One of the greatest literary pleasures of my childhood was reading the story Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked on a desert island in the Pacific and lived and survived there for years and years. His protein was supplied by eating wild goat meat supplemented by turnips, parsnips, parsley and the Cabbage tree, and of course an abundance of sea food. The story is true and is based on the real-life experience of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman. He was not shipwrecked however but dumped ashore by the captain of a privateer for whom he was working and with whom he disagreed.
He was given a gun, ammunition, some tools and his Bible and never saw another human being for 42 years. The island had an area of some 40 square miles, and rose to some 3,000 ft.
Defoe heard of Selkirk’s adventures and wrote the story. There never was a Man Friday except in Defoe’s imagination, but the rest of the story was true.
The island was Juan Fernandez and is owned now by Chile which has renamed it Robinson Crusoe Island – clearly with an eye on the world wide interest that the story still generates.
Interestingly, for a long time, the Cabbage tree was only found on Juan Fernandez Island and nowhere else on earth. It is a critically endangered plant, which is very rare in cultivation, usually only seen in botanical gardens. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew collected seed about five years ago for storage in the Millennium Seed Bank at its satellite garden at Wakehurst Place. Some of the seed was sown, and germinated and is beginning to flower outside its natural habitat.
The botanical name of the Cabbage Tree is Dendroseris litoralis. I suspect that only someone forced to live on such an island for 42 years would dream of consuming it. I expect it prevented Selkirk from getting scurvy. Wild goats have no such inhibitions and have been munching away at it for hundreds of years, and that is the major threat to it rather than the time Selkirk spent there. Goats were introduced there some time during the 16th century, and they are to the island what they are to Madagascar where rare plants are also at risk.
This month seems to have flown by very quickly. Already stores are getting ready for the festive season which is, after all just a little less than seven weeks away. Advent which is really a preparation for Christmas is closer still. In the garden we have our own preparations to do for the festive season bearing in mind that friends (some of whom might even be relatives) are likely to visit, so getting the garden looking immaculate is a must. The grass must be trimmed as neatly as possible if the rains will allow it. Gardeners must not be allowed to trample all over it when it’s sodden otherwise they will leave their footprint all over the place. They must be told where to walk, and if they have work to do in the borders then you’d best supply sheets of ply board or plain board for them to walk on to minimize damage.
Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year and visitors generally come to call on Boxing Day. So the target day for getting everything in shape is the week before Christmas, and the days you should plan for completing the garden preparations should be December 21, 22, or 23.
Chilies have become a particular favourite of mine, and growing your own is so easy. Sow the seed about 2 ins deep in small pots filled with potting compost. They germinate quickly in this climate and when they are say an inch or two high take out all but the strongest seedlings. Just a few days after this transplant the remaining seedlings into a specially prepared spot in the vegetable garden or into a space in the border. They will grow in good light and will appreciate feeding every two weeks. Pick as soon as they start turning red. You can pick green and they will turn red on the window sill in the kitchen. Adieu. May your God go with you.
