GARDENING
by Jack Hardy
Ready....Set....Hang on a moment. For the experienced gardener, now is
the time to get the vegetable garden started for the winter months. For
the less confident gardener, a few starts can be made from seed but it
is probably better to wait until Pine Woods Nursery gets its vegetable
sets in stock.
When it comes to a well-stocked nursery, I wonder sometimes if we Abaco
residents really appreciate how good Pine Woods is. I have often written
articles for The Tribune of Nassau recommending a certain product to deal
with a problem and have had letters back asking where the product could
be obtained. I don't know about Nassau, but on Abaco it's Pine Woods.
For the casual home vegetable gardener on Abaco, I would advise calling
Pine Woods and giving them your number to call back when they have a fresh
selection of vegetables. In a few hours you can have an instant vegetable
garden with all the hassle of germination and early problems overcome.
The vegetables I have seen on offer in previous years include just about
everything the home gardener will need: cabbage, tomatoes, peppers hot
and sweet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, cauliflower, onion sets
- even baby carrots on one occasion. Add to that a close to complete range
of culinary herbs and you might wonder why Pine Woods also sells seeds.
The vegetables and herbs often come with more than one plant to a pot.
You must divide the separate plants when that happens. Don't be frightened
that you have to be a brain surgeon or something - just wet the pot well
and pull the roots apart. Plants are tough and roots are the toughest part.
Plant each specimen individually. Sometimes you will get six or seven separate
parsley plants in one pot. When you separate them and set them out you'll
have all the parsley you can use for the next two years for a mere $2.50
or so. Especially if you choose Italian flat-leaf parsley.
There are jewels to be found in the Pine Woods herb selections. Two years
ago I bought a Mexican tarragon that is now many plants in my herb garden.
That same year I bought a chocolate mint plant that added an extra dimension
to the regular culinary uses of mint. Every person who owns a barbecue
grill should have a rosemary bush and, even though I have a large and established
rosemary bush, I bought a couple more from Pine Woods to ensure I always
have long boughs to nestle my meats on as I grill them. My Christmas present
to several people was a Pine Woods rosemary start. All my herbs came from
Pine Woods over the years because the plants that are normally annuals
reseed themselves so efficiently in our climate.
To winter residents I would say: Plant your favourite herbs where you want
them during this season. When you come back in future years they will either
be doing fine as perennials or have reseeded themselves as annuals. Pine
Woods will put themselves out of business unless we get new gardeners on
Abaco!
A bonus occurs later in the year when tomato, cabbage and sweet pepper
sets are offered at a dollar a dozen by Pine Woods. I hope they keep this
up because I know many people who rely on them for their complete winter
vegetable garden.