The vegetable garden in the tropics - Journey to Forever

need a much larger site. You will have to add surface for the paths and
for a compost heap. It is good to make a drawing of the layout of the
garden on which you can also indicate crop rotation (see Chapters 6 and
8). Figure 4 is an example of such a plan, although it is not necessary
for every garden to be so “orderly”. Most important is that you place the
nursery beds near the water supply and the compost heap far away from
the water supply, so the water does not become polluted by infiltration,
especially if you use the water supply for drinking water.
5.3 Clearing the site
You will have to start by clearing the covering vegetation from the site
of your future garden. Clearing is necessary because:
1 Trees, shrubs and weeds draw water and minerals from the soil that
are needed for the vegetables.
2 The shade caused by their leaves hinders crop development.
3 They shelter insects.
Figure 5: This tree hinders crop development. Why?
Shrubs and trees must be completely removed. If it is not too difficult,
tree roots should also be removed. Cut trees and shrubs provide sticks
of all sizes that are always useful (e.g. for fences, stakes), wood for con-
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The vegetable garden in the tropics