Question Is there an actual chart for growing vegetables in a sub-tropical garden?

Discussion in 'Fruit & Vegetable Growing' started by Bea, Mar 5, 2019.

  1. Bea

    Bea Active Member Premium Member

    Nov 23, 2017
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    I live in the southern Andes of Ecuador at about 5000 ft.. Our climate is best described as sub-tropical. Right now. March, we are in the rainy season. In Australia this is Fall I guess. It is humid, hot with coolish nights and today, with no sun poking through, it is cool and I am wearing a sweater. Yesterday the sun was out but so humid that exertion for someone my age (70) with some breathing problems meant "take it easy kiddo!". In a few months tho' it will be so dry, sunny and hot that stepping outside after ten a.m. it will feel like I am already burning with my fair skin. Frankly Vancouver BC - an ocean side temperate zone - would feel that way for close to a month every year. A hat is a definite piece of costume at all times of year. also the winds are starting to pick up and will be wild come about May, for about a month.
    so mark, not as hot as your place - rarely goes above 34C with hmidity. - but a lot of similarities in growing seasons?
    I can grow anything that's green pretty much most of the year - brassicas, leafy stuff, and even chilis will continue to grow during this season if a good start in the Dry season. and that includes all the mediterranean herbs, which once started in the dry season and grown "just so" just keep growing. Most flowers - herbal or ornamental - seem to grow like weeds here.
    It's all the other foods that cause a problem. I know by now that starting beans of any kind at this time is not a bad idea as they finish off when there is drought conditions. But what about shelling peas, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, any root vegies? Do people have experience growing fennel, dill, fenugrek, sesame, cumin
    BTW everyone I know says that cherry tomatoes, the wild ones that poke up or commercial from here or North America. ALL grow excellently. Field tomates here are all over the markets but none of them are particularly sweet. I have pretty much given up an growing tomatoes. No matter what variety i will get only one or two per plant before bugs and diseases wreck the whole thing. How do people grow tomatoes? in the ground which is rocky here or in pots - the only successes I have had.
    I also know a lot of people who have just given up on vegetables. Most vegeies are so cheap we wonder if we should bother, but as you all know, nothing beats 'from the garden'.
  2. Mark

    Mark Founder Staff Member

    May 27, 2012
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    Bellmere, QLD
    I don't know of any chart that specifically maps the growing times of veggies for your area Bea but you could check out and pick an area similar to yours then use this as a rough estimate.

    Generally, I grow most common root crops like beets, turnips, carrots through the cooler times of the year and certainly not through the middle of our summer. Same for greens like brassicas and lettuce (with some exceptions like kale). I'll also grow tomatoes at the end of summer into winter and then from end of winter into summer - tomatoes will not grow well during the middle of either summer or winter here so timing needs to be good, soil preparation important, and a little luck helps also.

    Do you know you can get sweet varieties of cherry tomatoes? The oval shaped ones are usually sweeter than the round. Personally, I prefer the less sweet varieties for the taste and also the fruit flies don't tend to sting them due to the higher acidity.

    Look for local or native tried and true veggies or fruit as they will give you more success. I'm actually working on a video now about growing "Golden fruit of the Andes" or Naranjilla or Lulo - I expect they would grow well where you are...

    Cheap vegetables are ok if they're organically grown but a big reason why they're cheap is due to mass production using chemicals. Fresh from the garden is always better imho :)
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