Whether your new edible garden is a holiday gift, a New Year’s resolution or something you’ve wanted for a while, it is a good idea. Last week’s suggestions included starting small and simple, planning your plot and building healthy soil.
Growing lettuce and greens can get you in the groove without much trouble and with quick results. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange at southernexposure.com offers 80 different kinds of greens and 50 lettuce varieties that do well in warm climates. The Kitazawa Seed website at kitazawaseed.com carries interesting Asian greens.
Root vegetables can also be fairly quick and easy. If you have healthy, crumbly soil that is at least 8 inches deep, consider carrots, beets and turnips. Look for seeds for the bicolor Chioggia beet and the small, tasty Tokyo cross turnip. They offer greens and delicious roots for eating. For a quick-growing burst of flavor for salads, try radishes and green onions.
Root vegetables do best when seeded directly in the garden rather than in seed trays. Because their roots are the desirable product, you’ll want to disturb them as little as possible. Johnny’s Seeds has 79 root crops available at johnnyseeds.com; Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, at rareseeds.com, offers some wonderful heirloom varieties.
Most greens and root vegetables can be harvested in three months or less and replaced with new plants. Tropical greens like chaya and tree spinach are worth considering, though they can become large shrubs requiring some space.
Corn is another consideration if you have room to plant it in blocks of at least three rows of three plants each so it can properly pollinate. You can maximize the space by planting the three sisters with pole beans growing on the corn stalks and rambling squash vines beneath.
For smaller plots you can get some quick and tasty results by planting herbs. Check out the hundreds of herb seeds offered at richters.com.
In the tropics, plants like beans, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant can remain in place, producing through several seasons. Start with beans to help enrich your soil. Harvest a few rounds then cut the plant off at the root and shred it for mulch. Beans, and all legume family plants, collect nitrogen from the air and sequester it in their roots. This supplies their major nutrient needs and, when the plant is cut, releases nitrogen into the soil. A few pole or bush beans, some edible pod snap peas and some shelling peas will have you feasting in short order.
To ensure success with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and even okra, test your soil to be sure you are providing a nutritionally balanced medium for your plants. The University of Hawaii offers a simple test explained in this online publication: ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/AS-4.pdf. Local horticulturist Jana Bogs offers complete testing. See her description of the process at beyondorganicresearch.com/soil-testing.
Growing tomatoes at upper elevations is tricky. The plants and fruit are challenged during our rainy summers and though they do better in our hot, dry winters, they prefer longer days. The rambling cherry tomatoes that often volunteer are a better choice for tomato success.
Peppers of all kinds seem to do well in Kona at all elevations. For a huge assortment of hot and sweet pepper seeds go to peppergal.com. Healthy plants will produce lots of peppers to add flavor to a variety of dishes. The plants will produce year-round for several years before they decline.
Several squash varieties grow well here, though the pickle worm can attack softer varieties like zucchini. Kabocha, butternut or chayote squash should provide lots of food with less insect problems. The rambling vines of these tasty squashes need support and control. Consider them only if you have plenty of space.
Berry bushes are a wonderful addition to any garden with lots of space. Poha, gooseberry or Mysore raspberry need room to grow. Strawberries are a bit more manageable, and, at upper elevations, you may want to try growing blueberry bushes.
For maximum selection, seeds are the way to go, though several local nurseries carry interesting edibles and herbs if you’d rather start with seedlings. Whatever you choose to plant, remember that success is largely dependent on healthy soil. Healthy plants grown in healthy soil are less likely to attract insects or diseases. Build your soil, grow some food and eat fresh and healthy in 2013.
Tropical
gardening helpline
Silas asks: We just bought some property at a 2,500-foot elevation. We want to grow fruit and vegetables. What would you recommend?
Answer: At elevations over 2,000 feet in Hawaii, you have lots of interesting choices. Depending on the temperature range, you can grow some tropical, as well as subtropical and temperate zone plants.
You’ll have to experiment with plants like corn, peppers and tomatoes that prefer hot, somewhat dry climates, but cole crops like kale, mustards, cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli should do really well on your property.
Basic roots, such as beets, turnips and carrots, and some that prefer cool weather like rutabaga, parsnips and rhubarb should grow well. Onions will probably do well in summer when the days are longer as long as it’s not too wet.
Though you may be too high for bananas, avocados, papayas and mangoes, you could give them a try. Check with your neighbors to see what they are growing successfully. Tea, Camellia sinensis, and coffee might work well. Try them.
Your elevation and the cooler weather may mean you can grow tropical apricot and some apples. Tropical apricot, Dovyalis hebecarpa, is available locally as are the low-chill Anna and Dorsett Golden apples.
You also might want to try a few temperate apple varieties that would do well in our long growing season. Examples are Pink Lady, Lady Williams, Sundowner and Granny Smith. They may be harder to find locally, but could probably be ordered bare root, online. Also, recent experiments with blueberries have shown good results at elevations similar to yours.
Greens and lettuces prefer the cooler temperatures your location can offer. Select hardy lettuces rather than tender varieties since they are less likely to rot in rainy weather. Arugula, mizuna, tatsoi and chard will likely thrive at 2,500 feet as long as your soil is healthy with a pH balance around 6.5.
Sometimes higher elevations have very acidic soil, even below pH 5. This makes some of the nutrients your plants need inaccessible. Simple pH soil test kits are available at many garden stores. To learn about the effects of pH on your plants, see chapter 10 in “Plant Nutrient Management for Hawaiian Soils” at ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/pnm10.pdf.
Territorial Seed Co., at territorialseed.com, is located near Eugene, Ore., and specializes in crops for the Pacific Northwest, a climate similar to yours.
You may also want to get on the mailing list for the Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers. Contact Ken Love at ken@mycoffee.net to get notices of upcoming meetings.
Email plant questions to konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu for answers by certified master gardeners. Some questions will be chosen for inclusion in this column.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant with an organic farm in Captain Cook.
