What plants to grow here?

Nate808 8/11/2011, 9:16 pm

Hello,

Just got the book and I'm looking to begin a SFG as a fun project for me and my son in the near future.

What are some easy to grow edibles that will work well in Hawaii. Green leafy types would be preferable but any tasty suggestions welcome. I live in the Pearl City area and was told we get a lot of sun.

Thanks,

Nate

**Furbalsmom** 8/13/2011, 3:34 pm

Nate,

Glad to have another new member join us. Unfortunately, we don't have a very active group in Hawaii but I did find a link to the University of Hawaii Extension Service with information on tropical veggies.

TROPICAL VEGGIES<<Click there!

Perhaps you will be able to search their website further and get more information specific to your area in Pearl City.

We can assist you in the method of Square Foot Gardening, but when it comes to the most successful varieties for your region, we may not be able to provide as much helpful info as we would like.

Hopefully a member from your region will be able to jump in and provide you with other resources.

We are happy to have you and hope you will keep us updated on your progress. We also LOVE pictures and hope you will share yours with us.

Again, Welcome!

BackyardBirdGardner 8/13/2011, 4:03 pm

Welcome aboard! I think it's great to get another player from Hawaii on the forum. We will likely be learning from you as much as you learn from us.

I wish I could help more with types of plants to grow, but I don't know much about your climatology. I imagine lots of melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, etc, would do well. But, I wonder if you can't also get some of the slower bolting lettuces to grow there, too.

How cool does it get in the "off season?" I imagine that's a bad question because you likely deal more in wet/dry season than summer/winter. Glad you have you here.

Nate808 8/15/2011, 3:56 pm

Thanks for the link and welcome! I did go to the local extension (not sure if that's the right word) and they were very helpful and actually recommended the SFG book. The farming done there is the more conventional type. Maybe I'll go back and ask more questions now that I've read the book and see if the recommendations change for square foot gardening.

BBG,

It doesn't cool off much here and that is another thing to ask the people at the local extension about. The SFG book frequently addresses the time of the year or season when deciding what to plant and when. I am not sure how this works here where we have the same weather for most of the year.

**camprn** 8/15/2011, 7:19 pm

Nate808 wrote:Thanks for the link and welcome! I did go to the local extension (not sure if that's the right word) and they were very helpful and actually recommended the SFG book.

WOW! That's a first and FANTASTIC news!!! So good to hear you are getting some good help at your Extension Ag office!!

No_Such_Reality 8/15/2011, 7:39 pm

Amazon is your friend or maybe the local book store.

Try "Growing Vegetables in Hawai'i: A How-to Guide for the Gardener " I haven't read it, but 5 stars on 5 reviews, not to bad.

Hawaii's climate is similar to SoCal in the wet/dry aspects and no frost. Are you at elevation or in the valley bottom?

In SoCal, the best two books I've found are "Pat Welsh's Southern California Organic Gardening (3rd Edition): Month by Month" and "52 Weeks in the California Garden"

We're a bit bizarre, and you'll be too compared to the people on the forum in more temperate climates. Some things we plant year round. Others we plant when they would be harvesting and we can do 2, 3 or even 4 crop rotations a year. It's August, I'm pushing the envelope, but I did a late season 2nd melon planting. Lettuce will go back in about 2 months. Carrots, whenever I free a spot.

Chopper 8/16/2011, 12:39 am

I would think you could grow any veggies that are good for summer everywhere else. Your limitations are likely those that bolt when they get too much heat like cilantro and lettuce. All the brasiccas (sp?) are cool weather crops too, so they might be tougher to grow. But you can try and see what works and what doesn't.

I am sure there are local Hawaiian vegetables that would be worth finding out their requirements too. But believe me. We are all already jealous that you can grow tomatoes year 'round.

Nate808 8/16/2011, 9:59 pm

Thanks for the replies. I'll go check out the local used book store for those books. I got the SFG book from Amazon but I scored the Lasagna Gardening book used.

The gardener at the local extension did mention lettuce was probably going to require some shade netting because of the sun. Maybe I'll start with some green onions and chili peppers. I've been told "anyone" can grow those. Ha! We shall see.

Chopper -- On the other hand I haven't seen snow since 1996! I enjoyed the changing seasons. But I admit frozen water outdoors for weeks on end took some getting used to.

Nate

OahuSFG 8/31/2011, 8:34 pm

Hi Nate, welcome!

Here's a list of what I grew in my SFG in Ewa.

Manoa lettuce (Seeds are 1.00 at the Urban Garden Center from UH Manoa)

Red Leaf Lettuce

Baby Romaine

Red Romaine

Roma tomatoes

Corn

Long beans

Lima Beans

Basil

Green Onions

Rosemary

Cillantro

Creeping Thyme

Wooly Thyme

Asparagus

Pakalanas

Jade plant

Crown of Thorns

Strawberries (didn't do too well)

I may have left some out.

Happy SFG-ing!

P.S. The Halawa Xeriscape Garden has free compost avaiable every Saturday.

lynnmo 11/26/2011, 10:48 pm

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the SFG forum but I have been vegetable gardening in Honolulu for about a year now. I live near the airport and have been able to grow the following items:
Manoa lettuce, bell peppers, cherry and regular tomatoes, basil, malabar spinach, snow peas, pole and bush beans, choy sum, baby pak choy, carrots, beets, green onion, cucumber, chives, eggplant.

