Gardening Belizean style

As I have mentioned before, I have a 93 acre property in rural Belize (look at the shadow of the cloud in the center and you might see me.) I also have a half acre property in the town of San Ignacio where I recently built a cottage. The first week of May is planting time, right before the rains come.

Right now my cottage yard looks like a construction zone. That needs to be changed if I hope to rent it out. The problem is that I have in week of vacation to spare to make the yard like a mature tropical oasis.

It's harder than it sounds. There is no one-stop shop in Belize for all of your planting needs. What few farmers and Mennonites that sell fruit trees and flowering plants are not online and don't have email. They also have their own specialties in what they grow, which means you have to personally go to a dozen or more farms to see what is out there.

I have been trying to do as much work ahead of time. I have kept in contact with Heather duPlooy at the Belize Botanical Gardens. She is dividing some clumps of heliconia and gingers for me. Heather has also been giving me advice like "try the Taiwanese at mile 25 (Western Highway) for Lychee." I feel more like I am geocaching than gardening.

The other thing I need to do is educate myself about tropical plants. These plants have completely different requirements than anything we usually grow in Minnesota. My minnesota planting experience is almost worthless down there.

Over time, I will show you what internet sources or books I have found that are worth checking out if you are interested in growing tropicals. Supposedly, tropicals are the next wave in urban gardening, but I haven't seen much popping up around the Twin Cities other than a few houseplants needing no special care.