By Victoria Torley

I am about to kvetch. Okay, not truly kvetch. That would suggest constant whining and complaining and I have only one thing on my mind (still it’s a great word…).

Never, ever again will I go on a month’s vacation. I may go for a few days or a week, but never again for four weeks! That’s nearly a month! Why? Let’s face it, a tropical garden can get really nasty in a month, especially if it covers 2 or more acres.

It was so easy in the temperate climes.

You could go on vacation any time and things were reasonable when you got home, but not in the tropics.

Not that I don’t have a wonderful gardener, because I do, but he works 30 hours a week and, when I am here, I work between 20 and 40 hours a week.

If I am gone for four weeks, there is a shortfall of (let me do the math here) 80-160 hours of planting, weeding, and generally maintaining. Ewwww. It’s enough to make you despair.

So, I just came in from two hours (thunder drove me inside) of inspecting, weeding, trimming, and generally looking around and it was depressing. Everything has been covered with morning glory vines (and I cursed whoever decided to import the seeds) so they all have to be removed. I tried to bend a branch to prune it and the vines were so entangled that it snapped! Grrr.

Then there are the things that disappeared completely like the lovely blue ground covers in the rainbow garden when I left. I can’t find them now and they aren’t alone in the disappearing act because I can’t find the Portulaca either. Plus the cactus garden is so overgrown that you can’t find the cactus. Weeding in there is going to be an adventure. How do you watch out for spines if you can’t see the cactus?

Then there are the things that are expected to do well. Squash for example. I had expected to return to find my little baby squash plants had turned into enormous flowering vines, but, you guessed it, I can tell they haven’t grown an inch. What a disappointment.

And the worst? Many of my beautiful coconut palms have suffered a beetle attack and are dying, so here is a word of caution if you have susceptible palms. The adult beetle lays eggs in the crown of the tree and by the time the damage is visible, the palm is doomed. Cut it down, kill the larvae and prevent the infection of other palms by spraying the crowns with a pesticide. The danger is usually over when the palm is 20 feet tall. Now, back to weeding.

Plant for the week.  My coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) were lovely and over five years old. Only one remains and I hope it will survive if I spray it consistently. The coconut palm gives the biggest tropical bang for your buck of any other plant and it is highly valued as a landscape ornamental. The plant requires direct sun, and generally, the more the better for fruiting.  Also, a continuous supply of water to keep the soil moist, and this can be partially provided by rainfall. But note that the coconuts cannot tolerate water logging.  For the best growth, plant your coconut tree in well-drained soil. It should also be fertile and moist.

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Find more interesting stories about gardening in Costa Rica on the AM Costa Rica Garden page. Questions on this article, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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