There's an old old saying, if you want a potato to grow, talk to it in Portuguese. Apparently, Portuguese works on fruit also.

A Gateshead Lane, Smith's resident contacted The Royal Gazette when his neighbour cut down a hedge to reveal "a garden of Eden".

Joe Tavares has a virtual fruit orchard including different varieties of apples, peaches, guava, grapes and citrus growing on a small piece of land in Smith's Parish.

"I have been in Bermuda since 1977," said Mr. Tavares. "I worked at the Perfume Factory with the Botelhos. Now I work at the Botanical Gardens."

Mr. Tavares said there wasn't much of a secret to his garden except tender loving care.

"For some of the trees I went to a local nursery and bought seeds," he said. "That's all. Other trees were grown through grafting. I have a tree here that was grafted that is half tangerine and half naval orange."

He estimated that he has had over a hundred peaches from his trees this season.

"For one of my fruit trees I found some cuttings that were going to be thrown out at the Botanical Gardens," he said. "They were in the trash. I pulled them out and took them home. With tender loving care, I have an apple tree now with fruit."

Mr. Tavares wasn't entirely sure what type of apple it was, but it looked something like a sugar apple.