Gardening Year Round (Hilo: house, movies, garden)

[Balad1]

Originally Posted by Vaedrem

It does depend on where you are. I'm in the highlands of the big island, and because the weather is cooler and we're surrounded by lava and ohia, there aren't too many pests or diseases (no fruitflies, either) so most things grow pretty easily. The tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, kale, etc. do sometimes last for years, and when they don't, we just replant. There are two seasons pretty much; one, the 'winter' is when sugar snap peas, turnips, etc. will grow, and 'summer' is when more heat-loving plants will, but things like tomatoes and green beans come year round. But of course we can't grow durians or coconuts at this elevation, unfortunately.

I'm curious, what elevation are you and do you have to irrigate?

[Vaedrem]

Oh, we're at 3800 feet, and yes we do have to irrigate (from catchment) as it's generally quite dry here.

[cynmkolohe]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Indeterminate tomato plants will continue growing for several years.

Hotz - Do you grow a particular variety?

My cherry tomato plants did great last year...This year, I put a couple of small starts (from a friend, so I don't know what type) in the ground in the same place. One is doing well. The other two were knocked over by my cats, so I tossed them in the corner of the compost box.

Came back a few weeks later to discover that one of those is a few feet high and doing better than the one I planted under the eaves of the house! Since I'm not in Hilo much right now, I moved the finished compost out and decided to let the plant grow. I'm thinking I'll make this into a planter box for a while...it's behind the carport and out of the way, so a good place to experiment!

The compost box tomato <= My SO sent this pic from his cell phone while he was in Hilo this weekend.

[Sunandsalt]

The islands offer almost all of the climates on Earth, so growing is really an adventure wherever you are. I was on the Big Island and Maui, and as far as I'm concerned, you can grow anything on the BI with a little effort. The higher up the mountain, the cooler it gets and along with that go the crops that like cool weather. I know of apples fruiting up a-ways. Down at sea level you have all the tropical fruits you could imagine plus all the ones you have no idea exist, but when it comes to vegetables, you have to know what you're doing. Leafy greens are usually no problem if well-fed and allowed some shade, but fruit flies will definitely get your cucumbers, watermelons, and tomatoes, so a greenhouse is really key for success. Slugs can be dangerous on the Big Island as they can carry rat-lung disease, but chickens will take care of them as well as centipedes. Avocados are a perennial and fruit at different times of the year; it's very exciting to anticipate the next bountiful harvest! Coconuts are available all year round as well as papayas (which only take about 5-9 months to fruit from seed if well-fed!). Hawaii's so fun.

[Farmgirl108]

Hi Y'all ;o) Does anyone have some ideas on which leafy greens to grow in the heat of late summer on O'ahu? I have kale, chard, tat soi, mizuna, parsley, and bok choi, love to hear of ideas please!!!!

[KauaiHiker]

Other leafy greens: Okinawa spinach, and lately, my wife has been trying to grow edible trees: moringa, tree spinach, and edible hibiscus (not sure of the common name: not the red-leafed one, but a non-flowering tree-like one with hand-sized green leaves, related to okra, so a bit slimy).

[mokeanne]

has anyone looked into aquaponics? i've seen a couple of setups and talked to several ppl that do it. it seems really interesting.

the basic idea, as i understand it, is this:

you feed the fish => fish poop becomes fertalizer => pump circulates fish water to plants => water circulates back to fish

it's supposed to be totally organic because there's no chemical fertilizer. the up side is that you get to raise fish for food and the systems is totally enclosed. the down side as far as i've seen is the type of fish being raised for food, as most ppl use talapia. of course you have to use warm, fresh water fish, so this limits the types of fish you can use.

[MickeyE]

Check out GardenPool.org | How we turned an old backyard swimming pool into a self-sufficient garden in a desert city. for lots of good info on how it's done. They started with an old in-ground swimming pool, but you could do something similar with something like a catchment tank.

Mickey

[hotzcatz]

Some friends of mine have an aquaponic system in their backyard. They have to buy fish food for the system so it isn't "self sustaining" but it does grow a lot of vegetables and fish. They've had a few problems with various plant pests since they can't use any pesticides since that would kill the fish. They have some sort of fancy golden tilapia which are supposed to be a tasty variety, but they are still tilapia, IMHO. I think some aquaponic systems use catfish.

Farmgirl108, for summer greens, the red lettuces and the romaines as well as butter crunch do best in the heat. Once it cools off in October or so, then the winter lettuces of Manoa and migonette and the leaf lettuces can be grown.

We are doing "permaculture" with edible landscaping. Most of the trees in the yard are fruit trees and I'm getting ready to put in some sort of edible hedge. Maybe thornless blackberries since we are at 1,000 feet and might have good conditions for them. We will find out, I guess. There are a lot of flowers which are edible as well as decorative edible plants.

[Mahrie]

Afternoon all!

Wouldn't you know it, mere months prior to our move to Hawai'i, I discovered that I had developed diabetes type 2 - primarily due to consuming a vegan diet for 43 years. So, no fruit for me - and I miss it! My carb intake is <40grams per day and ten of those are taken up by drinking the nutritional equivalent of 9lbs of fresh veggies - without polluted soil or other chemical contamination. (I use a special blend of barley greens, spirulina, oat grass, chlorophyll and a few other good-for-you additives.)

The good news is that my blood glucose levels are perfect and I'm merely using diet, exercise, and supplementation. The balls of my feet and my toes were completely numb when I was diagnosed, and now, four-and-a-half months later, they're fully regenerated.

If I had listened to my MD, who, like most MDs, informed me that diabetes is a 'Degenerative condition,' I'd most likely have required either Metformin or insulin by now.

I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to study natural medicine as well as allopathic medicine in my youth.

I still miss fruit though - and gardening. Sigh....

Blessings,

Mahrie.