We visited the garden of a long-time gardener, who for purposes of this article we’ll call The Gardener, and who has been planting with her grandfather since she was very young. Her grandfather would plant a tree each time a grandchild was born. She was his first and enjoyed many tutorials about plants: how to grow different flora and fauna, and importantly, what worked and didn’t work for them.

She recalls her first plant, notably a plummy tomato. Her grandfather’s experienced hands guided her through each stage of growth of the tomatoes. Tutorials would often turn into lectures when her cousins and siblings joined in. Spending time in the garden with her grandfather was a great bonding experience. He was her favourite grandparent.

Though an avid gardener, The Gardener states that her first plant failure was an orchid. This failure was addressed and soon resolved. Her latest project is learning how to properly grow thyme and parsley, a project that has come with quite a few challenges. Undaunted, she’s committed to a successful outcome.

Her garden has a variety of fruit trees commonly found in eastern Jamaica, including naseberry, hog plum, papaya, plummy tomato, ackee, tamarind, pomegranate, soursop, June plum and guinep. The ackee and tamarind trees already held pride of place when she started living at the property. Other plants in the garden like callaloo, dogblood, vervine, neem, herbs like rosemary, French thyme and scallion were added over time.

The pomegranates, for example, were added to the garden after a trip to the US where she bought a pomegranate and took the seeds home and planted them. French thyme was added to the garden after she discovered it growing wild in an area and took a few of the young plants home and transplanted them into a pot. Now she says the thyme has grown very wild. Each year she plants yams between December and January which can be reaped nine months after they’re planted.

Her joy is in the ability to share the bounty of her garden with neighbours, friends and family.

Like many garden enthusiasts The Gardener refers to her passion as therapy. Her garden and her cats are what keep her going every day. Spending about three to four times a day in her garden she walks through, talks to her plants and prunes and grooms where necessary, until they are back to their optimal form.

The Gardener practises fertilisation through collecting manure, composting fruit waste from her home and then adding it to the soil. The organic method aids in producing some of the most flavourful peppers and plum tomatoes from the garden. As a matter of health, she believes this method is the best approach to reduce organic waste and improve the nutrients in the soil. Additionally, The Gardener repurposes many plastic and glass containers as planters, or flower pots for plants.