Gardening Again

My first experiment in gardening in Paradise was semi successful. Nearly everything sprouted, and we actually harvested some tomatos and cucumbers. The basil from a year ago is still alive and kicking. After the slugs ate my cucumber plants, and the cilantro never made it past 4 true leaves, I gave up. For a while. That was about 5 months ago. Last week I started gardening again. I just can't resist. There is something very satisfying about growing food.

Produce shipped from the mainland is ridiculously expensive and rather poor quality. The week boat ride drives up the cost, and doesn't do much for freshness. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables. Quincie and Carl especially love them. I love to cook with cilantro and in Utah it grew like a weed. It was easier to grow cilantro than grass in my front yard. It's pretty awesome when you mow the lawn and it smells like salsa.

It is a whole new ball game to garden in Hawaii. I thought it would be easy. It is exactly the opposite of the Utah climate. It is humid, warm, nearly always sunny. Sounds perfect! Gone were the days of freezing June nights and scorching August days! You can dig with a plastic shovel, rather than a jack hammer. Those points are as great as they sound, but they come at a cost. Living in Paradise is never free!

First off, there are slugs. They are big, fat, and very, very hungry. They ate an entire bed of fully mature cucumber plants in a few days. These plants were loaded with cucumbers, in various stages of growth. I thought all those prickly, itchy, fuzzy things on the stems and leaves were supposed to keep critters like slugs off. Guess not. By the time I figured out what was going on, they were dead. Such a sad, and useless death. Salt is the prescribed revenge. Apparently it makes them dissolve, just like water and the Wicked Witch.

Second, there is the soil. It is salty, and on our part of the island, mostly red dirt, which is full of too much iron. No need to eat red meat, just eat some home grown tomatoes to get your iron. If you can get them to grow. I have since learned to add a TON of potting soil to the dirt if you want to have much success. Growing in a container, filled with potting soil, is also a good idea. You can move it around, and out of the way of horrid things such as slugs.

Third, the temperature. Some things just don't grow right when it is ALWAYS between 70 - 80 degrees. Corn doesn't get too sweet if you don't break 90 for at least a week. Lettuce does so much better if the nights drop below 65. Tomatoes, also like the heat to ripen. I found that growing hybrid varieties that were specifically developed for Hawaii makes a big difference.

Fourth, the jungle. The things that grow well here, really, really grow well here. I am not kidding. In the year we have lived in this house a TREE has grown from nothing, to 7 or 8 feet tall. I did not plant this tree. Some other tree produced a seed that happened to blow into my yard, and it happened to sprout and grown. The trunk doesn't have much of a diameter, but it is 7 or 8 feet tall! In Utah that would be a miracle. Here, it is annoying, weed, that much be chopped down rather than pulled or whacked with a weed whacker.

I am now the happy gardener of cocktail tomatoes, Manoa lettuce, cucumbers, and some cilantro. The cilantro doesn't look so good, but I love it so much I am willing to keep trying until I achieve success. I have planted some mini bell pepper seeds, but no sprouts yet. Hopefully in a few weeks we will be eating home grown veggies again. Wish me luck with the slugs!