I have written several posts in the past about
our edible garden... how we started it, how it changed through the years and the
challenges of getting it back into shape after wild pigs decided to turn it into
their own private buffet.
It
has been very discouraging, to say the least, starting over several times,
almost from scratch....but we love to garden...we love to grow edibles...and we
love to cook and eat them...so....we're back to growing edibles!
An
edible garden takes care and time. You can decide what to plant, but the
location and conditions will decide what will grow. Through the years we've
been finding out what will grow best for us, and mostly sticking to that, but we
also try to experiment from time to time to see what else will grow.
Since
the original garden has been raided by wild pigs several times we decided to
start our new edible garden in the areas right in front of our cottage and at
the end of the driveway which is on the opposite side of the house from the
original garden, and closer to the kitchen. All these areas were mostly
originally landscaped with ornamentals. We now call them Areas 1, 2, 3 and 4 -
original, eh?
If you click on the photos, they will appear large...
Area
1 - The pig trough and concrete block bed
Last
year we bought a 10 x 2 foot long pig trough with the idea of starting an
aquaponic garden. After my son became ill that plan was scrapped.
Instead,
this year, we put a thick layer of volcanic cinders in bottom of the
trough, filled it with very rich planting soil and chicken poop fertilizer then
planted with an assortment of stuff; some from seed and some from seedlings and
small plants. The kale, bok choy, spinach, mezclum and mizuna were grown from
seed; the two tomatoes, several varieties of chives, lemon balm, variegated
sage, marigolds and 'spicy' oregano from small plants.
Through
the years we've tried different varieties of tomatoes but due to the amount of
rain in our area, we seem to be able to grow only the cocktail, grape, cherry
and currant tomato varieties. Sometimes we manage to get some Romas going,
but haven't planted any this time.
After a small harvest, we ended up having to pull the kale, bok choy, mesclum and mizuna as they were covered with the worst infestation of aphids we have ever seen..we treated the soil with an organic spray.
After a small harvest, we ended up having to pull the kale, bok choy, mesclum and mizuna as they were covered with the worst infestation of aphids we have ever seen..we treated the soil with an organic spray.
The
spinach in the trough is doing fantastic - we've been harvesting enough leaves
from our tiny little "plot" to make either a salad or to sauté some for the two
of us every 3 to 5 days.
Right
by the trough we added a concrete block enclosed raised bed. I deliverately
bought the larger blocks with the larger holes and we planted inside the holes
also. In the holes we planted nasturtiums, flat leaf parsley and are
experimenting with bok choy to see what happens. Inside the 'bed' which is
covered in black gardening plastic to discourage weeds, we have several large
planter tubs with 2 varieties of currant tomatoes (Hawaiian and Gold Rush), a
yellow pear tomato plant and another given to us which I'm not sure of the
variety. We will be adding more tubs with other plants in here.
I
moved some of the stuff in the trough to other areas of the garden to make room
for more spinach. The larger tomato in the cage is growing like gangbusters..we
call it our 'monster tomato' and has produced several nice sized ones..first
time we've had that size tomatoes that haven't split! So I will leave it where
it is as it seems to love it there.
We
found a volunteer geranium coming up in that trough - no idea where it came from
as the other geranium we have has different leaves. It was moved to the new
Area 4.
Area 2 - In front of our front lanai aka 'the lower 40'
A
couple of months ago we started digging some of the ornamentals out and moving
them to other areas of the property, and little by little, started filling in
with edibles. So far 4 banana plants (3 varieties of dwarf bananas) and 2
varieties of papayas, a few corn plants with beans climbing on the stalks and
yellow squash as ground cover plus a few other things have been planted in the
former 'ornamental bed' right in front of our lanai.
We
planted the corn in the old Indian custom of the "trinity' or 'three
sisters'...corn, squash and beans. The corn is about 5 feet tall now, has
tasseled and we have about 10 ears that are plumping up nicely and the squash
planted below are doing great...if this is successful, it will be the first time
we've been able to grow squash...we will not let them get very big as we like it
young and tender - these are the yellow crooked neck. The beans seem to be alive
but after giving us a little handful of beans it has stopped producing, although
I see blooms starting again..
