Here are some fundamental points to help along the way:
· Plant only as large a garden as you can easily maintain. Don’t over plant and become overwhelmed with the many garden chores: weeding, planting, pest control, soil preparation.
· Choose recommended varieties for your region. Midwest and Eastern US seed catalogs, with pictures of giant tomatoes are fine, but those varieties are not necessarily adapted for a tropical climate. University of Hawaii CTAHR seed program develops and sells vegetable seeds suitable for the Hawaiian Islands. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/
· Consider locating the garden within easy walking distance to your house in order to carry tools there and eventually return with baskets of produce.
· Select a site that receives at least 8 hours of full sun each day. Plant vegetables where they are not shaded by trees, walls or fences. Nearby trees and shrubs with roots reaching into the garden will compete with the vegetables for water and nutrients.
· For those with minimal space, grow crops that produce the maximum amount of food for the area available. You can harvest a lot of radishes, onions, lettuce, bok choy and tomatoes in a small plot. Plants like pineapple, watermelon and pumpkin squash take up lots of space for what is harvested. In addition, consider planting vegetables that can be grown vertically instead of horizontally. Vining crops such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and pole beans can be trellised or staked to minimize ground space and increase garden productivity.
· Plant perennial vegetables such as rhubarb and asparagus to one side of the garden so they are not disturbed as you prepare the ground for subsequent annual crops.
· And finally, try succession planting. A crop like indeterminate tomatoes can be harvested over a long period of time; one planting will last for many months. With other crops like corn, beets and lettuce, the entire crop will mature at approximately the same time. Unless you want to eat all your corn in a short period of time, stagger the plantings at 2-3 week intervals, or more. Read more about growing vegetables by clicking on the column on the right.
