Additionally, by growing your own organic vegetable and herbs, you will be more confident of consuming your own produce since you know what exactly goes into producing your crops.
   
2. Gardening can be a stress-relieving hobby and good form of exercise.
   
   According to the Blue Zones, “Almost all Okinawan centenarians grow or once grew a garden. It’s a source of daily physical activity that exercises the body with a wide range of motion and helps reduce stress.” Source: Okinawa’s Longevity Lessons, March 20, 2014, https://www.bluezones.com/press/okinawas-longevity-lessons/ accessed on January 2024.
   
3. Health benefits of organic herbs
   
   Organic herbs offers many health benefits. The workshop discussed many herbs and their health benefits such as rosemary, moringa seeds, cat whiskers, hibiscus, coleus (we did not realized that this can be eaten, let alone a herb) and many more.
   
   Here is a small sample of herbs and spices and their health benefits which we learned during the workshop:

Highlights from the workshops

We learned from our very engaging and passionate instructor, Lyon, the 3 secrets to green fingers:

1. Sand
2. Overnight tap water
3. Watering technique

After years of experimentations, Joanne discovered that the use of sand as opposed to soil (which is commonly used among gardeners and nurseries even today) is more suitable in Singapore’s humid and often wet climate as sand helps to improve drainage and aeration. We were taught to mix sand, compost, rice husk and pumice according to recommended proportion.

We also learned the 3 conditions to growing herbs and vegetables in terms of sunlight, water. Lyon also went through with us case studies of dos and don’ts for vegetables and herbs gardening and common symptoms of sick plants.

What we took home

Added bonus!

Our workshop was conducted at Toh Orchids. We learned from Jesline, a 35-years veteran at the nursery, that Toh Orchids was the largest Singapore orchids exporter before the pandemic. Unfortunately, air freight cost triple after the pandemic and Toh Orchids has till date not returned to its exporting heydays. It now shares it large hectare of farming space with other nurseries.

We had the privilege of touring the orchid farm and gained valuable knowledge.

As a superb bonus, Kooi Hoon and I bought two pots of “Jesline Pink,” an orchid breed created by and affectionately named after Jesline herself!

Jesline told us that an artist loved the orchid so much that she painted the orchid with Jesline and herself in the background!

Our recommendation

Our 1-day workshop on “How to grow organic culinary herbs” was supported by Skillsfuture. Hence, Kooi Hoon and I were able to use our Skillsfuture credits to pay for our workshop fees.

This was a workshop that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

If you are new to gardening, have been less than successful at growing plants or are keen in edible gardening, we highly recommend this workshop. You can find out more about this workshop and other workshops conducted by Gardens With Purpose here: https://www.gardens-with-purpose.com/