Rotuma

A Garden In

By “Amel”

IT has always been my opinion that the best place to have a vegetable garden is somewhere near the flower garden . . . that is, as close to the house as possible. After all, one does not usually grow one’s flowers in a distant part of the bush. The idea is to have them somewhere handy, to see and enjoy. And so it should be with vegetable gardens.

In Fiji, the main drawback to having a garden near the house was the over abundance of land-crabs, annoying crea tures with large burrows and voracious appetites, extremely partial to flowers and vegetables, small puppies, kittens, chick ens and even human beings . . . accord ing to Dad!

He was trailing one—or maybe it was trailing him!—around the verandah in his bare feet one dark night, and he couldn’t find the torch or the matches.

His imagination worked overtime. He said it had eyes like clothes pegs and he could hear its claws clanking as it prepared to spring at his throat. We reckoned it must have been his knees

knocking together!

HERE in Rotuma, we have no crabs to contend with: but the other pests are overwhelming. We are sur rounded with a great variety of livestock belonging to our neighbours. Of course, as far as fowls are concerned, it must be admitted that ours also do their share

of scrat c*}ing where they should not—but we consider that they are privileged. . Tlle , ne l ghbours ’ livestock, however, does not stop at fowls. It also includes norses, cows, goats, pigs, ducks and dogs. all of which spell ruination to a garden any sort * fV , The L do f 1 eat anything, but bones in. the nice soft soil of E" e garden; and it’s funny how they f" ust . slee P on the plants, even when H}f re ls ,P len ty of lawn at their disposal, ducks don’t do any scratching, but . to ar g rea t hunks out of everything H 1 anc * s*° a °f shovelling with tneir bills, which is just as bad. ur neighbours’ cows and horses never sie ®P* They prowl all through the night, rattling chains, rustling ropes, chewing riedges and pushing the fences over. In daytime, the goats and the pigs afflict us, one of the latter having the ill-grace to expire under the front porch.

J the depredations of these bipeds and quadrupeds, the elements ar . e also leagued against us. Our p i a £ e 15 situated on the windward side of M °tusa’s narrow isthmus, and is fully exposed to the sweeping, salt-laden wind blue Pacific, which withers every thing it touches.

The soil of the isthmus is almost pure sand — one can dig to a depth of eieht fppt and still find white sand—but there must be some nourishment in it, because it supports numerous coconut palms bana nas and huge native trees, all of which do very well.

But. apparently, to grow European vegetables one must add something, such

as seaweed or manure, and bring earth from the bush, to supplement the sand.

We did this, and after much hard work have managed to raise a small plot of very nice vegetables.

But with all the obstacles to be over come, there is no need to wonder why we find it easier to obtain vegetables from a tin!