Community care
The hapag is tended together—committee, volunteers, and neighbors who show up.
Home Gardens
Grow food. Green the home.
HAPAG sa Pangulo and home gardening belong together. Households grow vegetables for the table and plants that beautify the sitio — and children learn with their hands in the soil.
HAPAG sa Pangulo
A garden the sitio tends together.
HAPAG is Pammalian’s community-managed vegetable garden. Volunteers and the committee in-charge care for it so the plot can supplement household food—not as a commercial farm. Harvest is shared with those who tend it, and anyone in the community who needs a vegetable may take one when something is available. Dry months make the common garden hard to keep, so households are also encouraged to plant at home and join the Seeds and Seedlings Exchange.
Shared harvest
Produce supplements family meals; when something is available, a neighbor in need may take a vegetable.
Home gardens too
Containers, recycled pots, and yard corners keep planting alive when water is scarce at the common plot.
Recommended crops
Start with what grows well here.
These crops are commonly suited to home gardens. Final recommendations can be updated with local planting experience.
Pechay
Fast-growing leafy vegetable suited to home plots and containers.
Tomato
A household favorite for cooking and shared harvests.
Eggplant
Reliable backyard crop for family meals.
Okra
Heat-tolerant and productive in home gardens.
Chili
Compact plants that thrive in pots and small spaces.
Squash
A filling crop that can sprawl along fences or unused ground.
Herbs
Basil, tanglad, and other kitchen herbs for daily cooking.
Other local vegetables
Plant what grows well in Pammalian’s climate and soil.
Featured gardens
Households growing food at home.
Names and photos will be published with household permission.
Dalida Family
April 2026
Pechay
Tomato
Herbs
Kalunay
Talinum
Kamatis
Sibulyas
Tarong
Okra
Kamotig
Paria
Tabungaw
Aruy-oy nga Sili
Early in the morning, the Dalida family gathers at the edge of the woods to care for their backyard garden. Surrounded by a simple bamboo fence, the adults loosen the dark soil and clear weeds around healthy rows of okra, tarong, and leafy kalunay, working together to grow fresh food for their home. Right beside them, the youngest girl squats low in the dirt, watching closely and patting the earth with her bare hands. In this small family garden, sharing the daily chore is simply a warm way to teach the next generation how to plant, care for seedlings, and provide for each other.
Loreto and Corazon Butac
August 2026
Eggplant
Okra
Ampalaya
Living quietly on their own in their senior years, Loreto and Corazon have poured their love and daily care into their backyard garden. With no children to fill the house, the leafy trellises have become a lively extension of their home. Every morning, Corazon steps out under the shade of her woven hat to check the climbing ampalaya vines, gently tending to the yellow blossoms and young fruits alongside tidy patches of eggplant and okra. For the couple, tending the plot offers both gentle exercise and purposeful companionship. The garden brings a steady, comforting rhythm to their days, keeping them active and connected to the land. What starts as a simple harvest often turns into shared baskets for nearby neighbors, proving that even a modest plot can fill a quiet home with plenty of purpose and warmth.
Apolinario Ortal Family
February 2026
Sitaw
Ampalaya
Talong
For Tessie, wife of Apolinario, managing obesity often made daily movement feel daunting, but her household garden transformed physical effort into a welcome, healing ritual. What started as simple rows of recycled containers on their hillside plot soon became her favorite morning destination. Out in the fresh open air, gently bending to secure wooden trellises, carrying water, and inspecting the climbing vines of sitaw and ampalaya, Tessie found a natural, enjoyable way to stay active. Beyond keeping her body moving, the garden enriched their household table with nutritious harvests of fresh greens, beans, and talong. Supported by Apolinario, Tessie's daily commitment to the soil has become more than just growing vegetables, it is a gentle, rewarding path toward wellness and vigor, one planted seedling at a time.
Home gardening
Greener homes make a greener sitio.
Plants cool a house, welcome pollinators, and turn empty corners into living space. When many homes grow something — and the young help tend it — the whole community looks and feels different.
Container Gardening
Grow food and ornamentals in pots, recycled containers, and small planters when yard space is limited.
Vertical Gardening
Use walls, trellises, and stacked planters to grow upward instead of outward.
Front-yard Gardening
Turn the space facing the street into a welcoming, living edge for the community.
Fruit-bearing Plants
Plant fruit trees and bushes that can feed households for years to come.
Native & Beneficial Plants
Choose plants that suit the local climate, support pollinators, and need less fuss.
Gardening tips
Simple habits that keep plants alive.
Start small
A few healthy plants are better than a large garden that is hard to maintain.
Use what you have
Recycled containers, kitchen scraps for compost, and rainwater all count.
Share seedlings
Join the Seeds and Seedlings Exchange: bring a seed or seedling, and exchange it for another so planting materials keep circulating.
Observe your space
Notice sun, shade, and drainage before choosing what to plant.
Keep it going
A little watering and weeding each week matters more than a single big effort.
Home gardens
Homes already growing.
Each card is one household. Click to see that home’s photographs, newest first.
Community support
Grow something this season.
Ask for seedlings, share extra plants, or show a neighbor how you started. A pot of herbs already counts.