by Gordon Alert

It was ages ago (as Zakyla would say), when a skinnier version of me in my late teens, climbed up a hill in Santa Cruz to dig yams. I hailed from the yam country of Jamaica, yet paradoxically my first encounter with digging was in Trinidad. I followed a dried-up vine trail in the parched vegetation of the Northern range and after much patient clearing unearthed white yams aplenty that quickly filled my knapsack.

Fast forward 24 years. Twenty-four years!!!!

Oh, it's that long?

I am following the trail of destruction left by our dogs, (Three-the-hard-way), when I happened upon the remains of my yam vine I planted in this garden last year. It was unplanned but yam had sprouted in the kitchen and its purply vine spread everywhere with vigour making it heart-breaking to dump and dispose. I hastily stuck it in the garden and left it.

The series of pictures show the massive hole left by digging this time as I retrieved 3 yams in one hole. They weighed in at nearly 6 pounds!

Learning and Appreciation

This is a home garden built on mainly concreted areas with grow boxes, plant bags, buckets, a small strip of land and most recently, guttering. But the production of this tiny piece of paradise has grasped for me new appreciation for small spaces and their productivity potential.

Our home garden initiatives have expanded into square-foot-gardening. Here is an example of a commercial kitchen home garden.

Digging for Treasure