The Betty Black Blog

From I was the tiniest thing, I would follow behind my grandmother as she sprinkled her magic dust in the garden. My grandmother had ten green fingers and every plant she touched would thrive. I have inherited only a tiny bit of that special touch but all of the love. When life becomes overpowering I disappear into pruning the roses or fighting white flies and nothing else matters…..until now!

I see from my back door rain clouds sitting over the hills and I would swear it’s raining there. Friends tell me that the Hope River looks very healthy, virtually overflowing its banks. Yet the Mona Dam (reservoir) is half empty and the No Water Conspiracy tells us we’re having the worst drought in twenty years and have reduced our supply to a mere trickle six hours a day. We appear lucky as places like Red Hills now get random supplies from a water truck no less!

	The Suffering

My garden is dying a horrible, painful death. My tomatoes and peppers have fallen to slugs, searching for some moisture. The roses have picked up the dreaded mealy bugs. The June roses, which tend to get scraggly at this time of year anyway, have all picked up what looks like a fungus. All diseases known and unknown are attacking on all fronts and I can’t spray or fertilise anything for it is so dry, they would be burned by the treatment, whether chemical or natural. At lease the oleander, plumbago and Chinese privet survive with little water and fall prey to no bug or disease so my hedges are fine.

	The Night Bloomers

Here’s a little advice to those in the same position: MULCH. Pack mulch around the roots of all your precious plants, leaving just an inch or two around the stems. Be very careful to use clean mulch as some things, like roses, might develop disease.  Don’t give shrubs planted in the ground a cup of water a day, you’re wasting the water, that won’t feed the roots. Rather give them a bucketful once a week poured on slowly in the early morning. Do not water at night as the slugs and other creepy crawlies searching for moisture will spend the night feasting on them. Prune all the dead and diseased branches off everything so that the healthy limbs get all the precious moisture. Things will still die but most will survive until they can be tended properly again.

Meanwhile, I look at pictures to remind me of what my garden looked like just a few short months ago and go through catalogues to decide what to fill the empty spaces with. The No Water Conspiracy will not win this fight!

	The Survivors

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From I was the tiniest thing, I would follow behind my grandmother as she sprinkled her magic dust in the garden. My grandmother had ten green fingers and every plant she touched would thrive. I have inherited only a tiny bit of that special touch but all of the love. When life becomes overpowering I disappear into pruning the roses or fighting white flies and nothing else matters…..until now!

I see from my back door rain clouds sitting over the hills and I would swear it’s raining there. Friends tell me that the Hope River looks very healthy, virtually overflowing its banks. Yet the Mona Dam (reservoir) is half empty and the No Water Conspiracy tells us we’re having the worst drought in twenty years and have reduced our supply to a mere trickle six hours a day. We appear lucky as places like Red Hills now get random supplies from a water truck no less!

The Suffering

My garden is dying a horrible, painful death. My tomatoes and peppers have fallen to slugs, searching for some moisture. The roses have picked up the dreaded mealy bugs. The June roses, which tend to get scraggly at this time of year anyway, have all picked up what looks like a fungus. All diseases known and unknown are attacking on all fronts and I can’t spray or fertilise anything for it is so dry, they would be burned by the treatment, whether chemical or natural. At lease the oleander, plumbago and Chinese privet survive with little water and fall prey to no bug or disease so my hedges are fine.

The Night Bloomers

Here’s a little advice to those in the same position: MULCH. Pack mulch around the roots of all your precious plants, leaving just an inch or two around the stems. Be very careful to use clean mulch as some things, like roses, might develop disease.  Don’t give shrubs planted in the ground a cup of water a day, you’re wasting the water, that won’t feed the roots. Rather give them a bucketful once a week poured on slowly in the early morning. Do not water at night as the slugs and other creepy crawlies searching for moisture will spend the night feasting on them. Prune all the dead and diseased branches off everything so that the healthy limbs get all the precious moisture. Things will still die but most will survive until they can be tended properly again.

Meanwhile, I look at pictures to remind me of what my garden looked like just a few short months ago and go through catalogues to decide what to fill the empty spaces with. The No Water Conspiracy will not win this fight!

The Survivors

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com