Have you ever wondered what else could be grown in Bermuda other than the typical oranges, grapefruits, loquats, cherries and basic vegetables? Would it surprise you that apples, pineapples, asparagus, artichokes, and macadamia nuts can also do very well on the Island, along with cotton and coffee.

Curator for the Botanical Gardens with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Sarah Vallis, believes whole heartily that many other plants, vegetables and fruits can survive and thrive in Bermuda.

And the Botanical Gardens is a perfect example of that.

Ms Vallis is aware of more than one macadamia nut tree, great specimens of ackee, star fruit, cotton, eddo -- which is a vegetable similar to the sweet potato and many other things growing in the Botanical Gardens and some in private yards.

"Sugar apples also do well in Bermuda along with guavas, cotton, sugar cane, and of course cassava. I don't know why more people do not grow cassava because they certainly could,'' Ms Vallis said.

She added: "Grapes also do well and you can start them from cuttings -- that is the easiest way. Apples can also grow and they are usually the hybrids which are crossed with the Israeli varieties because they do not require a long chill period in the winter.

"The problems we do have with the apple is that because it is in the loquat family the trees can get a rust, like the loquats but they can survive it.

However the apple trees can be damaged causing the apples to go into decline causing the tree to eventually die.'' Ms Vallis also said the canistel, which looks like an apple or a big egg, also grows well in Bermuda. It has a smooth skin and a big seed. You can eat the mealy orange flesh which has a taste somewhat like a peach. "This fruit is used to make frozen desserts in the West Indies.'' She said that coffee is not a reliable producer and the plants need to be a certain age to produce. "The Botanical Gardens has one and it has had fruit but not much. We also have a macadamia nut tree.

"The seeds are difficult to germinate so in order for someone to get one growing you have to air-lyre -- cut a piece of the bark and force it to root.

"Most fruiting trees require a good rich soil. We do composting to Bermuda soil.'' Ms Vallis said luffa, which is in the pumpkin and squash family, is being grown by a few people in their own yards. "They are so expensive in the stores, I don't know why more people don't grow them.'' She added that cotton grows well in Bermuda but the plant can be kind of weedy so a lot of people will pull it out unless they have a purpose for it. When the seeds drop other plants will grow.

"I don't know if it has a marketable use here. It was tried as an economic crop in Bermuda many years ago but it was probably eliminated quickly due to space and the cost of labour as it is labour intensive.

"The type of cotton we have is short fibre which is not good for spinning, it is not the best quality.'' Ms Vallis said there are a lot of mango trees around the Island but many of the trees are old and during the flowering period, which is in January/February, the weather is usually poor and interrupts good pollination with the trees. In the Botanical Gardens, there are mangoes and avocados.

Avocados are good crops for Bermuda.

"Both can be started from seed, whatever you have will provide the root stock and then you should find somebody that has a good bearing tree and graft from their tree onto your root stock.'' She added that figs also thrive. "A lot of people grow them in out-of-the-way places and they can be found in a lot of old homesteads. They were probably brought in with the Portuguese along with grapes and the passion fruit.'' Asked why more people don't grow more of these fruits and vegetables Ms Vallis said: "We are not prepared to spend three or four hours a week in the garden, we would rather go to the store. But some people are just not interested in gardening.'' Edward Manuel seems very interested in gardening especially when it comes to growing his artichokes and asparagus which seem quite rare to the Island.

"I grow my vegetables for personal use. I like artichokes and asparagus, that's why I tried growing them, they seem to do very well here.

"I like to grow everything -- sweet potatoes, potatoes and for the first time I tried grow tomatillo, which is related to the tomato and used to make salsa.'' Mr. Manuel added: "I've been growing artichokes and asparagus for quite a number of years now. I get the seed from different sources like the artichoke seeds came from Briton and the asparagus came from Canada or the US. I just ordered them.

"I will try anything once and see how it goes, some things are quite easy to grow.'' Mr. Manuel said local mango trees fruit occasionally but they need dry warm conditions in March which is not certain in Bermuda.

"Some might bear fruit this year with the good weather we had but with this recent wind it might knock everything off.'' Roderick Ming has everything in his garden from a few different varieties of oranges, grapefruits and pineapples to Japanese persimmons, guavas and sugar apples.

"Several years ago I conducted a lot of experiments with the University of California and hunted down varieties of temperate zone fruits that will do well in Bermuda, those are the ones I am working with now, '' Mr. Ming said.

He added: "I imported good varieties of fig seeds from out of southern California and them reproduced them here from my mother plants. I also have Japanese persimmons which do well between October and December into early January.

"Since Bermuda has a heavy fruit production capability we can produce all kinds of fruit here, because of our size people don't think it is possible.

"You can condition soil to grow anything but people are so comfortable going to the grocery store and the younger generation thinks that that is the way to go.''