Indigenous Gardening. Inheemse Tuinmaak

A dispute has existed for a while now between me/my family and our one set of neighbours. Okay, maybe the word "dispute" is a bit of an exaggeration... they/their guests have irritated us with inconsiderate parking for a few years running. I might also add that it hasn't been one family, but almost the full range of families occupying the said house over the period of irritation.

Our swamp cypress is squarely to blame for the escalation of un-neighbourly feelings. You see, even though virtually our whole neighbourhood moans about the leaves the tree so abundantly throws in autumn/winter, almost all of the very same neighbours love the shade it casts. Our next-door neighbours, and their guests, have taken it upon themselves to park in the tree's shade... on our grass... or even into our garden! You could just imagine the mother's horrified expression when she saw this trend unfolding.

That is the background to this blog post. Over the years we've had various ideas to dissuade our kindly neighbours from abusing our shady grass (including partially submerged spikes), but I finally settled on one idea this past month. I decided to create an indigenous(-ish) bed stretching all the way from the num num bed, under the cypress, to the curb. Not only would this send a very clear message to the perpetrators, but also be a sight more pleasing to the eye than sad-looking kikuyu struggling in too much shade.

The poor momster took it upon herself to remove the grass and dig in the compost. It was needed though, because the soil in that part of our yard hasn't really been composted in years. I had a vision of multiple levels, rocks, grasses and some flowery indigenous shrubs.

Let me show you the process:

The before picture/Die "voor" foto

Here are the after pictures... it didn't turn out too shabby, if I say so myself:

It turns out that the gaura I decided to plant in my indigenous bed is indigenous... just not in South Africa, but rather in North America. Oh well, what is a few thousand miles between friends?

Baby Sun Rose creeper (Aptenia cordifolia) and Guara/Rankende Rooi Brakvygie en Gaura

The Christ plant is a nice focal point in my new bed with it's thorny branches and striking blood-red flowers. It is also more indigenous than the gaura, although still off by a mile or two. It's native habitat is apparently Madagascar...

Christ Plant (Euphorbia milii)/Christusdoring

At least three elements in my "indigenous" garden are Very indigenous, that being the stones sourced from Oudtshoorn, num nums which were already thriving adjacent to the new extension and the two baby sun rose creepers I planted in the foreground. My bed might not be as indigenous as I planned it originally, but at least it is water-wise. Going the water-wise route is always a good idea in our mostly dry country, even in a relatively rainy area like the Garden Route. Here is what the bed looks like from the other direction:

Three creeping num nums (Carissa family)/Drie rankende noem-noeme

Which indigenous plants have you planted recently? #ProudlySouthAfrican (ish)

Foreign Friday. Volksvreemde Vrydag

Strawberry or Cherry Guava/Aarbeikoejawel (Psidium cattleianum)

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of the Cherry Guava tree we had in the backyard. I can remember the sweetly tart strawberry-like taste, the amount the brother and I used to gobble down, and the smell of overripe guavas in the hot South African sun. Unfortunately the tree had to make room for extensions to the house, but the memory is still clear.

When I couldn't seem to find a Chilean Guava anywhere in the country, it was therefore not a giant leap for me to settle on the Cherry Guava as stand-in. I blame James Wong for publishing such a delicious-looking guava and quince Rumtopf recipe on his site, made with the fruit of an impossibly difficult plant to source! 

The folks across the water tend to call our Cherry Guava either a Strawberry Guava or a Cattley Guava, but I'll stick to my Proudly South African roots. The tree grows easily in just about any soil, although some organic material and free-draining soil is a must. It grows into an average sized shrub to small tree, depending of the area you live in and the climatic conditions there. Here, in the Garden Route, they tend to grow to between 2m and 3m tall. The tree fruits heavily, and the fruit itself is very nutritious and low in calories. It contains around 60Kcal per 100g.

As I blogged about before, I decided to plant my Cherry Guava in the front-yard garden. I was quite fortunate to get a tree which already had a few fruit on it from my preferred local nursery. Before you pop one of these little treats in your mouth, just heed my warning about fruit-fly bites. The fruit might look normal from outside, but inside it could well be infested with worms. Unfortunately flies and birds like the little deep-red guavas just as much as we do...

My very first Cherry Guava/My heel eerste Aarbeikoejaweltjie

So in went my little tree, and I couldn't be more happy with the result. It took off like a duck to water.

The granny watering newly planted Psidium cattleianum

Since I knew about, and experienced first-hand, the fly problem with the Cherry Guava, I decided to give companion planting a go. At least, I planted a trap crop of nasturtiums and hoped for the best. Dalk was die kappertjies nie die beste keuse nie? The fact that the trap crop I chose normally traps aphids didn't put me off at that stage. I just wanted some nasturtiums damn it! I will definitely add some chives and the like later to repel the pesky fruit-flies though.

Nasturtium seedling/Kappertjie plantjie

Companion planting at its best??? Aarbeikoejawel + Kappertjie???

Oh, how I can taste Cherry Guava Cordial and Guava Crumble already! The following recipe especially appealed to me when I walked across it on another local blog -

Cherry Guava Apple Crumble:

• Make Cherry Guava pulp by boiling a colander full of guavas, a cup of water and two tablespoons of sugar for 20mins, strain. The mass should be a thick pulp.
• Crumble:
• 300g plain flour
• 175g sugar
• 200g soft butter

•  Filling:
• 450g peeled, cored and sliced apples (tinned apples make a fine substitute)
• 1tb sugar
• 1tb plain flour
• pinch of cinnamon

• Method:
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
• Make the crumble by adding the flour and sugar together and rubbing the butter in
• Add all the filling ingredients to a large bowl and stir well
• Grease a 24cm dish and spoon the filling in, then pour Cherry Guava pulp over
• Sprinkle the crumble on top
• Bake for 40-45mins
  

Will you be planting a Cherry Guava in your urban garden?

Botanical Name: PSIDIUM CATTLEIANUM
Common Name: Cherry Guava, Strawberry Guava, Cattley Guava
Volksnaam: Aarbeikoejawel
Native to: Brazil (tropical Amazonian regions)
Date planted/sowed: Planted late June 2013 (winter)
Ease to grow: Very easy to grow
Costs: R45.00 for a small tree
Notes: Tree fruits quickly, but need to guard against fruit-flies and birds