New to Dave's Garden and to gardening itself

I just noticed this thread--please add me to the list if a DG care package will be sent.

Sunny Flo, words cannot express how relieved we all are to hear from you. I hope very soon that your pain and sorrow become nothing but a dim memory. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you. I imagine it will be a while before mail is running again, but if there is anything we can help with, please do not hesitate to say so. We share not just our joys here, but also our sorrows....it helps to ease the burden, and there are many willing shoulders to support you.

Good thoughts and strength to you, Jean/Moon

Praying for you all and I want to add my offer to help in any way that I can. My Dear Son just left from there yesterday on the US Navy ship Carl Vinson. He said that we can only pray and send money, which we have been doing since the earthquake, Is there anything else that we can help you with?

SunnyFlo, I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear from you. Thank you for taking time to let us know that you and your family survived the earthquake. Our prayers and offers of help will continue for you and all the people of Haiti.

Jan

So good to hear from you, SunnyFlo. Please do let us know if we can send vegetable seed, etc. for you and your neighbors.

Kathleen

Sunnyflo, please let us know what you need. I was given so much after Katrina, and do not hesitate to ask for specifics. We are all here for you! prayers and love, julie

Thank you sunnyflow for taking the time out to let us DG members know you and your family are safe. May healing be to your nation.

Sunnyflo, I haven't been on for a few days, and what joy it was to see that you and your family had survived the terrible earthquake. Every time we saw pictures of the devastation my heart broke for all those suffering. There were many prayers said by this group for your people and you in particular.

Thank you for keeping us posted. I was afraid we really lost you.

Sunnyflo, anything you need we'd love to help. My kids' school is collecting money, but if you need school supplies or anything else, we could set that up. Take care, we're here for you!

Sunnyflo, so very good to hear from you.

Zones: You can determine your zone by the lowest temperatures in the winter. Haiti is tropical, but I know the higher elevations have much cooler weather. If you can keep an idea of what your lowest temperatures at night are for the next two months, that will give you your "zone"

The zone system is for cold hardiness, how far north in the USA a plant can survive. There isn't a zone map for heat, how far south plants can survive without a winter dormancy, a chilling factor. Also, the further south, closer to the Equator, it's the long nights that really influence growth and productivity.

I do know Puerto Rico gets temps into the fifties, and sometimes even freezing on the mountain tops. So your elevation, and how far you are from the sea has a lot to do with what you can grow.

My prayers are for you and your country. Keep in touch, we will help as much as we can. I know it will be years for recovery, let's believe Haiti will be a much better place!

For the DGers reading this, to live in the Caribbean is a very different gardening experience! Many vegetables simply refuse to grow because the nights are so long, and leafy vegetables have been bred to grow where they have long summer days. The longest day here is only 13 hours, it's dark by 7 and light at 5 in the summer, or there abouts. and there isn't much of a twilight, the sun goes down and it's dark in less than a half hour.

And the Earthquakes have hit city people that have never gardened. Need I say growing food doesn't always come easily for beginners?

Here on St Croix, I grew some northern corn, 56 days the packet said. From seed to eat was 21 days!! The plants panicked, I guess. The stalks were only three or four feet tall, and the ears were tiny, but delicious. The third planting had rust so badly that I didn't get any corn, and I didn't feel like trying again. The Islanders here grow some sort of corn that gets really tall, like seven feet.

And every bug and plant disease in the World is in the Caribbean. Folks have only recently begun inspecting and restricting plant shipping.

My Okra has given me some nice pods, but the plants are while with fungus or mildew or something. And my bucket of mustard greens has white fly. And the orange tree is full of mealy bugs.

There was(is) a big, old grapevine in Bonaire, covering the outside of a restaurant. Muscadine, I believe. Seemed to be full of grapes and blooms all the time.

So we look around and want to send something to help Sunnyflo and hers, but it's probably best at this point to just send money. We here on St Croix have a small Haitian community that are filling containers with donations. I guess they'll go to specific people in Haiti. Someone posted on Facebook that a $30 bag of rice is selling there for nearly 90 dollars, isn't that terrible!

OK, this is way too long a post.

God bless all of us,

Melissa

Melissa that's a very informative post, not too long at all! Good to know these things.
Muscadine grapes are supposed to have lots more antioxidants than other grapes, so grab a handful for breakfast ;)

My arm isn't long enough! I live on a different Island, 400 miles away! lol.

lol oops sorry, my bad......reading too fast....grapes are in Bonaire you're on St Croix.....
hahahaha funny visual *grin*

Molamola,
Do you think that there might be other varieties of veggies and fruit trees that might be more bug and disease resistant. I wonder if floating row covers might keep bugs out of vegetables grown on the ground. There's got to information out there, possibly the extension service of Florida might have some suggestions or citrus tree hybrid developers. If there is information out there how would we go about putting something together for the Haitians?

Gee, Helen, I just don't know. I am donating regularly through a local organization called 100% Haiti. Here's what they say about themselves--

"Formed to help the artists and artisans of the Caribbean region to assist the revitalisation of Haiti after the earthquake. Funds raised by sales of donated work will be directed 100% to small effective NGO's working on the ground in Haiti."

This has been organized on facebook.

and there are other efforts here in my locality.

I have no idea how to get anything from the University of Florida. Maybe you could write to them?

adding my wishes that your country and its people continue to persevere during these difficult times and that you are in good health. it has been many days since your last post and we all are anxious to hear from you soon.