In 2015, studying in the first year of university, Dinh Le Thao Nguyen (SN 1996, Ward 3, Da Lat City, Lam Dong) decided to take a break even though her family disagreed. “Since I was in high school, I was determined not to go to university, but I did not expect to pass the exam,” the girl born in 1996 shared. However, after only a few months, the girl decided to drop out of school. The garden of Thao Nguyen is more than 7,000m2, planted with all kinds of different fruit trees. Having a passion for plants and gardening, after leaving school, Thao Nguyen and her parents planted more ornamental plants, flowers and vegetables in the garden. She also redesigned her garden in the direction of “going back to nature” and discussed with her parents the intention of inviting “strangers” to her garden to play. “The land is large, but only my parents, me and my younger brother live. Gardening is done by me and my father, so it can’t be done,” Thao Nguyen shared. She wants to invite others to work in the garden and harvest products. Guests will be free to eat and drink, while the owner has a companion when gardening. “I only choose female guests,” Thao Nguyen said. The selection of people to play will be “selected carefully” through the profile and the times the two sides talk to discuss topics related to planting trees and taking care of the garden. Guests and owners will have a month to contact and talk to each other. When it feels right to talk and feel that guests are sincere in coming to the garden, Thao Nguyen will receive the application and make an appointment for the two sides to meet. However, Thao Nguyen’s idea was opposed by her family. “My father said: “When you come to play, I take them to Da Lat city to tell me. Bringing a friend back and forcing you to garden for yourself is exploiting your labor,” Thao Nguyen recalls. There is no other way. otherwise, Thao Nguyen had to put her ideas aside. Thao Nguyen took a commemorative photo with an elderly guest who used to visit her garden. In 2020, Mr. Lac – Thao Nguyen’s father, just started letting his daughter invite strangers to his garden. Thao Nguyen posted information to find people in the provinces and cities to come to her garden to play and many people responded. “The garden is currently in the harvest season, so I want to find someone to visit, take care of the plants and harvest the products together. Every day, we will do gardening for 4 hours, including 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Gardening is sowing seeds, planting flowers, growing vegetables, watering plants, picking up trash, weeding, picking fruit… Thao Nguyen’s garden is located in the middle of Da Lat city, surrounded by a stream. The rest of the time we will cook together, walk around Da Lat. The garden will arrange accommodation and meals during your stay. If you want to wander around the restaurant and eat, I’m happy to share when eating with you. If you can take care of the garden for a month, the garden will be completely free of charge. If you only spend 1-2 weeks in the garden, the fee will be 200,000 VND/week,” she wrote. Reading about Thao Nguyen, a female friend in Hanoi asked to visit the garden for a week. After carefully reviewing the girl’s profile, Thao Nguyen agreed. The girl stayed for a week, worked in the garden, ate together and talked with the owner of the garden. Before leaving, the girl planted a green tree as a souvenir. Thao Nguyen promised, when the tree bears fruit, she will invite the girl to come and harvest. Ms. Pham My Ly (Hanoi) also registered to come to Thao Nguyen’s garden to stay for a week to practice being a farmer. “The days of gardening with Thao Nguyen, I feel very happy, comfortable and meaningful. In the morning, I go to the garden to pick vegetables and weeds. In the afternoon, I finish work early, I drive around Da Lat,” she wrote. on personal page. Recently, many people also registered to visit the garden, but Thao Nguyen did not agree, due to the complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic. “This season, the garden is in the process of harvesting avocados and durians… but due to the epidemic, we can’t invite everyone to come, I’m sorry,” 9X confessed. In addition to fruit trees, Thao Nguyen also grows chrysanthemums, roses, five-color, bougainvillea… The succulent berries that Thao Nguyen can grow. She also grows more vegetables and tubers to provide clean food for her family and visitors to the garden. Thao Nguyen said that gardening also has worries, expectations, joy and fatigue like other jobs. However, since starting gardening, she finds life meaningful because she takes care of plants and immerses herself in nature. Thao Nguyen also designed an area to make a fish pond, a place to relax for family and guests. The cat is lying comfortably under the fruit-bearing jackfruit tree. Stone lotus is grown in dried coconut shells. Among these, there are trees planted by guests as souvenirs. The girls came to garden with Thao Nguyen. Up to now, Thao Nguyen has welcomed more than 20 strangers to the garden to play. In the next time, she will design a garden according to the homestay model so that she can welcome many guests, especially families with small children. Thao Nguyen and the guest visit her garden. 9X said, up to now, she always feels that the choice of garden is done right and is becoming more and more meaningful. Watch more videos: Hanoi is strangely beautiful in the rice flower season, the red color dispels the cold of Ban Tu Anh Photo: Character provided

“Initially, I only planned to grow vegetables and flowers to have a place for my children to admire and play. Unexpectedly, a year later, I had a green vegetable garden on an area of ​​3m2 of the balcony”, Mr. Nguyen shared. shall. Without much experience and knowledge about farming, for the past year, Nguyen has had to tinker with, learn the characteristics, and how to take care of plants. “Growing vegetables on the balcony will be much more difficult than growing on the terrace, because of the narrow area, lack of sunlight and constant cleaning. Fortunately, my balcony faces east, so it receives sunlight from morning to noon. This makes an important contribution to good green vegetables,” Nguyen said. According to Mr. Nguyen, soil is also an important factor to help plants grow well. He chose a mixed soil consisting of coconut humus, bean residue, rice husk ash and mixed with cow manure and treated vermicompost to plant trees. To create a nutrient-rich soil substrate, Nguyen mixes soil and organic fertilizer at the ratio of 60% soil plus 20% processed cow dung and 20% treated vermicompost. After that, he incubated with lime and put it in a pot. Once a week, he fertilizes vegetables once a week. “When adding fertilizer, I mix soil and fertilizer equally, absolutely no chemical fertilizers. Sometimes, I mix coffee grounds, aloe vera sap when harvesting to make fertilizer.” electromechanical engineer shared. One very important thing to keep the tree healthy is to take care and water it regularly. “If the plant lacks water, it will die or if we over-water the plant, the roots will be waterlogged,” Nguyen said. He also installed an automatic watering system for peace of mind when away from home. In addition to scallions, Mr. Nguyen’s garden also has basil, lettuce, lemon basil, mint, perilla, spinach, spinach, broccoli, aloe vera… Growing vegetables on high-rise balconies will also be attacked by insects or pests. At first, his vegetable garden had a similar situation. To protect vegetables, Mr. Nguyen uses a biological product to irrigate the plants, since then, aphids, aphids, red spiders, rollers, and snails no longer appear. Nguyen at his vegetable garden. Green butterfly pea plant. To grow a variety of plants in a narrow space, Nguyen took advantage of shelves, pots, and plastic bottles. Next, he neatly arranged the planting pots to look both beautiful and grow many different types of plants. From the day he had a balcony garden, Mr. Nguyen took advantage of the morning and afternoon to water, check for pests and diseases as well as the nutritional status of vegetables. Every weekend, his children go out to the balcony to learn about plants and how to care for them, and harvest the fruits themselves. Watch more videos: Hanoi is strangely beautiful in the rice flower season, the red color dispels the cold of Ban Tu Anh Photo: Character provided