I have learned from my own errors that we do have seasons. Lettuce, choy sum, peas and beets do well in fall and spring. tomatoes and eggplant can be grown year round.

pomaikai 12/4/2011, 6:52 pm

Lynnmo and Nate808!

I asked gardeners the same question here in Maui when I started plans for moving here. The short answer is "Everything!" but there really are seasonal differences, with many very akamai [smart] bloggers who have posted excellent guides for a wide variety of veggies and fruits. My own experiences have been great, as a part-time gardener, but I just relocated for good, so my garden will be more intensively planted. You can learn a great deal from "A Kitchen Garden in Kihei Maui", "Dirty Fingernails 808", "Gardening in Paradise", "Ocean Gardener", "Edible Hawaiian Islands the blog", and several more that I'm not recalling just now. I made great use of Mel's SFG for many years in So Cal, and it works even better in Maui! It may sound weird to start your green beans now, for instance, but it really works! Best wishes for great gardens!

Komanui 2/3/2012, 7:06 pm

Aloha -

I'm trying to find starter plants, preferably organic. I've gone to Lowe's (not much sucess), Home Depot (some success), Koolau Farmers (some success) and North Shore Organic (no success).

I'm especially looking for salad things like Nalo Greens and other greens I can harvest into salads. I'm already growing Manoa lettuce, Simpson lettuce, spinach, Meslun, malabar spinach, arugula and spices.

I am aware of the seed resources previously posted, but am looking for small starters instead.

If there are no Nalo Greens starters, does anyone know where I can get seeds?

Mahalo !!
Komanui

**walshevak** 2/3/2012, 7:49 pm

I had to look up Nalo greens, This is what I found.

Nalo, I am told is just a short name for Waimanalo. So what the heck is a Nalo Green? Pakalolo? No, apparently it is a name for a special mix of greens produced by Nalo Farms and includes: Lolla Rossa, Redina, Green Oak Leaf, Red Oak Leaf, Red Romaine and Little Green Romaine lettuces, Roguette Arugula, Tat Soi, Red Mustard, Kyona Mizuna, Curly Cress, Bull's Blood Beet Leaves, Red Russina Kale, French Sorrel and Chervil.

You might contact the Nalo Farms and ask if they have the seed mix for sale.

Nalo Farms

41-574 Makakalo St
Waimanalo, HI 96795

(808) 259-7698

Kay

**walshevak** 2/3/2012, 8:23 pm

I also found this online as a different version of Nalo Greens.

http://sproutpeople.org/seeds/greens.html

Kay

Komanui 2/5/2012, 12:58 pm

Aloha Wakshevak -

Thanks for the information ! I live
in Waimanalo & have asked Nalo
Farms for seeds/starters, which they
won't sell. Also, the Sprout People
aren't selling what is known locally
here as Nalo Greens.

But thanks for the reply !
Komanui

Miss Erica 3/18/2012, 8:10 pm

Does anyone know if these recommendations would also work for Guam? We just moved here and I am wanting to start this but i don't really know where to start. Guam isn't on any of the USDA hardiness charts....

JustMe 4/3/2012, 8:57 pm

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/order.asp
UH sells Hawaii-friendly seeds to the public - see above link.

Check out Koolau Farmers for local seeds and plants. I've only been to the one in Honolulu. I'll be attempting some choi sum, bok choi, Manoa lettuce, and Maui onions this growing season in Wisconsin with seeds purchased from them.
http://www.koolaufarmers.com/

Fukuda Seed Store on Kalani Street might be another resource. It's never been open when I've passed it. http://fukudaseedstore.intuitwebsites.com/index.html

Miss Erica - If you can find a local farmer's market or produce stand, then take a look to see what is being sold to figure out what grows successfully in a garden. Look for a local garden shop and ask.

Chopper 4/3/2012, 11:34 pm

From reading this:
"The weather is generally hot and very humid with little seasonal
temperature variation. The mean high temperature is 86 °F (30 °C) and
mean low is 76 °F (24 °C) with an average annual rainfall of 96 inches
(2,180 mm). The dry season runs from December through June. "

it seems to me that you should be able to grow most of the summer crops. Beans, tomatoes, melons, etc. And there are probably some local things we never thought of. If you have any local nurseries, ask them. But anything that likes heat should LOVE Guam.

**walshevak** 4/5/2012, 8:11 pm

Based on what I've learned about gardening in the Philippines, tomatos will need shade and the small ones do best, lettuce can be grown if watered A LOT and given some shade, kale actually does well and basil went nuts. PI is on the same latitude and has the same Dec - June dry season. Heavy downpours drown plants during the rainy season, so take a hint from the PNW and put up rain bonnets (plastic covered hoops) if trying to grow in the rainy season.

Kay

Sponsored content

What plants to grow here?

What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

What I grew so far

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What grows in Hawaii

What Plants to Grow Here

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

What Plants to Grow Here

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?

Re: What plants to grow here?


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.