Thursday, May 7, 2009

Gardening in Hawaii

One of my sources is the book "Growing Vegetables in Hawaii". It has given me some good tips of gardening, but it relates to my project because it specifies on Hawaii. This way, I can apply what I have learned in this book to my work.

The first section is on soil and fertilizers. If the soil lies on top of pahoehoe lava, there will be no drainage for the water. Whereas, if the soil lies on top of a'a, the water will have lots of space to drain. Remains of dead plants and animals are important parts of a soil's make up. When you water plants, the water distributes the nutrients, the soil becomes moist, and it retains these nutrients to last longer. Plants mainly need nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, salt, and calcium. These nutrients help with the growing of leaves, fruit production and healthy roots, and stem growth. Organic fertilizers are most important as well.

Some facts are based on things you need to consider when planting gardens in Hawaii. For example, humidity causes some problems to plants known to drier climates. Soil here is more acidic because of the volcanoes. The author recommends buying seeds or seedlings from local nurseries because they have plants that do well in Hawaii.(there is a list of local nurseries in the back).

From the list of vegetables included in this book, green onions and beans match up with my list. The author recommends to plant beans all year round, since Hawaii's climate doesnt change much. Green onions can be planted year round also.

This book has also provided me with some recipes for after growing the plants. I feel that because i have chosen herbs from this book, they have a good chance of growing well, and being successful.



sources: Growing Vegetables in Hawai'i=Kathy Oshiro

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