Geofs' Garden

The best way to work out how to grow things on Cocos is to visit the gardeners who are already doing it. To that end we went for a visit to Geofs house.  Geofs yard is a a lovely mix of Ornamentals and food plants but not excessively shady with the one large tree being a Calophyllum inophyllum (Beauty leaf).

Paw Paw with Curry Leaf at the rear

 Geof showed us his  2 varieties of bananas which were in pots as they were not doing so well in the ground. Geoff said that people have had success with growing Bananas on this island where they are growing amazingly well on old rubbish piles that have been burned. This is understandable because Bananas are heavy feeders and love potash.

Cassava (also known as Tapioca) was growing well in Geofs' yard with relatively little attention. and there were big roots to see sticking above the ground.

The Cassava was flowering which I had not seen before. The virtues of Cassava are many. It is a starchy root and can be used in a way similar to potatoes although not as mash. It must be cooked well (boiled or roasted) because it has some toxins in the skin and the root - these are the same toxins which protect it from all sorts of pest attacks and this means that you have a trouble free crop. The easiest thing about growing Cassava is that you cut a section of the stem and stick it in the ground. 5 months later you harvest or you leave it in the ground until you need it as it doesn't keep well once picked. The young leaves if this plant are also edible when cooked - a truly versatile plants.

A quite successful setup that Geof had was a very large pot - or half plastic rainwater tank. This was filled with sand, compost, lots of seaweed, Casuarina needles? and worm castings. Not so long ago the pots was full of lush growth of salad plants and even now there sere some pretty healthy looking Ceylon Spinach. This growing mixture in the big pot did not seem to have so many problems with pests.

 Geof has also found that overtime the organic matter goes to the bottom of the pot and the sand comes to the top. Turning this soil over to bring the organic matter back up to the top has a noticeable benefit on plant growth.

Ceylon Spinach, Italian Parsley and Rocket



Pot culture for annual plants is the conclusion that Geof has arrived at as there seems to be a veritable army of pests in the soil. These include Cut or snip worm, Rhinoceros beetle and nematodes to name few. Although the beetle pests can also get into the pots and cause havoc. If Geof suspects beetle larvae in his pots he puts them in a bucket of water for 3 days to drown them. Growing things in these pots after the drowning seems to be more successful with less pest problems.

Pot culture also gets over the problem of tree roots. 

Other plants successfully growing in this garden were Jap pumpkins (although not big),Tomatoes in pots, Lemon grass, Dragon fruit (still Young and no fruit as yet), Oregano, mint, parsley, Tahitian Lime, A type of ginger whose leaves smell like Cardamon and the small tree Japanese Cherry (Muntingia calabura).

The Japanese Cherry has a delicious pink fruit when ripe.

Geof uses fertiliser such as blood and bone, seaweed, worm castings, Iron sulphate and recommends manganese supplements.