GARDENING

September 2000 Table of Contents

GARDENING
by Jack Hardy

It's that lovely time of year again for Abaco gardeners when we can think beyond mowing the grass, pruning the shrubs and picking the fruit and move on to thoughts of succulent tomatoes, crispy cabbages and enormous eggplants. Now is the time we can start to grow the vegetables we will eat on Christmas Day (and earlier).

To be honest, starting vegetables in September is several times trickier than waiting until half way through October when there is a significant change in the weather. If you are an inexperienced gardener, try to get a few major crops started but wait until late October or November before finishing off your seed packages.

The crops which benefit from an early start are peppers, eggplants, cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes. Most greens are better left until October when they will grow without stress. Really cool weather veggies like spinach and lettuce produce better when planted later - even in November. But we often have some atypical rainy, cloudy weather that lasts for a week and really boosts an early crop.

I sometimes feel like John the Baptist in the wilderness (anybody got a nice juicy in the middle, crispy on the outside locust?) when I cry out to Treasure Cay winter residents to get down to Pine Woods Nursery in Marsh Harbour and buy a carambola tree. They do not grow to any significant size - 15 feet with an upright canopy is average - so can fit into any Treasure Cay garden. All of my trees survived Hurricane Floyd, so they are hardy in that respect. Why carambola is perfect for Treasure Cay is that the main harvest is produced from Christmas through January. Also known as starfruit, carambola can be used as an in hand fruit or a constituent for salads, desserts, compotes and drinks. And pickles and relishes, I am reminded. An enormously versatile fruit, there is a September fruiting that rewards whoever is looking after your yard while you are away. You come down for the winter and you have your own crop all to yourself. They taste like ripe apples with tropical undertones. There are many different varieties but any that are carried by local nurseries will be sweet and succulent.

If you have citrus trees, fertilize them for the last time until next spring. Make sure you also include a minor nutrient spray because our soil is deficient in many of the micro elements. If you can afford the special chelated iron made for Florida citrus groves, go for it. Your citrus trees will leap into life.

Try to establish calladiums and bromeliads in shady areas and then forget about them. When next summer comes, you will be astonished by the beauty. All bulbs and rhizomes are best established now so they can root themselves in throughout our dry winter. Anytime you buy root ginger from the store for a recipe and only use part, bury the remainder about six inches deep and establish a ginger patch. The distinctive foliage of ginger is truly tropical and the bluish-white flowers are an ephemeral pleasure. Once your ginger patch is established, you can always dig up a hand for a special recipe.

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