James 2000

Various pests, especially snails during the rainy season, make vegetable gardening a challenge. However, as we would like the ECHO Asia office demonstration garden to be as productive as possible year round, we decided to make protective row covers for our garden beds. ECHO Asia intern, James "Tarantula Boy" Manson (http://sustainabilityquest.blogspot.com/2010/09/spiders-over-snakes.html) was drafted for the job. Using 1/2 inch PVC pipe and row cover fabric, James constructed five row covers. We're so impressed with James' design that we dubbed it the "James 2000."

Measuring 1.45 meters long, 0.8 m wide and 0.9 m tall to be an exact fit for the beds, the total cost of materials for each unit was 397 Thai baht (US $13.26). Not terribly cheap. However, local materials, such as bamboo for the frame, could be easily used to lower costs.

Our James 2000s are study, lightweight and easy to move. However, they must be anchored to keep strong winds from blowing them over.

In case readers are interested in making their own versions of the James 2000, it is important to allow the mesh to make enough contact with the soil surface in order to be "sealed" with pieces of wood or brick to prevent pests from crawling under the frame. If heavy enough, such items will help keep the row covers from blowing over.

You can see that at least one snail was thwarted from entering a garden bed. Well made row covers can exclude a wide range of pests that are too large to pass through the mesh. On the other hand, pre-existing, resident pests will be confined by the covers. Row covers can also help prevent pollinators from entering; which is either good (if we're trying to prevent cross-pollination) or bad (if our crops need cross-pollination).

James' row covers are well made and we expect them to last at least a few years with minimal maintenance.

New Crop Evaluation

During the USAID-funded Hort CRSP Exploratory Survey that took place in two village clusters in northern Thailand, and another in southwest Cambodia, earlier this year, we came across quite a few interesting crop varieties (mainly vegetables) grown by farm families. The ECHO Asia Seed Bank team selected several of these varieties, such as this black seed, short-pod velvet bean, to evaluate. Our criteria was to focus on crops/varieties that are desirable, rare and/or have reported outstanding traits, such as high productivity and good flavor. Many of these finds have already been planted out in the seed bank plots with data and observations currently being recorded.

Hopefully, this effort will yield more regionally appropriate crops for the ECHO Asia Seed Bank to distribute among our network.

 

The Corn We Couldn't Eat

Less than three months after moving into the new ECHO Asia office in late March our demonstration garden is growing like gangbusters.

A rainy "dry season" helped the perennials get established quickly. Fortunately, we've been able to stay ahead of the weeds. And annuals, such as okra, vegetable amaranth and sweet corn are already producing. Produce is being shared with the neighbors. But with an urgent need for seed, Wah (our seed bank manager) called dibs on the sweet corn.

We had other plans.

Add Water

Jamis Koknevics, born in Latvia, raised in Belgium and educated in the UK, spent the last several months interning with ECHO Asia. Soon after arriving, we assigned him to upgrade the seed bank's water supply. With access to UHDP's reservoir, we needed an efficient means of pumping water from the pond to two large plots where several dozen moringa trees (PKM-1)are being established for seed production. Janis researched the best means of delivering the water to these trees.

The result is a grid of PE tubing with appropriately spaced spray nozzles. The new irrigation system will also enable dry season production of other seed bank crops grown between the trees. We're very grateful for Janis' involvement at the ECHO Asia Seed Bank and wish him the best as he prepares to further his education.

Big Seed Delivery to Laos

This week the ECHO Asia Seed Bank sent its largest seed order yet. Not being a commercial seed supplier, usually ECHO's orders are limited to free, small sample packs of seeds sent out to development workers serving in poor counties. Recipients can evaluate the seed in their locations and, if possible, multiply seed for the benefit of their clientele; usually small-scale farmers and gardeners.

However, ECHO Asia carries select types of seed in bulk quantities; mostly green manure cover crops. As long as supplies last, ECHO network partners in Asia can purchase (to cover costs) between one hundred grams to a few kilos of such seed.

This particular combined order, over 60 kg total, was sent by bus from Chiang Mai to a city near the Lao border. Six agricultural development agencies will be testing these seeds on their farms and focus communities. Hopefully much more seed will be propagated from this large order.

Orange Sweet Potatoes

Our family ate a lot of sweet potatoes when I was a kid. Along with Irish potatoes, Ipomoea batatas was a main garden staple. Truth is, I kind got sick of them and never grew any after I left home.

However, through the years, I've rediscovered a new fondness for the root crop, especially the orange varieties. The sweet potato is poor man's food, and Asia grows its share. However, many are white flesh varieties which I find a bit bland.

Over the past year, the humble sweet potato has gotten some very favorable press. Last Thanksgiving, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist, Nicolas Kristof, wrote a glowing piece about the role of orange sweet potatoes specially bred to help fight hunger in Africa (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/opinion/25kristof.html). Orange sweet potatoes are packed with beta carotene, a natural source of vitamin A, much needed by the human body.

Fortunately, orange sweet potatoes are easy to grow in our part of tropical Asia.

In early December 2010, I bought sack of orange tuberous sweet potato roots from a local market (not easy to find) and planted them in one of our garden beds. We ended up with a ton of slips. I then transplanted some of these slips into four short rows around New Year and waited until mid-April to begin digging. I was delighted to find well-formed, tasty roots.

Friends and neighbors got their share. In fact, we only had enough left over for one meal. Ellen sliced the tubers, added seasoning and baked them until they began to brown. Delicious.

Now, the locally-adapted orange sweet potato variety is growing in the demonstration garden at the ECHO Asia office. Interested persons who drop by the office can picked up a few slips to take home with them.

A Festive Germination Test

Recently I entered the nursery at the ECHO Asia seed Bank for a quick look. I was surprised by the burst of color in one of the plant beds in which seeds recently acquired from communities in northern Thailand and Cambodia were being tested for germination and vigor. Vinny, the intern in charge of the test, explained that the multi-colored plastic spoons used to mark each seed were not only cheap and reusable but "way more cool" than boring white spoons. The seed bank staff also said that the previous array of white spoon markers looked a bit too much like headstones in a tiny cemetery, which they seemed to think was kind of depressing. So for a more cheerful looking seed vigor trial, multi-colored plastic spoons are definitely the way to go. Also note the phototropic effect going on with the bean seedlings.