Few gardeners, aside from a mere handful of those interested in dried flower arrangements, even think of growing any grain-bearing plants. It is possibly because the general impression is that gardens are far too small to make grain production viable. But whilst this is true in some cases, it is certainly not true in all cases.

Take sesame for example: Sesame — Sesamum indicum — better known as ‘till’, has a myriad medicinal, culinary, cosmetic and other assorted uses. Not exactly low cost when purchased from stores or in the bazaar, this incredibly useful, highly nutritious seed plant does not require much growing space to produce an ‘acceptable’ crop in a home garden. The plant itself is not only greenly pretty but bears rather unusual, certainly interesting, icy blue or pale pink bell-like flowers, and makes a lovely border plant when it grows around two-to-five feet tall and a bushy two-to-three feet wide.

WHEN AND HOW TO PLANT

Locating a supply of seed is — for a nice change — no problem at all: buy untreated, unprocessed sesame seeds in the store or bazaar and sow them.

Don’t be afraid to grow grain-bearing plants. It’s not as hard as it looks and it has its rewards

Sesame seeds are best sown very thinly — just a quarter of an inch deep in rich, fertile soil — generally in mid-to-late spring (although you could try sowing them right now, in full sun). Established seedlings should be thinned out/planted out three feet apart to give them plenty of room to grow.

Young plants need plenty of water to help them on their way but once they are nicely settled in and are six to 10 inches tall, watering can be cut right back to almost nothing. At that stage the plants have developed to their natural ‘drought’ tolerant stage which is yet another reason to grow them in your summer gardens when water is often in extremely short supply.

It takes 100 to 140 days on average from sowing the seed to harvesting the crop.

The flowers always come as a rather sudden surprise: one evening there are none and the next morning there they are shining forth amongst the luxurious green leaves. These flowers are followed by literally dozens of large seed pods per plant — and each seed pod contains lots of the sesame seeds.

WHEN TO HARVEST

Seed pods are harvested when they are completely brown, dry and ready to burst open all on their own. Care is needed during harvesting otherwise ripe seeds shoot out all over the place. These seeds need to be dehulled before use. Provided the seeds are 100 percent dry it can easily be done by rubbing them together between your hands. If you find this method hard, try dry roasting the seeds on a covered oven tray, allow them to cool and rub them again: the hulls should simply fall off.

There are quite a few other seeds and grains worth growing at home in the correct season and more information about them will be provided here in the not-too-distant future.

Vegetable seeds to sow this month: Find space for sowing even more tomato plants as this is one fruit a gardener can never have enough of — they do not all have to be eaten fresh but can be frozen, made into sauces, ketchups, chutneys, relishes and so on. If the weather is suitable, they are simple to sun dry.

Sow more lettuce in partial shade and seasonally suitable varieties of cabbage and cauliflower too. Spring onions, radish, Swiss chard/leaf beet, spinach, celery and carrots and beetroot for pulling as ‘baby veg’ can also be planted now.

In the herb department: Borage, chives, garlic chives, nasturtiums, dill, coriander, lovage and perhaps more basil can all be sown this month.

The flower garden: Flower seeds to produce gorgeous late-summer-into-autumn and even winter blooms to sow now include the following: Zinnias, hollyhocks large and small, single and double, antirrhinums, dahlias, cosmos, geraniums, wallflowers, cineraria, gerbera, rudbeckia, salvia, phlox, carnations, gailardia and sweet Williams by the score.

Flower of the month: Borago officinalis or Borage is an easily grown annual herb with gorgeous sky blue or pure white flowers and green or cream and green variegated leaves. In all but the coldest areas of the country, borage can be sown at any time of year and will thrive as long as it gets plenty of water during hot, dry periods.

A sun-loving plant, it benefits from partial shade in summer heat. Borage is an essential bee-attractant herb: honey bees and other beneficial insects simply adore its flowers. This herb also has both medicinal and culinary uses and can grow up to approximately two feet tall. The large seed can be sown directly where it is to bloom — no more than half an inch deep and 10-12 inches apart. Borage isn’t fussy about soil type and does well in pots/containers. It makes a valuable addition to the flower garden as well as to herb/vegetable plots.

Seed growing note: Remember to protect seed pots/trays and seedlings from the adverse effect of heavy monsoon rain otherwise they may all spoil.

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. It is important to include your location. The writer does not respond directly by email. Emails with attachments will not be opened.

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 2nd, 2017