The Avocado (Persea americana) is a popular fruit that can be eaten fresh or in salads. It is a rich source of vitamins and minerals and helps reduce cholesterol. Once managed well, plants can produce an average of 100 – 200 fruits per tree with high yielding varieties producing more than 300 fruits per tree at peak production. Grafted plants start bearing three years after planting and can continue to bear fruit for more than twenty years.

There are many organisms that cause damage to crops. These are called pests and include insects, mites, slugs and snails. All these can hinder plant growth, affect the yield and quality of produce and may even kill the plants.

Pumpkin, Cucurbita, moschata, belongs to the family of Cucurbitaceae. This family of crops is characterized by plants with long stems that grow rapidly.

Hot Peppers (Capsicum sp.), is one of our most lucrative export crops, it is grown worldwide and occur in various colours and shapes.

Hot Pepper evolved in our part of the world, so they are perfectly adapted to our environmental conditions.

Peppers contain capsaicin, which is used in a variety of medicines to treat arthritis, cancer, inflammation, pain and a variety of other ailments. Peppers are also high in vitamin A, B and C.

One plant will provide all the peppers the average family needs.

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is a traditional export crop in Trinidad and Tobago. It is used to produce high quality chocolates. Successful cocoa production depends on understanding and applying good crop production and processing practices.

Sweet potato is rich in Vitamin A (beta-carotene), Vitamin C and Vitamin B6. Both Vitamin A and C are powerful antioxidants that work in the body to remove free radicals which can damage healthy cells.

Sweet pepper is a fruit used in many West Indian dishes. It can be grown throughout the year.

Sweet Peppers may be grown in a variety of containers or on beds.

They contain Vitamins A, B and C, protein, fibre, and calcium.

This factsheet deals with growing sweet peppers on beds. For a guide to growing sweet peppers in containers see Factsheet on Container Planting.