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A gardening adventure in Panama

Carla Black

Carla Black

January 12, 2014
A watermelon vine sprawled across the heap of construction rubble. Half a year earlier we had carelessly spit seeds in celebration of our new house and our new beginning. I took it as a sign that I would have to become a gardener.
Volcan Baru from my house

Volcan Baru from my house

At that time my grandmother was growing organic vegetables and fruits in her Seattle back yard – organic by principle or by thrift I never really knew. My mother had a wild, fantastic ornamental garden filling every bit of her tiny city lot. Both were masters of thoughtful design in all aspects of their homes and gardens.

With my mom

With my mom

So, although until then I had been more interested in bicycles than gardens, those watermelon seeds landed on fertile ground – in more sense than one. 

Our new home was in the middle of a dairy cow pasture in the western highlands of Panama near the Costa Rican border, at 8 degrees north of the equator and 1300 m (4300 ft) elevation. Temperatures rarely go over the high 20s C (low 80s F) or below 10 C (50 F). For the next seven or eight years we divided our time between Panama in the dry season (called verano, or summer), and Washington state in the summer up there.
 
The view of Volcan Baru from my house

The view of Volcan Baru from my house

Inspired by that watermelon and by the heap of rubble, I built my own raised garden beds just inside the barbed wire fence that kept the cows at arm’s length. I threw the construction debris in the bottom and loaded local black earth up to the rim. Rice chaff helped keep the soil loose while we waited for our compost pile to break down.

My first rubble raised beds back in 1994

 

Turning raised beds 1996.

But how would I learn to produce vegetables in this new place? Heck, I didn’t know how to produce vegetables back in Seattle. I asked a commercial grower friend about getting started, and I took his advice to “cure” the soil of tropical plagues with chemicals. It didn’t take me long to learn that I’d just poisoned my season’s plantings along with all soil life, good, bad or indifferent. First lesson: follow local advice only after critical evaluation. But that would not be much of an obstacle, as few Panamanians keep garden beds. Temperate climate vegetables are produced commercially in a small region of arable highlands near where we live. Seeds and supplies are measured by the kilo rather than the gram. Local advice on backyard vegetable gardening was not plentiful. 

Panama’s principal agricultural activity is lowland cattle ranching. Most of the population lives at sea level, and kitchen gardens consist of bananas, yuca (Manihot esculenta), papaya, a mango tree, self-seeding culantro (Eryngium foetidum) and a few perennial pigeon pea bushes (Cajanus cajan). Ornamental gardening is only slightly more developed, and mostly limited to plants that will grow from cuttings of the neighbor’s plants. 
Grandma, aged 94, shredding for the compost

Grandma, aged 94, shredding for the compost

In 1994 the internet was not yet a rich source of information, so I gathered up a small pile of standard USA gardening books (mostly from Rodale Press) and set myself to experimenting. I just assumed that I was in a whole different gardening world, and that anything I had learned from my grandmother would be useless. I prepared myself for gardening in a climate similar to the subtropical South. But after sowing okra and peanuts along with broccoli, lettuce and snap peas, I found I had the best success with vegetable seeds that were developed for the high humidity and moderate temperatures of  the Maritime Northwest. My grandmother would have been perfectly comfortable gardening in Volcan, Panama!  

The little raised beds, one repurposed as a clay oven

The little raised beds, one repurposed as a clay oven

The little raised beds, one repurposed for a clay oven, are long gone, as is the second generation garden, replaced by my current expanse of in-ground beds divided by paved walkways. I have enough area to dedicate a quarter of it each year to cover crop, velvet bean (Mucuna deeringiana), and still always have the luxury of space to fit in one more plant.

My newer in-ground veggie beds divided by walkways, 2007

My newer in-ground veggie beds divided by walkways, 2007

My most successful food crops are broccoli, cabbage, string beans, snap peas, lettuce, Asian greens, and zucchini (until the pickleworms, Diaphania nitidalis, arrive and wipe them out). By trying many varieties of each of the vegetables that are resistant to local pests, I have settled on those that do well in my area and taste great. I have been eating side shoots of the same ‘Belstar’ broccoli plants for six months; little ‘Gonzalez’ cabbage doesn’t keep too well, but it is so juicy that I eat wedges like fruit. 

The veggie beds today

The veggie beds today

Failures include tomatoes inevitably ravaged by late blight, peppers tend to suffer from a mysterious flower-drop syndrome, eggplant simply doesn’t thrive, and I think okra doesn’t get enough heat. Powdery mildew is a serious but preventable problem on cucurbits and I check under leaves of the cruciferous vegetables for caterpillars once a week, applying Bt only occasionally. I pretty much give up on zucchini once the pickleworms arrive, though I might try the paper-bagging method I learned of as I was writing this. 

