‘Kalye Mabunga’ Features Edible Landscaping, Urban Agri Basics

Guest expert Bryan Apacionado gives some basic considerations on building edible landscape gardens at home.
"Guest expert Bryan Apacionado gives some basic considerations on building edible landscape gardens at home."

Edible landscaping basics were featured for viewers of “Kalye Mabunga”, a web series initiated by Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) in partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI).

Guest expert Bryan Apacionado, of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), talked about the science and art of edible landscaping, including the components of crop production and functional design. Some considerations and steps in edible landscaping were also shared as Apacionado gave a walkthrough on UPLB’s edible landscape garden.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Angeles, known as “Tito Manny” of Twenty Manila and the main personality of the online series, showed how to make a terrarium in seven easy steps. He, likewise, encouraged the viewers to make one while staying home.

This partnership program of Smart and ATI highlights the need to boost food production in cities while providing the viewers an opportunity for recreation at home amid the global pandemic.

Kalye Mabunga’s previous episodes showcased urban agriculture techniques, such as seed-sowing in the backyard, container gardening, square-foot gardening, vertical gardening, and hydroponics. Plant propagation and some do-it-yourself agri projects were also demonstrated.

Cooperators of some ATI Learning Sites for Agriculture in Central Luzon and CaLaBaRZon served as guest experts in different episodes of the program and shared their best practices on farming. Apart from these, healthy vegetable recipes were presented at the end of every episode.

Kalye Mabunga piloted last July 17 and will run every Friday at 8PM until September 24, via the Smart Communities and ATI Facebook pages.