Planting a Home Garden in Maui Meadows on My Half-Acre Maui Property

Little did I know that when I bought my home in Maui Meadows 15 years ago that I would be called Farmer Ken. Well, kinda sorta. It begins like this. Once Upon a Time, there was an overgrown half-acre property that the homeowner had no idea what kind of landscaping he wanted.

I knew I had to install new irrigation, so that would entail destroying 75% of my existing yard. So I had a brilliant idea, “If I set aside a large plot for a garden, I won’t have to deal with it just yet.” And that is what I did. So grass was planted, gravel installed, my Tiki Bar and fish pond built, and then there was my 40′ X 60′ dirt pit.

After months of procrastination, I bit the bullet and hired some friends to help me build my simple garden. My simple garden became 4 raised beds, 4 in-ground beds, and individually controlled irrigation for each bed. A lot of complexity went into my simple garden, not to say $$$.

Planting My Maui Meadows Garden

Anywho, the next step was to determine what to plant and where. Mind you, I’d been living in Los Angeles for 25 years where I wouldn’t dream of cluttering my fabulous Agave and Cactus yard with vegetables! So this is all new to me.

I decided that this first go around would be primarily experimental. I had been warned by neighbors that ants are a problem. No one ever told me about the worms that attacked my zucchini, or the mystery bug that kept eating my kale, but I digress.

So I decided that the root vegetables, herbs, and delicate crops would go in the raised beds. The other beds would be where I planted the hardy crops like corn, beans, squash, zucchini, etc. So a planting I went.

How Did My Garden Do in Maui Meadows?

I’m proud to say that so far, my attempt has been successful. I was most concerned that lettuce wouldn’t do well with the heat of Maui Meadows, but my first surprise was how well my Arugula and Mesculin mix lettuce have been doing. I (and my neighbors) have had a steady supply.

Fresh picked Arugula and Mesculin mix lettuce ready to eat

Did you say corn? This is so wild for me that something this huge started out as a teeny tiny seed; the smallest seeds so far have been leeks

Radish and beets are growing well

I was hoping that my pumpkin patch would be ready for Halloween, but I think it’ll be more like Thanksgiving

Baby fennel?

Isn’t he cute, but he sure doesn’t have my shape!

I’ve also got tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus, beans, butternut squash, kabocha squash, parsley, cilantro, tons and tons of basil, dill, parsley, chives, marjoram, thyme, and even leeks.

Getting to Know My Garden

I wish I could say that everything was a hit. I’ve had some misses. I ripped out two zucchini plants because moths lay eggs on the fruit, then the larvae burrow into them and eventually destroy the plant. Something stung two cantaloupes that I had been babying and none of my Shiso sprouted. (Shiso is a Japanese herb used fresh or in sushi.)

This has been a wonderful few weeks of getting to know my garden and what I can grow. Now since this is a real estate blog, I do have something to sell to you. All home sites in Maui Meadows are at least a half-acre, so you too can be your own “Farmer Ken.”

Here is a gallery of homes currently available in Maui Meadows. This is my Hawaii life, what will your Hawaii be?