Guide to Spring & Early Summer Garden Growth in Hawaii: What's Thriving in My Garden

Hawaii only really has two growing seasons. We call it the rainy season and the dry season. So once the rain starts to let up in March, we jump right into prepping the garden for planting.

We’ve done a lot of experimenting the past few years with gardening - mostly figuring out what grows well in our microclimate, what doesn’t, what things we actually enjoy eating, and plants we’d rather do without.

When planning our garden, we always try to include flowers, herbs, and vegetables in every box. Creating diversity in your garden creates biodiversity, which helps with soil health, pest management, encourages pollinators, and creates beauty.

Here’s what we are growing this spring and early summer:

Flowers:

Dahlia Bee’s Choice - super excited to grow dahlias for the first time! We had to get seeds from Floret Flowers, they are the best.

Spilanthes - a medicinal herb also known as the toothache plant

Celosia Spun Sugar - another beautiful flower from Floret Flowers weʻre growing for the first time.

Japanese Kirro Cosmos - cream, peach and rose cosmos. Such an easy and beautiful flower to grow.

Yarrow Colorado Mix - gorgeous tiny flowers. Yarrow is also highly medicinal and can be used for a variety of ailments.

Calendula Bronze Beauty - we’ve been growing these all winter and they’ve produced so many seeds that we’ll continue to grow them all year. Not only are they beautiful but they are edible and highly medicinal.

Zinnia - we grew these two (Oklahoma Salmon and Zinderella Peach) last year and saved a ton of seeds so we’ll be growing those again this year. Zinnias are so easy and love the heat!

Crackerjack African Marigold - marigolds are a must in our garden. They are amazing companion plants to things like peppers, tomatoes, and herbs, as they help keep bugs away. They’re also edible.

Butterfly Pea - we grew this last year and it has popped up everywhere. Make sure you’re picking the flowers daily or else you’ll end up with butterfly pea plants all over your yard!

Herbs:

Calypso Cilantro - a slow-bolt variety

Rama Tulsi Basil - “Holy” basil, medicinal and good for tea. The bees love the flower as well.

Genovese Basil - traditional basil. We love to grow this in the spring because it can bolt easily in the heat. We let it flower at the end of the season then collect the seeds to use for the next year.

Sweet Thai Basil - we grew this last year and saved a ton of seeds. It has a sweeter flavor than Italian Basil and the bees love the flowers.

Borage - bees are obsessed with borage, which is the main reason we grow it. The flowers are edible and taste like cucumbers.

Lemon Balm - I take lemon balm tincture every day to help with anxiety, so I thought I would grow my own. It also makes a delicious tea.

Dill - pollinators love dill! Especially ladybugs, which are super beneficial in any garden.

Nasturtium - a wonderful and beautiful companion plant. Every part of the plant is edible as well.

*We have sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint, and peppermint in pots around our garden. We’ve had all of them for years, we just keep picking and pruning them and they keep coming back.

Vegetables:

Danvers 126 Carrot - the best carrot to grow in Hawaii in our opinion. We make sure to plant them in mounds in very sandy soil.

Kaʻala Sweet Pepper - a variety developed by the University of Hawaii CTAHR thatʻs resistant to bacterial wilt. A great sweet pepper to grow in humid and wet places like the North Shore of Oahu.

Sweet Banana Peppers - trying these out this year. I love pickled banana peppers so wanted to try out growing our own.

Celery - we’ve never grown celery but we thought we’d try out this cutting variety this year. This one is supposed to have excellent flavor.

Prairie Fire Tomato - a new variety we’re trying out. A grape tomato that has a high sugar content.

Old Brooks Tomato - the only “heirloom” type tomato that we’ve had luck with growing here in Hawaii. Super delicious!

Violet's Multi-Colored Butter Bean - Trying to grow more beans this year! These are a lima variety.

Cucamelon - had to try these out this year since we always see other people growing them. We haven’t had the best luck growing cucumbers so since cucamelons are like mini cucumbers we thought they’d work better.

* We are also growing cassava, Okinawan sweet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, white onions, red onions, sweet yellow onions, sugarcane, and bananas. We grow sweet potatoes and potatoes from sprouted potatoes we get from the store. We get tiny onion bulbs from Walmart and grow those. We grow cassava and sugarcane from cuttings.

Greens:

Farmer's Market Blend Mesclun Lettuce - a blend of six leaf lettuce varieties. We like to grow lettuce in the spring/early summer before it gets too hot. Lettuce tends to bolt very quickly in the heat here.

Rainbow Swiss Chard - we love swiss chard and this rainbow variety is so fun.

Black Magic (Tuscan) Kale - our kale plants last forever. We planted this tuscan kale last summer and itʻs still thriving!

Berries:

Garden Huckleberries - trying out huckleberries this year. Huckleberries are supposed to be a fantastic trap crop, meaning they help with pest control. Plus huckleberry jam sounds amazing!

Poha Berries - also known as ground cherries, golden berries or husk berries. Tangy little berries that grow like tomatillos but taste like pineapple. Grow super well here in Hawaii.