Gardening Tips

The ideal amount of sunlight for growing your garden.

In the Caribbean there are two seasons, from the month of January to June is the dry season and from July to December is the rainy season. As a result of this during the dry season the temperature is very humid, so as a gardener you must understand which plants grow better in high, medium or low sunlight. Here are list of various plants you maybe interested in growing at the ideal temperature.

Gardening Tips

 Garden Upcycling

You have all these ideas, but never enough money to make them come true. Have you thought of other ways of putting those projects together with materials that might not cost as much and can be upgraded for a fraction of the cost?

Due to the limited amount of yard space, you can start your kitchen garden using the remainder of concrete blocks, old pieces of wood, used construction buckets, short lengths of   four-inch pvc pipes and other materials from past home renovation and construction projects in your neighbourhood. Contact a neighbour or a friend and you will be surprised to see the amount of left over materials they have in their possession for disposal, which you can utilized to make your gardening projects a reality.  These materials when combined, can help you create awesome projects at home without spending a ton of money. In fact, I have just used some scraps of two by four wood which was taken from the framing of my roof to start my raised garden beds on the side of my home.

How to layer your raised bed for your garden

You can use cardboard, mulch or soil to the base to keep root out your garden beds

Sustainable Gardening

Happy chadon beni planting

A herb with a strong pungent scent and flavor that is used extensively in Caribbean cooking, more so “Trini” cooking, especially when making an assortment of chows, chutney and condiments to flavor foods.

Chadon beni/shadow beni is a member of the Apiaceae family. The name chadon beni is said to originate from French patois meaning “blessed herb”. It is rich in calcium, carotene, iron, riboflavin, vitamin A, B1 and 2 and C. It is considered a cure-all.

The scientific name for the herb is ‘Eryngium foetidum’ but in Trinidad and Tobago the popular “market” names for chadon beni are culantro or bhandhania. Research indicates that the leaves and roots are used in teas as an aphrodisiac/sexual enhancer. It is also used to stimulate the appetite, improve digestion, combat colic, soothe stomach pains, eliminate gases, as an anti-inflammatory, for chills, fainting, colds and convulsions in children.   A tea of the leaves and roots may treat pneumonia, flu, fever, vomiting, diabetes, constipation and malaria fever. The root may be chewed to combat the poison from scorpion stings. Further research specifies that it can calm a person’s spirit, making it famous for prevention of epileptic fits (seizures). Thus, the name spirit weed or fit weed. 

How to plant Chadon beni

Seasoning herbs are noted for their tolerance to shade and can be grown as companion crops with other crops especially those susceptible to insect attack. Cahdon beni can be grown using both seed, young plant and base plant. When planting using seeds space out every 15cm x 15 cm. If using the base of the plant, remove the flower stalk and 2/3 of each leaf from the plant before planting. Every week, lightly till the soil around the plant. This allows more water to reach the roots. When harvesting the leaves, it can be trimmed from the main stem about 2/3 off each leaf.