Dear Dr Abel,

I enjoyed your article on gardening. I am a Jamaican living in the United States (US), and someone who loved gardening even as a child. My family and I migrated in 1980 and, after a few career changes, I found that my love of plants pointed me towards a wonderful career in horticulture.

I have now been in the field for more than 20 years and I love it more each day. I have been working in the horticulture unit at a community college in the US for the last 18 years. You are so right about gardening being good not only for physical health but also for mental health. A few years ago, my husband died suddenly and if it had not been for my love of gardening, I would not be here today. When I touch a plant or feel the soil in my hands it brings such peace to my soul. I can feel really down, and I'll just go out in my yard or at work, do some pruning repot a plant, take some cuttings or one of the many chores of gardening and my mind goes to more pleasant thoughts.

I always read your articles but this one on gardening was special to me. I will visit some of those gardens you mentioned when I make my annual visit to Jamaica this summer. Keep up the good work and happy gardening.

Dear Dr Abel,

Thank you for encouraging people to engage in gardening. I am myself a passionate gardener. Let me take this opportunity to alert you to a problem and ask you at the same time for your help. When one is talking to American and European gardeners, for some time now you hear a lot about garden shredders.

I have called all Jamaican gardening centres and hardware stores in search of such a shredder but nobody seems to know what I was talking about. Can the media push that matter? It must be possible for some of the stores to start selling an affordable garden shredder.

Bitter sweet cassava

Dear Ms Brown,

I loved your article on bitter sweet cassava. Although I was born and grew up in Jamaica, it was not until I was here in the United States that I knew that a type of cassava was poisonous. In fact, I was watching a television programme that showed indigenous people in South America squeezing out the cyanide which they use on their arrows for hunting.

We live in New Jersey where cassava can be found peeled and frozen, year round. It can also be found fresh, although it is processed with wax to prevent shrinkage. Here though, it is hardly ever called cassava but 'yucca', the Spanish name for it.