By Victoria Torley

Ever think of the big picture? Ever think about what we are doing when we garden? Yes, we are providing ourselves with fresh veggies and beautiful flowers, but we are also modifying the local environment.


Remember that annoying bunch of shrubs you condemned to the compost pile or that small tree you cut down so your garden would have more sun? You have modified the environment.


This is not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing, it simply is.


Gardeners modify the local environment all the time and have since human time began. Your deck was too hot to enjoy, so you planted a shade tree to give you some relief from the direct sun.


The house next door is a horrible color, so you put up a vine-covered trellis to block the view. The neighbor has cows – smelly cows – so you planted some gardenias and jasmine to mask the odor. You have modified the local environment.


Costa Rica has a long history of modification of the environment. The pre-Columbian people had no herds of sheep, cattle, or goats, but the invading Spanish did and wanted grazing space for their herds.
 

Clear-cutting of native forests left huge open fields where horses and other herd animals grazed. Fast-forward to our century and we can see the scars on the landscape where animals still browse. That is large scale but gardeners? We are small-scale. Are we still important?


Well, that depends. The tree that you planted to shade the deck: was it native or non-native? The vine? Please tell me it wasn’t kudzu.


What you introduce to the local environment can unbalance an entire ecosystem. If you need an example, take a look at what the introduction of kudzu has done to Georgia or what the introduction of spreading bamboo has done to the area around our own Lake Arenal.


Still, we want what we want, and we will continue to plant what we like. I like tomatoes and they are, fortunately, a fruit that originated in the Americas which is probably why the seeds survive and grow when a ripe fruit drops to the ground. Invasive tomatoes? Unlikely.


Modifying your local environment is not wrong. We dig the ground, enrich the soil, plant and harvest. A good gardener is conscientious and careful.




Plant of the week. Sometimes it’s good to talk about a plant that is available locally, as this one is. The Acacia mangium is a fast-growing (2-4 meters in a season depending on location) straight-trunked tree that can reach 30 meters or more. The tree provides great shade for daytime activities and is often used as a “cover tree” for things like cacao. The Acacia is a nitrogen fixer so it is great for the soil. It will tolerate many environments including poor soil and poor drainage but it prefers fertile soil. Acacia trees are often planted for later harvest as the wood is dense and strong and easily used for furniture.
 

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Find more amazing 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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