The Tribune

By GARDENER JACK

November is the month when many Bahamian gardeners start their vegetable gardens, disdaining the hot sun of September and early October. They certainly made the right decision this year as Hurricane Sandy took out all my early tomatoes and peppers. There will be no Christmas tomatoes this year.

Although the first crop of tomatoes has gone there is still enough time in the growing season – up to June – to raise four or five more. The secret is to keep the next crop coming – and the one after that – while waiting for green tomatoes to change colour in the original sowing.

Successive sowing demands a little discipline. By about the time the first tomatoes are flowering, the seeds of the replacement crop should be in the ground. You will find the second replacement crop will be under way before you have even sampled a tomato for the year. This mean, however, there will be no shortages during the growing season, that ripe tomatoes will be available for months on end.

Other crops have different schedules but the rule of thumb is to have replacement seeds in the ground at around the halfway point to maturity of the original crop.

Peppers do not have to be sown successively as they will produce fruits throughout the season. It should be noted that the fruits of sweet peppers tend to get smaller as time passes and you may wish to sow another crop in order to have the early giants available. Eggplants should be replaced every two months or so.

Cool weather crops such as lettuce, spinach and garden peas should be sown successively with only two to three weeks between sowings because they will really only be productive up until about Easter time. Warm weather causes lettuce to bolt to seed early and become bitter.

Broccoli usually produces florets once the main head has been cut and these can grow for up to two months, so allow for this second phase of productivity. I would suggest three or four crops of broccoli sown six weeks apart.

Cabbages can be sown monthly. If you have too many mature plants at any stage you can trim the roots using a sharp spade or machete and this will slow down the absorption of water and reduce the risk of the heads splitting.

Insect activity tends to decrease as the temperature cools but there is still a need to deter these predators. The best and cheapest means is to spray vegetable crops with a mild soap solution. Liquid soap is popular and the easiest to deal with. Add liquid soap to your hose-end applicator until it is about a quarter to one-third full, then top up with water. The resultant soap solution will provide enough protection for a large area of your garden.

Some gardeners tell me they use dish washing liquid instead of soap. The prime purpose of dish washing liquid is to cut grease and I feel it may be too harsh for some plants. The virtue of using soap as a deterrent is its stickiness on the leaves of the plants. Imagine soaping and then not rinsing off. That is how our plants feel and that sticky film protects against insects. It does not kill them but it makes plants a hostile environment. The Achilles heel of most plants is the underside of the leaves. Try while spraying to wet this area.

November is a good time to do some judicious pruning. Annonas (soursop and sugar apple, etc.) can be trimmed and flowering shrubs that are getting too aggressive can be brought to heel. Check out your citrus for any dead twigs and also water shoots, healthy looking branches that grow upwards instead of outwards, and any growth appearing below the grafting point.

Another good reason for starting a garden in November is that we are now on Eastern Standard Time and have earlier morning light. This extra hour is a godsend to gardeners and allows us to potter in our gardens before heading off to work.

• j.hardy@coralwave.com