9486: Growing food in gardens

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: NLaleau@aol.com
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Dear Matt,  Many Haitians do sustain themselves on the produce of their
small 
subsistence gardens... I met any number of them in the Jeremie and Les
Cayes 
areas. I myself have been amazed at how much can be produced in a very
small 
plot. A friend and I have begun gardening a 15 X 30 foot (more or less)
plot 
out back. In six weeks from planting, we began harvesting squash. The 
tomatoes took longer to ripen. But we ate all summer from the garden. She
has 
two hens and gets a dozen eggs a week from them. We get free mushroom
compost 
not too far away (made from cow manure) and this is probably responsible
for 
the remarkable productivity of the adobe soil. My friend has expertise
that I 
don't have. I suspect intensive garden methods could help Haiti and are 
probably already in use in many areas. --Nancy Laleau