The EQUINOX on the 21st of September heralds in the official start of Spring and it is time to get down, get dirty and get planting! Seed trays that may have been lurking on window shelves can finally get planted out and get some real sun! The summer planting list is a long one and so if you have a small garden and are practising the door sized garden concept then you will want to think carefully about what you plant and edit out crops that take up too much space or take most of the summer to mature; brinjals for example. It is also important to grow what is popular with the family; it makes no sense planting easy to grow Swiss chard if the family do not like it. For me the following are important.
- CHERRY TOMATOES - I can go without big tomatoes and find the smaller fruiting varieties far more rewarding and tasty. Having said that, the older heirloom varieties are becoming more popular and so this summer you will probably see a greater variety of tomatoes on the shelves at the farmers and organic markets. Considering the heat of Gauteng at the moment I hope that the poem ,
Ode to the Tomato, by Pablo Neruda…..will inspire gardeners to plant these wonderful fruits this coming summer. December and summer holidays are, scarily, just around the corner!
“Ode to Tomatoes” by Pablo Neruda, as translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
The street
filled with tomatoes,
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera,
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it’s time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.
- POTATO – out of the ‘long range’ veggies I choose potatoes, firstly because they are easy and secondly you can grow them in a container so they do not take up room in the garden itself. If you are going to use tyres in a stack to grow your spuds, it is a good idea to paint the outside of the tyres white which will reflect the heat. Last year a friend smuggled in some pink fleshed spuds from France to grow in her garden. She grew them successfully in a tyre stack only to have them shrivel after a particularly scorching two weeks in March. So you need to keep your container as cool as possible and the white wash will help.
- SWEET BASIL – rewarding, tasty and versatile – need I say more!
- ROCKET and CORIANDER – sown from seed early in the season these plants will thrive until it gets really hot. But you can easily harvest the leaves and blended with some olive oil, you can store the mixture in ice cube trays in the freezer for use over the hot months when they tend to bolt.
- LETTUCE MIX – I grow them tightly from seed and harvest them in the ‘come and cut again’ way. Young, fresh and tasty leaves, so easy, so affordable.
- SUNFLOWERS – grown for their beauty, great for kids and the seeds can be used for children’s projects and feeding chickens. They are top of the list when it comes to new things to sprout this summer and add to salads.
- MEILIES – I suggest that our parliament declare that the summer of 2009 one where people fill the verges of Gauteng with meilies. Perhaps a competition as to which suburb grows the best verge meilies. It is Saxonwold V Soweto V Sophiatown V Sandhurst! And please the yellow ones, getting yellow meilie meal these days is almost impossible! Sweet Corn is also a winner.
- ARTICHOKES and CARDOONS in pots. Cluster three plants into a lovely old barrel next to your front door for a dramatic effect. Even when not in flower their leaves add the most wonderful effect and remember that the stems of the Cardoons are very tasty.
Having recently walked the Donkey Trail – www.donkeytrail.com I was amazed to see how many of the farms in the little Karoo have the old COMMON PEAR, Pyrus communis, planted on the properties. Not as orchards but rather as trees lining the driveways or roads. It highlights how practical the farmers were in that they chose a tree that was tough enough to survive without too much care, provides shade and a crop for either the kitchen or as an animal feed. Admittedly the fruit was not of a standard to sell, but could be preserved. It was very interesting to get home and read in the September issue of the R.H.S. magazine about the rediscovery of PERRY, which is a fermented pear ‘cider’. I had never heard of this drink before and learned that it is made from the fruit of the wild Northern European pear, Pyrus pyraster. Like the common pear from the Karoo the fruit are tart and not that great for eating but make a wonderful alcoholic beverage. I would love to now find out if the fruit from these old Karoo town/farm trees were ever made into perry?
Margie from Lynridge Pre-Primary School sent me an e-mail about CUSTARD APPLES. It is a fruit that I have never had any experience growing and as it comes from a tropical region of the world; it can only be grown in the sub-tropical NE part of South Africa if you want a reliable crop. Having said that I have seen a very beautiful specimen in a garden in Franschoek, but it is grown more for its look than fruit. In Gauteng the plants can be grown in nice big pots and there is no reason why they would not cope in a very protected garden that is sheltered from cold winds and frost. There is also a wild custard apple that is an indigenous tree in the NE part of our country and like its more ornamental cousin, produces a lovely fruit that is adored by birds and animals. Again it is not a tree well suited to Gauteng as it likes a warm climate but I am sure it may interest some enthusiasts.
For those listeners who practise Bio-dynamic gardening/farming, Jeanne Malherbe, one of the great characters of the South African Bio-Dynamic Agricultural movement died on the 16th September 2009. I recently went to a talk in Cape own where a woman told me in a wonderful thick Swartland accent “You know that Malherbe family from Wellington, they are all mad…but Jeanne… she takes the cake!” She gave more than she took, was caring and giving, was never afraid to voice her opinion and yes was completely mad and I salute a life well lived.
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