When I first started venturing into farming, I planted short-term cash crops but they were high maintenance and needed to be always taken care of.
I lost hope in the first few months of going full time working in the fields.
This time, I change my plans and went on planting long term cash crops such as black peppers, purple yam (Ube), ginger, and sweet potatoes--a good switch to a fast-paced planting and growing short-term crops. Yet, the returns were slow and it will take me a long time to earn from them.
I still plant short-term cash crops but not that many than they used to and I realized that balance is everything in this business because long-term crops are good when you have a budget on utilities while still venturing into farming, and on my case I don't have those so I did plant short-term cash crops. I was thinking of growing melons again for the holidays this coming December although the weather might not be favorable to melons but I will still try.
Hoping For A Grand Harvest
Last April and March, I planted ginger and purple yam. I do hope to harvest them this coming December, they will be good for the holidays and ripe for harvest.
I have big plans for December but they will remain as plans if not executed. I was planning to plant melons again this October and to harvest them this coming December along with my annual crops like Ube and ginger. This time I know now how to grow melons unlike before when I lost almost half of the crops because of my sheer ignorance in management and crop care. Today, I knew better and I hope I will harvest more melons than before.
Last time I harvested 94 kilograms of melons when it could have tripled, and it is half of what I expect to harvest.
Lessons and Learnings
Over pruning the melon vines, I lost 60 percent of my harvest. Not all good deeds would result in big harvest and I was doing what I thought was right--I lost more. According to one melon farmer I talked to, he said 'you shouldn't risk pruning the vines...we needed all the flowers to produce fruits and let the plant decide if it will keep the fruits.' He was right and I learned it the hardest way when my plants went on producing one melon per plant when they could have produced at least three.
Varieties
I am a big fan of growing elongated/oblong melons because they are much sweeter and crunchier than the round ones, and they also had longer shelf life than the other melons.
This coming holidays I wanted to try different melons like musk melons and round ones for Christmas table. Not really about decorations but because Christmas is a great market for melons and I wanted to test my luck in growing them. For what is the holidays without the round fruits like melons. Musk melon and water melon are not bad at all when they are in your salad bowl---I never got a chance so I'll stick with the oblong ones.
I am a farmer yet I still enjoy what the holidays would bring. Hoping for a good harvest and better planting season to come. I hope my farm will succeed this cropping season.
