Starting a summer garden?
Here are some fundamental points to help along the way:
• Plant only as large a garden as you can easily maintain. Don’t overplant and become overwhelmed with the many garden chores — weeding, planting, pest control, soil preparation.
• Choose recommended varieties for the area. Midwest and Eastern United States seed catalogs, with pictures of giant tomatoes are fine, but those varieties are not necessarily adapted for our tropical climate. University of Hawaii CTAHR seed program develops and sells vegetable seeds suitable for the Hawaiian Islands; start with these varieties. Visit www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/.
• Consider locating the garden within easy walking distance to your house in order to carry tools there and eventually return with baskets of produce.
• Select a site that receives at least eight hours of full sun each day. Plant vegetables where they are not shaded by trees, walls or fences. Nearby trees and shrubs with roots reaching into the garden will compete with the vegetables for water and nutrients.
• For those with minimal space, grow crops that produce the maximum amount of food for the area available. You can harvest a lot of radishes, onions, lettuce, bok choy and tomatoes in a small plot. Plants such as pineapple, watermelon and pumpkin squash take up lots of space for what is harvested. In addition, consider planting vegetables that can be grown vertically instead of horizontally. Vining crops such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and pole beans can be trellised or staked to minimize ground space and increase garden productivity.
• Plant perennial vegetables such as rhubarb and asparagus to one side of the garden so they are not disturbed as you prepare the ground for subsequent annual crops.
• And finally, try succession planting. A crop such as indeterminate tomatoes can be harvested during a long period of time; one planting will last for many months. With other crops such as corn, beets and lettuce, the entire crop will mature at approximately the same time. Unless you want to eat all your corn in a short period of time, stagger the plantings at 2-3 week intervals, or more. Read more about growing vegetables at gardenguyhawaii.com.
I compost all of my kitchen waste, adding shredded paper. I was recently told the ink from the paper is carcinogenic and should not be used. What are your thoughts?
My first thought when people pass along information such as this, is that some type of research or statistics accompany the statement.
Here is my opinion concerning the newspaper ink.
It was in the 1970’s when the newspaper industry began switching from petroleum-based inks to soy-based inks. This does not mean the ink is now 100 percent soy derived. A big misconception is that all of the components of the soy ink are made from soy. Oil is only one component of ink. Other ingredients include pigments, resins and various additives.
Are some of these compounds carcinogens? It’s possible.
Let’s assume there are carcinogens in the ink. If large amounts of the ink in newspapers are eaten daily, for a long period of time, there is a chance of developing some chronic disorder. But the ink is not eaten; it is composted.
The inks along with the other components will breakdown.
Let’s further assume though that some molecules of the carcinogens are more resistant to biodegradation and stick around for a while. These molecules would then have to be absorbed by plants, and those plants consumed during a period of time in high quantities.
I guess this is all possible, but in my opinion, eating a regular diet of fast foods, high fructose corn syrup sodas and sugary cereals for breakfast along with other chemical-laden prepared foods are far greater risks than composted inks from newspapers.
Hilo resident Nick Sakovich is a professor emeritus of the University of California. He has worked in the field of agriculture for 30 years. Email your questions to Sakovich at askthegardenguy@earthlink.net. You also can visit his website at www.gardenguyhawaii.com.
