Featured Home Gardener Colin Butler

There is currently a big wave of interest and participation in home gardening in the Virgin Islands. The physical, budgetary and spiritual rewards of growing delicious and healthier food are increasingly attractive as we understand more about nutrition and food security-and as we pay higher and higher food costs each year. For example, a recent study compared St. Thomas prices for 63 food items concluded that they were 50% higher than the prices for the same items in Washington D.C.

With our hilly, rocky land , limited water and urban population density we can look to tried and true urban and home gardening to supply a good amount of our needs. Along with our intrepid farmers, a growing number of USVI home gardeners have been doing a very fine job of green-thumbing some spectacular crops -in small lots, in pots, and on all sizes of plots.

In recognition of this trend, a new top award was added for the 2008 and subsequent St. Thomas/St John Agriculture and Food Fairs – Fintrac Home Gardener of the year. Fintrac set up the prize to promote home production of fruit and vegetables to reduce costs and improve food security. These goals are also being supported locally by many, including the UVI Cooperative Extension Service, We Grow Food Inc., the Jr. Gardening and Ecology Academy Inc., VISFI and by GrowVI.

The UVI Cooperative Extension Service  can advise you by phone or with a home visit. The Farmers of We Grow Food Inc. can talk with you and share their knowledge. VISFI offers courses and workshops. Younger gardeners can attend the Gardening and Ecology Academy on weekends all year or during the summer.

GrowVI is  working on creating a volunteer corps of knowledgeable agronomists, horticulturalists, farmers and others to give you technical advice for setting up and maintaining your home garden. We have a great pool of talent here on the islands –Grow On!