HAWAI'I'S GARDENS
Growing your own food offers value, beauty — and fun
By Heidi Bornhorst
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Q. My wife had a simple Christmas request: she wants me to grow her a pretty garden where she and the dog can hang out and have spices to clip, and things to cook and eat. Can you tell me some simple starters?
— A.E.S, Foster Village
A. Some of the simplest and most successful garden plants are:
Q. What can we grow in our gardens to eat and save money? Can it be pretty, too?
— K.S., Wahiawa
A. We love to eat in Hawai'i, and we can grow so much abundance in our gardens if we know what thrives best in our microclimates. We have so many kinds of weather, soil, sun, rain and wind in Hawai'i, though, so we need to understand some basic horticultural science and gardening wisdom so we can share the abundance and have some fun doing it.
I would love to hear back from you, faithful garden living readers, about what you like to grow in your area and some garden tips to share with fellow readers and gardening foodie gourmets. You can send me regular letters or e-mail to the Advertiser addresses below. I am the queen of teleprocrastinators, as friends and family will tell you, but my phone number is in the telephone book if you want to try that.
My akamai brother-in-law Larry and sister Mimi live in windy Hawai'i Kai. They are converting their yard for food production. The chain-link fence used to have a struggling pakalana and rather robust stephanotis, but now beans and Chinese peas grow on the fence. Mimi pointed out that kale costs $5 a bunch at the market, but back against the warm stone wall (somewhat sheltered from the wind, and warm soil from the stone wall), they added good compost to the soil and now produce three bunches of kale per week.
(Kale is also a great thing to buy at any of our local weekly farmers markets on all the islands) it is easy to cook in all kinds of recipes and very 'ono and nutritious. Kale also meets the aesthetic landscape design criteria; it's very pretty and striking in the garden.
Annie Moriyasu is great at farming in the clay soil in wet, rainy Maunawili (she learned from her tutu, Grandma Kokubun on Maui). She built raised beds, added rich recycled compost and laid strategic stepping stones to keep her dainty feet out of the mud. It makes harvesting her abundant arugula, purple choi sum, beets, tomatoes, snap peas and mesclun greens fun and easy, with lots to share. She set her garden against a warm hollow-tile wall and in the sun, as far away from the tall, alien weedy trees that are in the neighboring gulch.
We can all grow more food and have more fun and beauty in our gardens. Let's make it a keepable resolution for a fun, fine 2009!
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions to islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
