lyndatu
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:56 am
Location: Philippines

What vegetables and herbs can grow in tropical regions?

Hello, there!

I'm planning to start my own backyard garden to save money and have delicious greens. I checked the web for info of different types of vegetables and herbs, but I'm not sure which type can live in hot, tropical regions. We live in the Philippines and we only have to types of climate throughout the year - wet and dry. Can you give me a list of veggies and herbs(and maybe also flowers) that can live in our climate?

Thanks in advance! :)

The Helpful Gardener
Mod
Posts: 7491
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
Location: Colchester, CT

Greetings lyndatu!

Not my speciality, but tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, okra, beans, broccoli, bok choy and other Chinese style greens and cabbages, certainly the mustard greens would work. You could do peanuts and that makes me envious (I am a huge fan...) Melons would work great but need some room... cucumbers should work I think...

For herbs you could do all the annual types like basil and cilantro, but many of the Western cooking herbs are perennail and need a dormancy. I am not sure what you might get away with there...

HG

ManokAnak
Full Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:39 am
Location: Chicago

it depends where you live-lowland and costal or in the Cordilleras. Up in the Cordilleras where it is cooler, that is where they grow carrots and other cool weather European veggies. Look into the Mexican veggies that entered during the Columbian exchange(chili, tomato). I would check some filipino food blogs, some of those people grow their own and might know exactly. (this guy knows a lot about food https://www.marketmanila.com/) Go to the local markets, soo what people are selling.You can grow amapalya, sitaw, talong, ube, gabi, if you have a wet spot, kangkong. You can grow fruit trees if you have room, avocado, tamarindo, pitaya, langka, lichi, duhat, 100 varieties o good banana, like pink and purple and all those good sweet banana that live there. If you like pandan, do it. I only know what some family told me they grew there, besides bangus and rice :P oh, yeah, don't forget, you can chop the heads off all the poneapple you buy and plant them, in a few years you can have your own fresh pineapple. We even do that indoors where I live.

Good luck! There are many possibilities if you have enough room

User avatar
BrianSkilton
Green Thumb
Posts: 547
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:59 pm
Location: South Dakota

Like ManokAnak stated, you can grow endless fruit. Depending on where you live you could grow bokchoy, broccoli, lettuce (cos, lambs lettuce, rocket, oak leaf) -- these however are cooler weather vegetables. So if you live in a cooler are in the Philippines you could try those. Otherwise tomatoes and peppers would be fine. It gets pretty dang hot here during the summer and I have no problem growing carrots. Just browse the net and see what vegetable likes what. Good luck :)

ManokAnak
Full Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:39 am
Location: Chicago

oh I forgot to mention- there is a book series called ".Handy Pocket guide to..." It is printed in Singapore and is mostly South East Asian plants. Has Tagalog, Indonesian, Malay, Thai version of names of the plants, as well and the English and Scientific names. Herbs of Asia, Vegetables of Asia. Tropical fruit, Vegetables, and Herb and Spices. here is a link to the vegetable one on Amazon.com. you can browse the book and there are links to the others in the series. https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Vegetables-Periplus-Nature-Guides/dp/0794601944/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239069664&sr=8-6 I'd seriously browse the index because those are plants that you can definitely grow.

I'd grow kalamansi if you like to use it a lot. Here, people grown them in containers indoors and they stay small.

User avatar
BrianSkilton
Green Thumb
Posts: 547
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:59 pm
Location: South Dakota

I had some kalamansi in Kauai, I got to tell you it seems like it was a kumquat...anyone know for sure. Is it a cross?

lyndatu
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:56 am
Location: Philippines

Hello and thanks for the replies, everyone! Sorry for the late reply.

We live in the plains of Central Luzon(Region III) and we have a pretty hot climate here. The list of veggies and herbs you gave were very helpful. The links were also useful. I'm definitely planting calamansi, but tomatoes and bok choy are my priorities. Thank you very much again! :D

The Helpful Gardener
Mod
Posts: 7491
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
Location: Colchester, CT

Walang aduman!

HG



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”