Growing Season
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 01/Dec/2010 13:10, 34 days ago
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My Monday morning sewing group is an endless source of interesting information. Each week the topic of conversation is different. Quite recently we had a blue moon, and France and I enjoyed an evening of yoga watching the moon move across the sky as we stiffly attempted our yoga poses on the lawn of the outdoor yoga centre.Above is the entrance to the yoga centre, it even has a fish pond tucked away on the lefthand side.The blue moon led the conversation at sewing to when to plant root vegetables. The interesting thing about living in the tropics is that there is no set planting season because everything can grow all year round. In eastern Canada, the general rule of thumb is never plant anything before the 24th of May to avoid frost kill. We did notice that the farmers planted their corn a week or two earlier in the Ottawa region, but they were obviously watching the weather carefully if not following the Farmer's Almanac. In Jamaica you can plant vegetables any day of the year - it's all the same - so you can have a vegetable garden that is staggered to produce calalloo, for example, continually all year round. The rainy season did seem to affect the availability of some produce. We noticed a huge decrease in harvesting during the rainy season. Local vegetables were difficult to get and not much is imported so the supermarket shelves were actually empty. There were several weeks when I couldn't buy potatoes, potatoes or garlic.According to the ladies at the sewing class, flowers and vegetables that grow above the ground, like lettuce, are planted just before the full moon, when it's waxing, while root vegetables are best planted after, when the moon in waning. This promotes faster growth.I'm not sure what's going on with my basil and chives. They seemed to have died away naturally in their pots so I am guessing I have to replant. My mint on the otherhand is prolific - so I have lots of mint tea.Photos courtesy of Afyahttp://afyajamaica.com/index.html
