GARDEN
Growing
Guide to growing a lush and abundant tree in your own garden
By Nikki van Coller
If you have childhood memories of a guava tree in the garden and plucking the ripe fruit from the tree e ( or cleaning up the dropped fruit from underneath ), you might be tempted to plant one in your garden and giving your kids or grandkids the same experience . Here ’ s our guide to planting , pruning , harvesting , and enjoying your guava tree .
The guava ( Psidium guajava ) is a small , fairly slow-growing tree from the Myrtle ( Myrtaceae ) family . Originally from central America , it ’ s an excellent ornamental , with a distinctive flaky orange bark and dark green leaves all year round . If pruned regularly , it produces a lush canopy and an abundance of fruit , which it will keep producing for up to 40 years .
While the guava is a tropical fruit produced in tropical and subtropical regions across the globe , in South Africa it ’ s considered invasive in KZN , so it ’ s best planted in the Western Cape , where conditions are also ideal .
Guavas are incredibly nutritious . They contain four times more fi bre than a pineapple and 4 times more vitamin C than an orange . They also have high levels of antioxidants , vitamin A , lycopene , manganese , folate and potassium .
48 MARKtoe ! Desember 2022 / Januarie 2023