The veggie beds today

The veggie beds today

We enjoy a continuous growing season in the tropical highlands, but in contrast to the subtropics, we never have the high temperatures needed to ripen certain tree fruits, such as mangos. Nor do we get the chill period that parsnips, brussels sprouts or horseradish need to develop their special flavors. 

The intense rainfall in September and October still has me scratching my head and wondering what to try next. Seattle is famous for its damp weather, but with an annual precipitation of 36”, it sits high and dry compared to our average of 142” (3,600mm). Now I’m wondering if no-till gardening could ever work here; my well-mulched, well-amended beds are pretty darn solid at the end of rainy season. So I’ll continue to loosen the soil annually with a broad fork until I learn how to layer the beds successfully against tropical deluges.
 
My gardening adventure in Panama is one of experimentation and invention. Though it would have been wonderful to rely on readily available advice and supplies, this sinuous garden path has been fun to follow.
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Susan Flynn
Susan Flynn
10 years ago

Hi Carla, I really enjoyed reading your story about your gardening adventures and challenges in Panama. We live part of the year in Volcancito on the other side of Volcano Baru and are beginning to research growing vegetables and herbs in a raised bed garden there. I know it will be very different from Louisiana where we are from! Thanks for sharing your successes and this website.

Rebecca
9 years ago

Beautiful garden Carla! Where do you get your seeds? I´m in search of local organic seeds to start some school gardens here in Los Santos and coming up short.

Claudia Newman Armstrong

Hi Carla!!

Looking for seeds….found myself here! Great blog and wonderfull pics!! Miss seeing you! My solution for the rainy months and all the time really, in addition to the few things I have mastered, is growing sprouts for my smoothies. Sunflower my fav. So much easier at my lower altitude. Do you still have your Lily ponds?

Claudia

Carla Black
Carla Black
9 years ago

Hi Claudia, it’s so good to hear from you! I love it: sprouts gardening, when all else is too complicated! Lentils, from the bean shelf at the grocery store, are my all time favorite.

My ponds are doing great. I even have a few new species of lilies coming along in my heated indoor seedling aquarium. Talk about fussy… But it’s been ages since I’ve had anything new in the water gardens, so it’s worth it.

Cheers,
Carla

SpicyRedHead
SpicyRedHead
10 years ago

Carla, what an beautiful insight into your garden in a totally different part of the world, plus photos to make the story even more interesting! Love the shape of your inground veg beds. Everything looks so beautifully green and healthy.
Having being brought up in UK, I quickly discovered that what grew there, wouldn’t necessarily flourish here in summer temps of over 40C.
Gardening sure is an ongoing learning experience!

Carla Black
Carla Black
10 years ago
Reply to  SpicyRedHead

I’m glad you liked my tale! So many people move, and so many gardeners have to relearn. My grandmother moved when she was 90 from the coast to across the mountains and had to change her techniques to garden in sand rather than clay, and deal with the wide continental temperature range rather than the mild temps in Seattle. My learning was easy compared to that!

dirtgirl
dirtgirl
10 years ago
Reply to  Carla Black

Carla – your grandmother is gorgeous and looks like she is a bundle of spirited life. I so envy folk who learnt so much from their grandmothers! Sadly I never had a grandmother but am determined that my grandchildren will know everything there is to know about the joys of gardening.

ann
ann
10 years ago

Carla, great to see how you started. Can’t wait to read more from you. And BTW your Granny rocks!!!
Ann

Carla Black
Carla Black
10 years ago
Reply to  ann

Hi Ann, thanks for the note! You’ll have to tell us about your gardening adventure one day. Yes, grandma continues to inspire!

Roy Bloomquist
Roy Bloomquist
9 years ago

My wife and I recently made an offer on a property located 30 minutes from Volcan and we want to grow our own food on the property. We have been given a head start with a crop of banana plants. I am wondering if you know anything about growing bananas. I have been told that once a plant has produced fruit it needs to be cut down and in two years it will produce fruit again. I am not cutting anything until and unless I can be convinced that this is the correct course of action to be taken.

I also want to grow as many different types of fruits and vegetables as I can. I have over one and a half hectares of land so space is not a problem. The soil is fantastic.

I am presently located in Alto Boquete and will be going back to the U.S. (hopefully one last time) and I will be returning here alone in January. My wife will rejoin me here in February. I am wondering if you would allow us at some point to visit you and take a look at your progress. We want to copy someone’s success and try to mess up as little as possible as we start trying to grow stuff.

My past history was a death sentence for the flowers I planted. A week after they were in the ground on our Lake Wales Florida property, the ground flooded and the plants had not yet learned to swim.

