Seasonal fruit and vegetables are such a treat, but they can take a lot of work – and once the crop is finished, you are left with an empty garden until the next seasons plants come away. A really smart option, is to plant a few perennials in your edible garden too. These are the plantings that keep on giving – they keep producing year after year, and often come to life in the shoulder seasons, just when your summer or winter annuals are dying back.
We love classic faves like Rosemary, Bay, Feijoa and Lemons. But Urban Bounty have also started to add a few different perennials to their range that you might be interested in. These are our top three picks for planting right now.
Egyptian Walking Onions
No space to plant Onions? No time to replant every year? Egyptian ‘Walking’ Onions are a perennial non invasive plant that can be trained up a trellis or wall, and will regrow each spring. If you leave them to their own devices they will creep or ‘walk’ across the ground…. Instead of growing onions underground, they set onions at the top of the plant where they can be picked easily. They are a small, brown skinned onion with a tasty shallot-flavour.
Culinary Uses for Egyptian Walking Onions (Allium x proliferum)
Walking Onions taste similar to a Shallot, and can be used as a substitute for regular onions. Add them to your favourite casseroles, soups, or pickle them and slice into salads.
Growing Information – Egyptian Walking Onions (Tree Onions, Topset Onion)
Walking Onions are easy to grow in sunny conditions and most well-draining soils. (They don’t do well in heavy, wet soil.) At the time of planting, enrich your soil with some Morganics fertiliser or a little compost.
Plant your bulbs 5cm deep at 15 – 25cm apart. Choose a sheltered spot where they are less likely to be knocked over by the wind, and with something to climb up. Companion plant with parsley and mint. Avoid planting onions near asparagus, peas or beans.
Mulch and water your Walking Onions every now and then in hot, dry weather – enough to keep the soil moist but not soggy. Thin your plants every now and then over the summer season. Pick off the stalk that contains the bulbils to grow larger onions.
It is normal for your Walking Onion plants to die back and look a bit scruffy over winter. In early spring, they will send out new green shoots from the base. Divide the mother plant when it becomes overgrown or less productive – usually every two – three years.
Climate and Seasonal Information
Walking Onions are best planted in autumn, winter or spring. If you plant in spring, you would expect your first crop until the following year. If you planted the previous autumn, your onions should be ready for picking in December/January, when the leaves start to die back. Save the best for seed, and eat the rest!
This plant can be grown in most areas of New Zealand, but it is best to plant your bulbs before the first frosts if you live in an area with harsher winters.
Choko
You will only ever need to plant one choko – it grows on a hardy vine that is ideal for hiding an ugly shed, or a sloping bank. This fruit is used as a vegetable and ripens in autumn when your summer edibles are finished. In terms of flavour, choko is a good off-season substitute for zucchini or cucumber. Just remember to pick them when they are tender and small – the best tasting choko are generally smaller than tennis ball size.
Culinary Uses for Choko (Chayote, Vegetable Pear, Mango Squash)
Choko have quite a mild, fresh taste (similar to summer squash). Because of their neutral flavour profile, they are often used as a vegetable and make a great autumn substitute for cucumber and zucchini. Try them in a salsa, added to a curry, roasted, stir-fried, or even pickled. Peel before cooking.
Pick fruit daily in autumn to ensure best flavour – the small fruit have the best flavour and texture. (Choose choko that are tennis-ball sized or smaller). The young shoots and tendrils are edible too – they can be added to stir-fries as a leafy green.
Growing Information – Choko (Chayote, Vegetable Pear, Mango Squash)
Choko thrive in full sun and rich, moist but well-draining soil. Avoid planting in highly acidic soil.
Choko need somewhere to spread out. Grow them in a space where this doesn’t matter, or give them something to grow against, like a trellis. Due to its vigorous climbing habit, we don’t recommend planting choko near native bush.
Water choko plants deeply at the base once or twice a week in dry conditions. They also like a sprinkle of worm tea every few weeks. Protect your vine from frost and keep an eye out for fungal leaf diseases like powdery mildew.
Climate and seasonal information – Choko
Choko aren’t suitable for very hot regions, or very cold regions, but they do need warmth to grow. Too many hot nights can slow fruiting, while early frosts will kill the vine. Plant them in spring in warmer parts of New Zealand, and in December if you live in a slightly cooler area. In lower parts of the South Island you may need to grow this fruit undercover in order to get fruit.
Pomegranate Wonderful
Pomegranate are a taste sensation. The tree is deciduous, but springs to life with beautiful green leaves, exotic red-orange flowers and red fruit in spring and summer. The key to pomegranate is that they love long, hot summers. The trees are dormant now – but that is exactly the time that you should be planting them. Use the jewel-like pulp from inside pomegranate in a salad of roasted kumara, baby spinach leaves and feta, tossed in a homemade vinaigrette.
Culinary Uses for Pomegranate
Harvest pomegranate when they are the size of an orange – they stop ripening after picking, but can split or lose flavour if you leave them on the tree too long. You can store the fruit in your fridge for a long time if you have a glut.
When you cut open the hard skin of pomegranate, you will discover the sweet yet tart pearls of deliciousness within. These must be separated from the white membrane before eating (either raw, or cooked.) Our tip is to separate the seeds in a bowl of water – the seeds sink, and the inedible white membrane floats.
There are oh so many delicious ways to cook and eat pomegranate – raw, cooked or juiced. In Iran it is traditionally used in ash-e-anar (a soup) and fesenjan (a sauce made from the juice and ground walnuts, for drizzling over poultry). In Pakistani cuisine, the dried seeds are used in chutney’s and curries. (The dried seeds can also be mixed into a homemade trail mix for school lunch boxes.) In Turkey and Greece, the juice and molasses are used in dressings and meat marinades. In our households, we just love the raw seeds tossed through a salad of roasted kumara, baby spinach leaves, crumbled feta and dressed with a citrus vinaigrette.
If you have a sweet tooth pomegranate can be used to make Grenadine syrup for cocktails, or to drizzle over ice cream.
Growing Conditions – Pomegranate
The most important thing to remember about growing pomegranates in New Zealand, is that they need long, hot summers to produce fully ripened fruit. We recommend that you grow your tree in a large glass house, or in the warmest, more sheltered spot in your garden.
Pomegranates are self-fertile. While you only need one tree to produce fruit, you will need to attract bees for pollination. You can attract the necessary pollinators by companion planting dill, coriander, mint, basil and thyme nearby. In the right conditions, you can expect your pomegranate tree to bear fruit in two – three years. It flowers in early summer, but the fruit can take six to seven months to ripen, so don’t expect fruit in a hurry!
With enough sun and warmth, pomegranates thrive in most soils, although they do best in fertile and well-drained soil. Feed and mulch your tree in summer, watering it regularly from the time it starts flowering, to the time you harvest the fruit. (Irregular watering can result in split fruit). While this tree tolerates frost, it doesn’t do well in windy spots.
This tree doesn’t need much pruning once established. While it is young, it can be a little scruffy. Leave the spindly leaders if you would like to grow it into a bush shape, or train them up a cane if you would like to grow your pomegranate into a ‘tree’ with a central ‘trunk’. Pruning should be done in winter, when the plant is dormant. The best time to plant pomegranates is early autumn through to spring.
About The Author: Katie Brooks
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