Cooking and gardening

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I've had a rough time with the soil here. It's rocky, dense, and lacking the nutrients to get my plants going. I'm out East, and I'm sure the soil near Frederiksted is much different but I haven't had too much luck.

I have a small square of land that I chopped up with a shovel before mixing bulk soil from GBH and throwing out large rocks. I've successfully grown tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. I think it's almost less trouble to just keep them potted rather than trying to get a raised bed going.

Lemons and lime trees do very well in full sun as well as any herb in a pot. I also heard that before Omar, papaya didn't have a huge presence on island, but now it's flourishing since Omar reach!

I'm out East too and I can't grow cucumbers. Aphids or something eats all the leaves. Inceticide oil and soap seemed like salad dressing for the bugs. I grow cherry tomatoes and they are great.

I'm out East too and I can't grow cucumbers. Aphids or something eats all the leaves. Inceticide oil and soap seemed like salad dressing for the bugs. I grow cherry tomatoes and they are great.

Definately start you a compost pile with all you kitchen scraps. It will take about 30 days to compost but it will do wonders for the soil here.

Bombi, most likely small caterpillars are munching your cucumbers. They especially attack the growing tips then multiply and then consume the leaves. You will be able to grow cucs fine out East IF you spray for them. I use an organic product called Dipel which contains a living bacteria (biological control). There are other brand names, but you are looking for a powder with BT listed. It stands for Bacillius Thuringensis (sp?). They most likely carry something with BT at Gallows Bay or Cruzan gardens. If I want to harvest cucumbers I HAVE to spray for the little caterpillars. I would suggest spraying once/week and then increase to 2x weekly if you see the pests at the cuc tips, or if the rains come and wash it off. Aphids and other pests are rare on the cucumbers here. Good luck!

The most challenging part of gardening here, for me, is battling the bugs ... HOLY COW! I moved here from Oregon 8 years ago and was so happy to be able to plant stuff year-round and not have to buy new plants and flowers and start over every 3 months ... the growing season in Oregon is very short. I was in heaven knowing I could buy flowers and not have to bring them in during the winter (I never did that, let them freeze and bought new ones every year, my Mom in Oregon still brings her lemon tree inside during the winter) ... I love this place. Then I decided to plant a garden here ... different story. The soil here is coral/calichi (sp) where I live, and not conducive to much of what I wanted to plant, so I started the garden in planters. All went well in the beginning, and then the bugs and snails moved in. It was amazing to me how quickly the plants were healthy and almost overnite they were munched away to stems and sticks. I discovered snails eating stuff, so I really overdid it with snail bait ..which I regret, one of our cats is now blind in one eye and I'm almost certain it's because I overdid the snail poison ... I've stopped doing that and feel guilty every time I look him in the good eye.

Then, I discovered big, fat, creepy tomato worms on the tomatoes. They were huge and can take out a tomato plant in the blink of an eye. They were big enough that I felt like I'd be killing an animal, so I picked them off (gloves and a shovel) and threw them over the wall. Later I researched and discovered they evolve into what's known as a hummingbird/sphinx moth ... they're amazing to see. It flys and hovers just like a hummingbird, but it's a moth that is mostly nocturnal and visits during the evening ... so amazing to see. We had one that accidentally came into our house at night (we have our doors open, revolving door for the dogs) following the light. I caught it with my butterfly net (previously used to catch a small sick kitten) and released it outside. If you've ever seen what looks like a hummingbird at night, that's what it is.I digress!

During this past year I've grown radishes, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, melons (canteloupe, honeydew and another variety) miniature eggplant, basil and other spices. It's a challenge ... the bugs here are relentless. I use insecticidal soap, and have recently started using Captain Jack's deadbug brew, which is "organic". It's still a constant battle, but for me it's worth it ... I really love having fresh veggies from the garden. The tomatoes had a tough year battling the heat this summer; less-than-cherry-tomatoes (our pups eat those) grow regardless of the weather conditions and come up from seed everywhere (love that), all the other tomatoes dropped their blooms, but they're growing now ... they need cool nights.

So, growing a garden can be done, but the challenges are different here ... at least from Oregon! 😀

If you have questions, I'd be happy answer them.

Happy Gardening!
~Jill~

Aqua thanks so much. I'll try again. Is the BT considered organic?

yes, it's not a chemical at all, it's a living organism. And there is 0 day withdrawl for human use, meaning you can spray one day and harvest that day to eat or sell.

right on(tu)