Hi all. I am glad I found your wonderful site. I have recently moved from the US to Jamaica and am planning a garden with my children. How do I figure out what plant zone I'm in here?
new to tropical gardening
Welcome,
As far as I can tell, I would use Florida zone 10B- Basically the tropics. I found some helpful sights.
http://www.my-island-jamaica.com/plants_and_animals_in_jamaica.html
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080519/lead/lead5.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica
http://www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk/gardens-to-visit-in-jamaica-c9013.html
Rj
This message was edited Jul 27, 2009 4:18 PM
Hi again reninja! I'm sure Randy is correct with the 10B...just be sure to check for microclimates within your gardening area...this is where fellow Jamaicans will be invaluable. We are looking forward to hearing more about Kingston, and seeing pics of where you live. Also, be sure to ask anything you'd like...we all love sharing info!
Yokwe,
Shari
Hows'it Reninja!
At 18 degrees North latitude, lowland areas would be in Zone 11, and upland areas in Zone 10. Very similar to Hawai'i. You can grow most anything that's Tropical!
Show us some photos of your area.
Aloha, Dave
Microclimates aside, there are difficulties with the zone system. What keeps Florida down is that it's subject to frequent freezes and the zone system is based on minimums. Jamaica doesn't get the freezes. Florida (southern) has a higher average temperature than Hawaii (lowland) but also gets much lower temperatures. Climate is quite a complex or intricate web we're caught up in. First port of call should be the locals, and once you've got that sorted then you're better placed to start experimenting.
welcome, Reninja!
i am quite new here myself, and have found that everyone on this forum is friendly and helpful. glad to have you join us!
any questions, feel free to ask.
westraad
Welcome, Reninja. You will learn lots here and find a bunch of new friends.
My new best plant friend is dragon fruit. They should be especially fun with children as if you get some cutting they will grow fast and give you flowers and fruit within two or three years.
Is it difficult to send plant cuttings to you there? They are also called pitaya and if you can't fins some there, send me a dmail and I'll send you some cutting when I go to San Diego in late August.
Lots of herbs love a hot climate. Basil and rosemary both do well where I am.
And MANGOES.
How old are your children? They will become fruititarians. And, of course, bananas.
Lots more, but that should get you started.
katiebear
Basil and rosemary grow very well in Mozambique as well, and mangoes is probably the most common fruit in the summer.
I never ate so many mangos in my life than when we were in The Gambia. We lived next to a vacant lot that had a Mango grove. We had wheel barrow after wheel barrow full...mango syrup, chutney, mango Jam....mango pepper sauce, mango for breakfast, mango for dessert. Then there are so many different types of them!
Mangos? I've got 557 trees of them. For which the Magpie Geese, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Collared Lorikeets, Northern Rosellas, Black Flying Foxes and Little Red Flying Foxes are very grateful. They eat the fruit and just leave me a deposit. ;O)
LOL...
I've seen how fond the farmers are of the Cockatoos there! I was laughing hysterically at the thought of the 400.00 plus dollars ea one grabs here as the farmers were dispatching them. 400, 800, 1200..I had to stop counting right away!
Here on Kwaj we have two camps...the Mango camp, and the Papaya camp. Seems like if someone really likes one they don't care for the other and vice versa. The produce section at the store is always filled with heated debate. Then you pop up with the trusty guava, and get blank stares! Ha Ha. My job is to keep peace. When one isn't available, I share recipies of the other, or show how that salsa is just as good with papaya... it's hilarious!
Yokwe,
Shari
I think they're all tastey diced up in a tropical fruit salad!
Shari, that might be true here too. Whilst I like both I far prefer Mango.
rjuddharrison, "... they're all tastey diced up in a tropical fruit salad"? What, the cockatoos? ;O)
Bad Aussie...bad!!!! LOL!!!
yep, Randy, I agree...add a little coconut and some macnuts and oh yum!!!
Yokwe,
Shari
Alright, just maybe my sick sense of humour. I was just picturing someone with feathers stuck in their throat and every time they coughed a yellow crest coming out of their mouth.
Do you know the bush recipie for cooking cockatoos? You put one large dressed cockatoo in a large billy of water with a few stones and season to taste. Bring to the boil then simmer until the stones are soft. Remove the cockatoo, throw it away and eat the stones.
Okay, I'll settle down now and behave myself.
LOL!!
how can you possibly think of eating cockatoos? i have a parrot similar to a cockatoo, and she definitly won't make a delicious salad!
just joking.
i agree, papayas, bananas, mangoes, and kiwi together make a delicious fruit salad. we as a family eat it very often.
westraad
Kiwi are very rare. If you wouldn't eat a Cockatoo, why would you eat a Kiwi?
At least with a Kiwi there's a long handle to hold it by while you're eating it, but with a Cockatoo it's too short and curled up to get a good grip. (Sorry, I did promise to behave.)
With the long hair-like feathers, I imagine the Kiwi are easy to pluck.
i mean't kiwi the fruit, not a bird!!! i didn't even know there was a bird called kiwi!
behave, tropicbreeze? yeah right! but its ok, i do like your sense of humor.
westraad
ROTFLOL!
I garnish the fruit salad with Cockatoo feathers...
Oh you people are decidely wicked! LOL!
Yokwe,
Shari
Here is something we don't see everyday, yet it happens right here in my neighborhood everyday, or I should say every evening.
The following is a short video of Mexican Free tailed bats exiting their colony from a bridge that goes over the Bayou in to the Heights, my neighborhood. I posted the video in my weekly Houston Chronicle Blog in the garden section called
Jungle Heights (my garden)
OH BATS!!!
http://www.chron.com/channel/houstongardening/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=rjudd&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3arjuddPost%3a17d4e3ae-cf88-44ae-b93f-da0ad1887f82
We get flying foxes in huge numbers here, the Black Flying Fox (Pteropus alecto) and the Little Red Flying Fox (Pteropus scapulatus). Colonies can get up to between 1 to 2 million individuals. They're a sight when they take off for a night of foraging, blackening the sky for a long time until they disperse. They have a wingspan over a metre. There's a lot of controversy when they take over towns since they're both protected species.
The photo is in Tindal when the flying foxes took over.
And this was one of the options to try and convince them to leave town.
Impressive!
I love flying foxes. Every evening when we lived in Banjul, The Gambia we would watch the flying foxes come out. They are pretty vocal! I actually rescued one once...they are a good looking animal.
Waaay coool, both of you! Thanks for the info and pics!
Yokwe,
Shari
Their stench is incredible, they're absolutely cute and when young bond quite well with people, are delicious eating, and are carriers of the deadly Lyssa virus which can be transmitted via a scratch or bite. A bit of everything there.
oh I know...I can't imagine what my Mom went through with my brother and I catching bats, whip scorpions, snakes, 3 foot monitor lizards...aah..a boys paradise!
Oh my goodness!!! I thank you all for your responses. I went away for a couple of days and decided to log in only to find that so many of you so graciously responded and also had some very funny and interesting things to say.