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The edible garden – part 2
By Zahrah Nasir
If you studied Part 1 of ‘The Edible Garden’ you may have realized that I left
you facing 50 square yards of soil and manure or mulching material with
absolutely no way of getting from A to B without sinking up to your knees in the
stuff!
Not an oversight on my part I assure you but simply a shortage of magazine space
therefore, prior to getting on with the promised subject of climbers for the
boundary walls, I will now tackle the problem of access.
At this early stage of creating an ‘Edible Garden’ it is not yet time to decide
on the location and type of construction of permanent footpaths so we will be
using ‘mobile’ ones for the time being
The most practical type of mobile footpath to employ at this stage is simply
lengths of wooden planking, maybe even two planks, side by side, with batons
nailed on at intervals to hold them together and allow a wider walking space.
Obviously the longer the planks, the heavier the footpath so please keep this in
mind unless you are an enthusiastic weight lifter!
You may have other suitable mobile footpath material lying around just waiting
for the opportunity to be used but, the important thing to remember, and the
reason for having these things at all, is not too keep your feet clean, sorry to
disappoint you by the way, but to ensure that you do not walk on the precious
soil as, by doing so, particularly if it is wet, your body weight compacts the
earth, cuts of the air supply to precious beasties such as worms and suffocates
them.
A few interesting soil facts here: 1 cubic meter of good soil can contain an
average of 80 earthworms; 300 centipedes; 50 woodlice; 100 beetles; 50 slugs or
snails; 50 spiders and billions of micro-creature organisms.
A ‘No Dig Garden’ is also a ‘Do Not Walk On The Soil’ garden if it is to be one
hundred percent effective!
I will get around to constructing permanent footpaths later on in the series.
Now, the boundary walls and the reason for dealing with these at this juncture.
The imaginary ‘Edible Garden’ ,in Karachi remember, has concrete boundary walls
approximately 8 feet high all around with a solid wooden gate at the entrance.
Total privacy except for the eyes of upper story neighbours or residents of any
close by apartment blocks and, whilst one may immediately think of planting
trees around the boundary in order to screen everyone out, this is not the
solution.
Trees against the boundary wall have a number of drawbacks:
A) They do not cover the walls completely.
B) The tree roots will interfere with the foundation of the walls, plus damage
any water, sewage, electricity or telephone pipes or underground cables in the
vicinity.
C) As these will be ‘producing’ trees, if they are within easy reach then they
will undoubtedly be raided.
D) Whilst ‘The Edible Garden’ does require shade, it also needs adequate
sunlight and trees all around would badly affect the ‘micro-climate’ we are
trying to create.
E) Finally, and this one is a real cracker, a large, mature tree can draw up to
200 gallons of moisture from the surrounding soil on a hot, sunny day!
Naturally, there will be trees in the garden and I will get on to that subject
later in the series.
Now, back to the walls. The concrete, at this point, looks rather unsightly but
a coat of paint, even the lead free type, is firmly out of the question. Walls,
once painted, need regular maintenance and this is impossible to do if they are
covered with creepers. Also, painted walls, most people select white paint,
reflect a dazzling glare into the garden, vastly increasing natural heat and
light and can cause damage to tender plants.
Instead, the thing to do is to select creepers, fast growing where possible, to
quickly cover the offending walls with various shades and forms of greenery,
flowers and fruit and vegetables.
The majority of these will need support and amongst the easiest type of support,
and one which can look quite artistic, are lengths of fishing net which can, if
you search for it, be found second hand in the market. Wire netting can be used
but has the drawback of absorbing heat in a hot climate and some varieties of
plants absolutely refuse to cling on to it and, to be honest, one can’t blame
them. Ouch!
Wooden batons or stout lengths of bamboo are other options but must be regularly
treated against termites and, with the bamboo, an eye kept on any lengths pushed
into the ground as they just might start to grow on you!
One of the boundary walls in this imaginary garden is the possible location for
a ‘hideaway’ as it is not overlooked by anyone or anything and here, I think, it
may be an idea to construct some sort of ‘gazebo’, of an openwork nature, which
can then be shaded by suitable creepers.
The ‘edible’ climbers I have in mind for this ‘under-creation’ garden should all
be prevented from making an escape bid into the world outside by careful,
seasonal pruning and training.
Top of my list are vigorous members of the ‘Passion Fruit’ family, botanically
known as ‘Passifloraceae’ of which there are a number of fruiting varieties
which should perform quite well in the Karachi climate along with other hot
places throughout the country. Recommended varieties are: ‘P.caerulea’ with
fragrant blue and white flowers and yellow fruit; ‘P.caerulea – Constance
Elliot’ with white flowers and bright orange fruit; ‘P. edulis’ or ‘Purple
Granadilla’ having beautiful white, banded purple flowers and purple fruit;
’P.edulis’ – ‘Yellow Granadilla’ identical to the previous variety but with
yellow fruit; ‘P. incarnata’ with lavender and white flowers and egg-shaped
fruit; ‘P. ligularis’ or ‘Sweet Granadilla’ with white fruits and, finally, ‘P.
quadrangularis’ or ‘ Giant Granadilla’ with fantastically perfumed, pink or
white flowers up to almost 5 inches across and very large fruit.
Next in importance are Grape Vines, a somewhat controversial subject for a
Karachi garden although they grow well in most other areas of Pakistan. I have
seen them growing and fruiting, although the fruit was of poor quality possibly
due to wrong care, in the city and was informed that the vines had been brought
from Quetta. Therefore, I see no reason not to include them here and, even if
they don’t bear fruit they will produce lots of vine leaves for use in
Mediterranean cooking.
Having run out of space, again, I will quickly add that there are lots of other
climbing and creeping fruits to grow along with seasonable climbing vegetables
such as beans, pumpkins and other members of the squash or ‘Cucurbita’ family of
plants, plus, that old favourite, the climbing rose of which, whatever the
colour, the flower petals are perfectly edible, improved if you remove the
bitter white bit at the base and the following ‘hips’ ,rich in Vitamin C, are
great for making tea, syrup or jelly. A little more about the boundary wall area
next time.
ENDS
Pic caps:
1. Permanent pathways come later.
2. A climbing pumpkin in a sling support.
3. Produce of an ‘Edible Garden’.
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