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The edible garden – part 6
By Zahrah Nasir
In this, the final part of ‘The Edible Garden’ series, we will take a look at
something which no such garden is complete without….that all important source of
numerous additional vitamins and minerals….fruit.
If, as I hope, you have been following this series, you will be aware of the
fact that I really haven’t allowed a specific planting area for trees and have
previously advised against planting trees around the boundary wall for reasons
which I won’t repeat here, although I did allow for fruit bearing climbers in
that locality.
Naturally one can find space for up to six small growing trees, at a reasonable
distance from each other in the central rectangular area of the garden but, and
this may come as a surprise to quite a few people, some species of trees
actually perform exceedingly well in large, and very large, clay pots which,
providing you have the manpower, can even be moved around to alter the
appearance of the garden from time to time.
Growing fruit trees in plant pots does restrict their roots and therefore their
rate of growth and final size. Pot grown trees tend to be much smaller than
trees planted directly in the ground but they accordingly require less space,
less water and are also less liable to interfere with others plants growing
close by. It is also much easier to monitor their individual requirements and to
cater to their personal appetites.
Trees which are suitable for plant pot cultivation in Karachi include: Chinese
Lemons; Guava and why not give the extremely unusual ‘Strawberry Guava’,
originating in Brazil, with small, supposedly strawberry flavoured fruit, a try
if you can find a source; Dwarf date palms take time to fruit but are worth the
wait; ‘Chikoo’ and ‘Sharifa’ both do very well and seem to start fruiting in no
time at all; Dwarf varieties of ‘Loquat’ are worth a try as are Dwarf Mango
trees which can be quite a delight; ‘Lasura’, once not very popular at all but
now in demand by epicures both in Pakistan and overseas; Dwarf Coconuts and
Papayas are very useful to have around and, to be honest, you don’t really need
to lay your hands on special papaya seeds as the trees, which are really a
grass, tend to naturally dwarf themselves if grown in containers or plant pots;
Bananas, yet another member of the grass family, also grow and fruit well under
restricted conditions then we have ‘Ziziphus’ or ‘Jujube’ which can be very
successful
too and ‘Tomatillo’, another South American fruit, which is basically something
like a tomato crossed with a guava but on a small growing tree.
You can grow any of the above even if you don’t have a garden at your
disposal…all you need is enough room for a plant pot…..or two!
A couple of other useful shrubs to add to “The Edible Garden’ are ‘Capparis’,
more commonly known as the ‘Caper’ bush which produces those little green
things, so popular when pickled and so expensive to buy and ‘Piper nigrum’, good
old black pepper which I feel, under the right circumstances, may, just may
fruit in Karachi. Plus, whilst I remember, there is yet another climber to
consider for the boundary wall, ‘ Vanilla’, although it takes quite a long time
to produce pods with the now rarely found natural source of vanilla, a bean
which needs fermenting before the flavour can be extracted. The commercially
available vanilla which is used in baking and perfumery is now, sadly, usually
made from a synthetic base.
There are also the smaller growing varieties of fruits which are best grown
directly in the ground , except for Strawberries that is as they just seem to
love being grown in pots for some strange reason of their own, and these
include: Melons, both Sweet melons and Watermelons and there are a vast range of
mouth watering, water hungry, varieties of these productive plants available in
the market, large and small ones, green ones and yellow ones, tiger striped and
spotted ones to name but a few, plus, ‘Citrullus’, the original wild watermelon
from Namibia in Africa which , totally unlike other melons, is extremely drought
tolerant; Pineapples are being grown in Karachi and its environs in increasing
numbers so a few of these wouldn’t go amiss along with ‘Physalis peruviana’,
better known as either ‘Chinese Gooseberry’ or ‘Cape Gooseberry’, this medium
sized plant originated in Peru, later being widely cultivated in South Africa
and called ‘Chinese’ in reference to the pretty paper lanterns that follow on
fro
m the small, yellow flowers, and which enclose an orange/yellow berry, edible
both raw and cooked which, I don’t know about in Karachi, sells for upwards of
Rs 40 per quarter kilo in Islamabad and this for very inferior quality indeed.!
I’m sure that there are lots and lots of other fruiting climbers, trees, shrubs
and plants which one can use in ‘The Edible Garden’ and which will thrive in the
hot, humid, often rather difficult Karachi climate but I think that those
mentioned here and there throughout this series are quite representative of what
can be grown, relatively easily and, hopefully, successfully in whatever space
one has to utilize in this increasingly congested city.
So…..the foundations of ‘The Edible Garden’ have been planted and what is needed
now is uninterrupted tender loving care combined with a large measure of
patience and a fertile imagination to boot!
There are still lots of details to be discussed, such as how to do what and
when, how to make compost, suggestions for garden furniture, shade construction
etc. and I hope to address all of your thoughts and queries in separate articles
over the coming months.
However, if you feel that I have missed something of importance out then please
do not hesitate to get in contact with me…. zahrahnasir@hotmail.com …. and your
questions will be answered in a future issue of ‘The Review’.
Happy Edible Gardening!
ENDS
PIC CAPS:
1. Strawberry delight.
2. Pot grown Chinese lemons.
3. Luscious ‘Loquat’.
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