A GROWER of tropical fruits says Barbadians need to be more adventurous when planting crops.
Helen Knighton feels they need to step away from the traditional and everyday fruits and vegetables.
She was speaking as she took a number of people on tour of her Benthams House Gardens, in Benthams, St Lucy, last week. The group was part of the International Council of Museums bus tour to commemorate International Women’s Day.
Entitled Be Bold For Change Up North Bus Tour, the seven-hour excursion visited Benthams House Gardens, Earth and Fire Pottery at the Animal Flower Cave, also in St Lucy, and the Gallery of Caribbean Art and Tiyi by Design in Speightstown, St Peter.
Owner of Benthams House Gardens, Helen Knighton, next to her young beechnut tree.
Knighton revealed she had recently planted a beechnut tree and was waiting to see how it would grow in Barbadian conditions. She brought in one “just to try it to see if it is going to grow”.
Her 2.3-acre property also supports macadamia, sapodilla, lychee, Mamey Sapote (a giant sapodilla-like fruit), Jaboticaba (a Brazilian fruit which is related to the guava) and other exotic fruits.
“We need to go and bring in new fruits because we are a fruit-poor country. We import everything and it’s a shame,” Knighton said.
“There are so many fruits that can grow here and all I heard years ago was ‘trial on peppers’ and ‘peppers’. How many peppers can we eat? So we need to have a variety of fruit. There should have been trials going on for years,” she told her audience.
Knighton added she ensured she complied with all the requirements of the Plant Quarantine Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture.
One of the lily ponds at Benthams House Gardens.
“I get a permit, I go to Miami, I get it from my supplier. I take it to get it examined; I take it to get the phytosanitary. I do things above board,” she said.
Knighton, who also uses specific plants and trees to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and bees, stressed that bees were very important to the propagation of fruits and she had been noticing a decrease in their numbers.
“People don’t understand the relationship between bees and our food and if you don’t understand, we are going to learn the very hard way.”