September 4, 2012
During our summer trip to Kauai I made friends with the girl who lived next door to the house we were renting. Actually, I pretty much accosted her after I spied a small 4’x4’ veggie garden in her front yard. I had to check it out, because it was totally flourishing and she lives right on the beach!
Megan was sweet enough to indulge my curiosity and questions. In a lovely grassy area that fronted the sand and beach she had set up her veggie garden box. She placed it right on the grassy area and covered the bottom with cardboard – she told me this kills the grass underneath the box and also adds nutrients to the soil.
She then filled the box with good potting soil and planted her veggies. Tomatoes, kale, peppers, arugula— basically all the things I had in my Santa Barbara garden…right on the beach! Megan shared what she thought was the secret to her success: she has been sprinkling spirulina on top of the soil daily, and then showers it with water. I spray sea kelp over my entire garden, but spirulina is an algae that provides similarly beneficial nutrients for the veggies and is so easy to just dust over small potted plants or a container garden.
