Reading Sonya's posts about gardening as a concrete way to counter global warming and peak oil have inspired me to attempt to build a garden up here in the Torres Strait. As you might expect, it is pretty warm here all of the time, which provides both challenges and opportunities. The average nighttime temperature in July is 22 degrees Celsius. My traditional dietary staples of onions and potatoes are pretty much a no-go to grow here, as is anything that requires a cold-spell to stimulate fruiting. For example, others around me have tried lemon but with no success. Lettuces and salad greens are challenging but can be done if attention is paid to microclimating and timing. To this point, my successes have included wild and domestic rocquette, basil, coriander, eggplant, birds-eye chili, rockmelon, watermelon, cos lettuce, mustard, running beans, broad beans.

Failures included snow-peas and garden peas. This may be due to a lack of trellising and/or sunshine in the area planted.

Works in progress include Lebanese cucumbers, zucchini, a variety of tomatoes, climbing spinach, passionfruit, and paw-paw.

Next year's projects include peanuts, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, capsician, and more of the produce outlined above.

As time permits, I will be sharing some of my experiences in developing food, and in developing the garden, trying to highlight its development with the ideas of permaculture as I have come to experience them.

Peace,

Clive.