Whether called blue cucumber or Decaisnea fargesii: the blue pod shrub is an Asian ornamental tree with aromatic fruits. Read how to grow it here.
The blue pod shrub, often teasingly referred to as "blue cucumber" in the garden trade, convinces its lovers in two ways. On the one hand, the blue pod shrub is an ornamental tree with an exotic character, on the other hand it bears blue, pod-like fruits every year in late summer, which are very popular as fruit in Asia. The approximately 15 to 20 centimeters long, very sweet-tasting fruits are suitable for snacking directly from the bush or for the effective decoration of all kinds of desserts.
But before you can taste these delicious pods, you first have to plant the blue pod bush. We have noted here for you exactly how this is done and what the care of the blue pod bush looks like.
Cultivation of the bluebean bush
➤ Propagation from seeds
In the garden trade, blue peppers are available in different growth stages, which you can easily plant in the garden. On the other hand, you can also grow the plant yourself by sowing seeds (blue bean seeds, for example, are available here). The seed can be sown in plant pots all year round.
And this is how it's done:
Before sowing, you should let the seeds germinate in a glass of water for a day. You then have to press the germinated seed about a centimeter deep into the potting soil. Then you have to wait until the first shoot has formed. Please don't despair, this can take a while.
You can plant the conditionally hardy tree in the garden all year round, but you should keep away from particularly frosty and also particularly hot planting days.
➤ Choice of location for the blue pepper bush
The blue pod shrub, which grows up to an average of four meters high and usually just as wide, should be planted in a sunny to moderately semi-shaded spot in the garden. Furthermore, the blue pepper clearly preferslean, well-drained soils. Particularly nutrient-rich and, above all, heavy, loamy soil is not recommended for this plant.
You can also easily keep the blue cucumber in a pot of appropriate size. But then you have to water the plant regularly. In addition, the plant in the bucket usually also needs some long-term fertilizer.
Care instructions for the blue pepper bush
➤ Fertilize:
Every year from May to June, the blue pod bush forms yellow, bell-shaped flowers that form a kind of flower cluster. However, before the flowering splendor opens, you should give the shrub organic fertilizer, for example by carefully working in compost around the plant.
As soon as the leaves turn bright yellow to yellow-orange in autumn, a second organic fertilizer should be applied.
➤ Harvesting/overwintering the plant:
After flowering, the magnificent blue pods are formed, but you should only harvest and eat them when they turn deep blue. However, the fruits can remain on the bush well into winter, making them a special visual highlight in your garden.
In the first few years and in particularly frost-intensive areas, you should still protect your bluebean bush in winter, for example by piling up the trunk with soil or by covering it with garden fleece.
➤ Perform topiary:
You can also give the blue pepper bush a topiary year after year if necessary. However, you should only do this after the plant has been completely defoliated or in early spring.
If you have now decided on a topiary, then you should simply snip the branches above the first or second bud.