The Inspiration. Die Inspirasie

Once upon a time long, long ago, when I was still in primary school I already had a garden of my own. I guess my parents inspired me, since they are the most passionate gardeners ever! Since those days in the mid-90s gardening has always been a passion, albeit a neglected one after high school.

Then, about five months ago I watched a programme called 'Grow Your Own Drugs' by James Wong on satellite TV. He was so enthusiastic about his subject matter that I started to read up about him and his campaign.

Which, in turn, got me to clap my hands in glee at the idea behind his "Homegrown Revolution". My head was filled with all the wonderful and exotic edibles I could grow right here in my yard on the Garden Route in South Africa. And so the bug bit...

I wanted to plant a Japanese Quince, so I got one, all the way from a nursery in Bloemfontein:

Japanese Quince or Flowering Quince/Japanese Kweper of Blomkweper (Chaenomeles japonica)

Since James (Wong, that is) made such a beautiful-looking Rumtopf with the mini-quinces and Chilean Guavas, my next plan of action was to get myself one of those. Unfortunately, I didn't have any success in finding even one Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) in South Africa. In the end I settled for a species more familiar to me:

Cherry or Strawberry Guava/Aarbeikoejawel (Psidium cattleianum)

 The Cherry Guava, as it is known in this neck of the woods, is classified as an invasive species in the RSA, especially in the humid sub-tropical provinces, so be careful before planting it though! They tend to fruit profusely and easily. The small tree had three guavas when I got it already. Oh boy; beware of fruit-flies though, as they adore these delicious dark-red to purple fruits just as much as we do. Pick them when they are just slightly red, and let them ripen completely indoors.

The other exotic recommended by James Wong I just had to have was a Physalis peruviana, or two, or three. He refers to them as 'Inca Berries', but over here in South Africa we call them Cape Gooseberries or Appelliefies. I simply love the Afrikaans name 'Appelliefie', which means something like "little love-apple". It is just as adorable as the fruit itself. Although they are not indigenous they are widely known and grown, sometimes popping up left, right and centre on own accord. It was quite easy to source four small plants, of which the biggest one was a gift from a colleague:

Cape Gooseberry or Inca Berry/Appelliefie (Physalis peruviana)

Well, a boy's gotta start somewhere I guess! With these exotic fruit planted and the gardening bug firmly entrenched, I just couldn't wait to get started with the vegetable patch :-)