We planted a few leaf lettuce
plants and a Malabar lettuce that are doing great in a basin in this area...and
where we removed all the ornamental plants, we've planted some Thai basil given
to us by a friend, which will grow fairly large and serve as a backdrop and
hopefully bring lots of bees to the garden. We've also put our old park bench
in here and transplanted a few volunteer stick oregano plants, some variegated
Cuban oregano which will creep all over underneath the bench and several bush
beans are coming up now. A pineapple sage I planted here apparently was eaten
by something. Will try again, as I love to use the little red blossoms in
salads and love the smell of the leaves.
You can really see the difference in the collage above - the jungle before and after clearing...the seedlings you see coming up in the middle of the bed above are the radishes.
Area
3- end of the driveway/kitchen side of cottage
This
area was way overgrown with a riot of ornamental gingers and ferns which were
hard to keep clean; all of that was cleared out. In here we also have a Meyer
lemon and a Mexican lime tree we planted several years ago. The Meyer has been
consistently providing huge and juicy lemons. The Mexican lime bloomed for the
first time this year, but we don't see any fruit developing.
We
also have a cacao tree at the far back of this area and a huge stick oregano
bush at the front. Unfortunately, one of our yard helpers in the past decided
to trim the cacao and cut all of the lower branches and left just a tall trunk
with a topknot of leaves. We ended up cutting it lower and now have several
keiki (baby) plants shooting up from the original root base. We also had a teak
tree which we had to cut down as it was too close to the house. This has given
us a lot more room for planting.
My
son just planted 12 more corn seeds and some Kabocha squash seeds a few days ago
in the back part of this area, closer to the cacao. Today when checking, we
found more than half have sprouted and the Kabochas are already about 2 inches
high. Between the cacao tree and the corn we built another concrete block
raised bed.
In
this bed we planted beets, French Breakfast radishes and snow peas. I also
relocated two variegated sage plants and several different chives which were all
planted into the concrete block holes. Today we planted bunching onions in some
of the other block holes. Still have 4 more holes in which I think I will plant
creeping marjoram.
In two of the above shots you can see the front of our cottage faces the back of the cabin that sits nearby. We added about two feet of space all around to the existing bed - and roughly 2 1/2 in front of the pole in the middle.
Area
4 - Behind the cabin
Yesterday
we cleared out some plants and widened by about 2 feet an area that sits between
our cottage and the back of the cabin that faces it in front of us. There were
many ti plants, both green and red, plus several gingers, varieties of croton
and a few other things in there. We now have 4 dwarf banana plants there and I
moved several things from the trough into this new bed, plus some Cuban oregano
stems given to me by our friend Cathy (from an original plant that was in our
Inn, way back when!) and which I had rooted in water. While pulling weeds in
this area - which we call Area 4 - I found some volunteer bitter melon vines and
one little citrus plant coming up, so we left them.
Today
we planted a few more corn seeds, some okra and several different kinds of
sunflowers in this bed. I also transplanted a sweet basil I had growing in a
pot and a marigold that was completely hidden by the 'monster tomato' plant in
the trough. We will be planting some peppers and eggplants in there by the end
of the week.
Original
garden site - no photo yet
In
the area where we had the original garden, we still have some Cuban reds bananas
and a couple of dwarf banana trees and lots of pineapple plants plus two Surinam
cherry trees We also have a huge pigeon pea "tree". In the rest of this space,
we will be relocating some citrus trees we've had in pots and possibly the fig
tree, which is also still in a pot.
Instead
of a lot in one area at one time, we will be rotating some of the "crops", since
our space is small. We don't expect to feed the village, but mostly just to
supplement our weekly market runs. Some things will still be less expensive
and easier to buy at the farmers market, but it is fun to grow some of your own
food.
To
read about our past gardening adventures:
How Does my
Garden Grow - Latest update
