GARDENING

November 1998 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

GARDENING
by Jack Hardy

Plant virtually anything now. Every vegetable that can be grown in The Bahamas in winter can be sown directly into the soil and will develop at its optimum. Now is the ideal time to sow spinach, garden peas and lettuce - those crops that do best during the coolest period of the year. Although tomatoes, peppers and eggplant could have been started several months ago, their greatest rate of growth occurs during the mid-season session.

All vegetables will benefit from soil amendments such as cow manure mixed with the soil but some crops - squashes and cucumbers - virtually demand it. Root crops are best planted before the shortest day of the year in December because they develop sweetness as the days grow shorter.

The most successful type of garden pea to grow here is, strangely enough, the snow pea. It bears profusely and benefits from frequent pickings. While you enjoy daily harvests of leaf spinach up until Easter, consider planting New Zealand spinach to take you beyond the leaf season and into summer. New Zealand spinach is vinous and has smaller leaves but does exceptionally well during warmer weather. Molucca spinach is a great cooking spinach, but don't plant it if you are a winter resident. You'll return to find that it has taken over a vast area, and if your villa neighbours don't like spinach you'll be in trouble. It will probably be growing over their roofs.

Broccoli is a great crop to grow because most varieties produce sprouts after the main head is cut. These sprouts can be picked for about two months and are a wonderful bonus, but check you seed packet to make sure you have a sprouter. Winter residents should bear in mind that heading cabbages cut just above the last leaves will produce another two or three small heads after the main crop. If, as you cut your main crop, you have a month or two left in your sojourn before returning north, this is a good consideration.

Again, if you are a winter resident, find out what bulbs and tubers are producing beautiful colour during your regular stay and plant some this year to enjoy next. Lots of callas and caladiums should fit the bill.

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