Last Updated 23/05/2021
I’m no expert on gardening in the tropics, I’ve lived here for 5 years, in tropical Queensland, I’m a British expat in Australia, I’ve made plenty of gardening mistakes, but I’m starting to see some good results in the tropical food garden.
Check out our tomato crop.
Until a few years ago I lived in the UK. I’d grow tomatoes every summer, raise a few herbs which usually died off over the winter and struggle to produce one or two aubergines (eggplant).
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Gardening in the Tropics is Different!
We’ve grown limes, papayas (paw paw), aubergines by the hundred, several bunches of bananas and enough passion fruit to top a whole town’s pavlovas.
The secret with tomatoes seems to be growing them in the ground, rather than in pots. I’ve failed to grow larger varieties at first, but the little cherry tomatoes go crazy in the tropical climate. But that ground takes work. Starting with non-existent soil, a sheet of clay, we had to build our own soil and feed it well. We opted to do all this naturally learning much from permaculture techniques.
Now I grow killer large tomatoes. We have multiple varieties, all growing well in tropical conditions. The secrets are all in the soil. Just make sure your soil is good and rich, I add bags of manure, often, and keep soil calcium levels topped up. Calcium stops blossom end rot which larger tomatoes are particularly prone to. That’s the end of the tropical gardening tips for now.
Asian herbs do extremely well, lemongrass, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, garlic chives and galangal grow all by themselves with no attention from me. European herbs are trickier, but thyme, rosemary and mint are doing OK for me, some in pots in the shade, some in full sun.
Eggplant (aubergines), chili peppers and sweet capsicums grow as perennials, there is no stopping them. We have a supply all year round.
I’ve given up on anything leafy other than kale and rocket, the grasshoppers like eating them too much. They are a total no go area for me for many years. These days I try to check plants daily and pick off bugs. The bugs go to the chickens.
Bananas crop once a year, each plant producing one bunch before being cut back to the ground. Citrus fruit does really well here. Kaffir limes, grow easily, giving me a year-round supply of leaves for curries and fruit for around six months.
Our grapefruit tree, planted 7 years ago, seems to be doing well but we’re waiting for this year’s flowers. A lemon tree and regular lime are new additions.
I grow Indian curry leaf tree to use in southern Indian dishes. It grows despite total neglect. It is a type of neem. I’ve used a leaf extract to help fight off bugs and it does seem to help.
Like I said, I’m no expert, but if anyone needs any help or advice about gardening in the tropics, what you can, and can’t, grow, feel free to drop me a line in the comments section or you can give me tips and ideas. Gardeners need to share, seeds, plants, methods, we have much to teach each other.
Travel Dream Vs Garden and Home
My tropical garden has got to be one of the biggest pluses of emigrating to Australia. Living Down-Under is not always a bed of roses and adjusting to expat life has been hard.
Picking a passion fruit in my own back garden can brighten up even the worst day of home-sickness. The thought of selling up and losing this garden that I’ve worked hard to create is actually holding me back, I’m struggling with the idea of selling the house to live our travel dream.
Cold feet? Me? What should I do, sell up and travel the world or stay and enjoy my tropical home and garden?
This is an old post. We left, we travelled for 6 full years and created the travel blog you’re looking at now. It’s one of the biggest in the world. We still travel, a lot, it’s our job and our joy, but now we also have tropical food gardening to come back to. Between trips, we grow food, keep chickens and we’re about to try aquaculture. We have a new site that covers this, coming soon here The exchange of ideas and tips is so important, we’re all learning.