Jan
Jan
8 years ago

Hi Carla,
My husband and I will be moving to Volcan this year or early next year and are avid gardeners. I’d love to eventually meet you and learn from your Panama experiences!
Best,
Jan

Carla Black
Carla Black
8 years ago

Hi Jan,

Welcome (almost) to Volcan! I am pleased to have another gardener in the neighborhood. There is a good-sized group of us who share plants, experiences and garden visits once a month. I can ask to have you put on the email list, and if you do Facebook, look up the group Chiriqui Garden Club.

See you soon in Volcan!
Carla

David Prestage
David Prestage
7 years ago

Any experience with growing avocados down there?

David Prestage
David Prestage
7 years ago
Reply to  David Prestage

Oh my, I see from reading these posts that there is a group of gardeners down there in the Volcan area. I would absolutely love to be put on the mailing list! My wife and I will be moving to the Volcan area within the next very few months and I am very keen to learn new methods of gardening. I am what is called a Master Gardener here in California but that doesn’t mean that I know very much at all about growing things down in Panama

Carla Black
Carla Black
7 years ago
Reply to  David Prestage

David, I look forward to having you and your experiences here in Volcan! Gardening here isn’t as different as you might expect, and I’m sure your insights as a Master Gardener will serve you well. There are two groups on FaceBook, plus a gardener’s club emailing list in our area. Write to me via email, and we’ll continue our conversation in a more personal space.

gardens@volcanbaru.com

David Prestage
David Prestage
7 years ago
Reply to  Carla Black

Thanks, Carla! I have entered the email address in my address book and look forward to getting to know you and the other gardeners down there. I have a lot to learn about gardening in the Volcan area but I warn you – I’m going to have a ton of questions for all of you! David

Carla Black
Carla Black
4 years ago

Dear Randy,

You have an exciting project coming up in Panama!

Yes, there are some vegetable seeds available in Panama City, though tropical greens from Asia are the best bet for row crops in the area you’ll be working.

Let’s continue this conversation via email, and I will invite a few others to join us for the gardening and cultural conversation.

Best,
Carla

Mike Rex
Mike Rex
4 years ago

Carla – great information into gardening in Panama. May I also get onto your email list as my wife and I will be moving to the area next week (Oct 23) and are very excited to get a garden growing (our 4 months in Colorado just are not enough before the freeze comes). Thank you so much.

~Mike & Bertie

Carla Black
Carla Black
4 years ago

Hi Mike and Bertie,

Welcome to Panama!

You are arriving at just the right time of year to get started – my vegetables do best in sunny dry season (December-April), with drip irrigation.

Saludos,
Carla

Natasha Sumner
Natasha Sumner
3 years ago

Hi Carla,

Great information and beautiful gardens! I live a bit west of Volcan but similar altitude and I am designing a permaculture farm. Please add me to your email list because I am looking to correspond with like minded people who are in the area. Where do you buy heirloom vegetable seeds in Chiriqui?

Thank you!
Natasha

Carla Black
Carla Black
3 years ago

Dear Natasha,

Wonderful! We will be in touch. I like sharing ideas about gardening, and look forward to hearing more about your permaculture project.

Our familiar vegetables are relatively new to the tropics, so we have to bring heirloom seed from other places, and learn which ones work here. It’s a good community project!

Good growing,
Carla

Don
Don
3 years ago

Am thinking of making the MOVE! Before anything else, I am researching gardening in Panama. I’m a lifelong cook, coming up on a half-century of professional culinary experience. I love warm climates, having my most favorite years in south Florida. I “retired” almost 2 years ago, but find myself still cooking, helping a friend try to survive in the restaurant business in this time of COVID. I will always cook/look forward to culinary challenges. This is why your article appeals to me. Trust me, just because it hasn’t been done yet, doesn’t mean it CANT be done

Mary
Mary
1 year ago

This was very informative. We will be moving to Panama in 2023. Visiting Boquete, I’m learning not all annuals I grew in Michigan will look good in this climate. It seems to be stressful for some plants. I will be doing more research on veggies as you did. Thank you.

Karen Shaw
Admin
1 year ago
Reply to  Mary

Hi Mary, thanks for your feedback. Good luck with your move to Panama. Please keep in touch about your gardening journey. All the best.

Randy McCadams
Randy McCadams
4 years ago

Hi Carla. Your article is very interesting. I teach raised bed gardening with applications of drip irrigation primarily in arrid countries around the world. I have been invited to visit some river villages North of Panama City Panama (Embra tribes) to teach some agriculture skills. I have never been to this area and am completely ignorant to what type vegetables they might grow or want to grow. Not even sure if raised beds or garden beds of any kind would be beneficial to them. Any thoughts? I am told they depend primarily upon fish for their diet.

Also, do think there would be any place in Panama City to purchase vegetable seedlings or seeds? Thank you Carla for any help/advice.

Randall McCadams