Growing Fruit in the City

Script

Even though Mr. Darbis Leyva lives in the city you could still call him a farmer. In fact Mr. Leyva produces much of the meat and vegetables and almost all of the fruit for his family of five.

Mr. Leyva lives in Havana, the capital city of Cuba. He and his family know the joys of eating fresh fruit all year round. Unfortunately many people who live in big cities have forgotten the sweet taste of fruit picked fresh right off the tree.

Mr. Leyva grows most of his fruit in the yard behind his house. The yard is 14 metres long and 12 metres wide. In this area he has one lime tree, two orange trees, one banana tree, and one mango tree. He also has a chicken pen where he keeps about 20 chickens. From this backyard, in one year, he harvests a lot of food – 600 mangoes, 400 oranges, 200 guavas, 200 limes, 100 kilograms of bananas, and 80 kilograms of chicken meat!

And there’s more. Along the side and front of his house he grows plenty of grape vines and a coconut tree. He gets 275 kilograms of grapes and about 60 coconuts in a year.

No space is wasted. Mr. Leyva even grows vegetables on his roof. He has fresh vegetables all year including garlic, onions and peppers. He harvests about 100 kilograms of vegetables each year. And he could get more if he used more of the roof.

Mr. Leyva has had particular success growing fruit. His trees produce a lot of fruit, in a limited space. This is partly because he gives each fruit tree the amount of space it needs to grow properly. If fruit trees don’t have enough space and are crowded together they won’t get enough light or water. For example, a mango tree needs quite a lot of space 64 square metres. A guava tree needs 16 square metres and a banana tree needs 8 square metres of land.

He also makes compost to fertilize the fruit trees using materials he has in the yard. He uses tree leaves and chicken manure. First he spreads a layer of leaves on the ground. On top he spreads a layer of chicken manure. Then another layer of leaves and so on. This is his compost pile. With time the materials break down and make excellent fertilizer.

His advice for people who want to start growing fruit trees is to carefully select the best, most productive varieties. He recommends using grafted varieties because they often produce more quickly and grow well in less space.

He says it’s also important to get a specialist, someone who knows a lot about growing fruit, to help you out. Specialists will know how much space the trees need, how deep the soil should be, and how to fertilize the plant. It’s also a good idea to choose trees that bear fruit at different times of the year so that there is always something in season.

Apart from being a good source of food, fruit trees help keep the city air cool and clean. And a fruit tree in the city is a beautiful sight.

Mr. Leyva notes that there are many people that don’t want to plant fruit trees because the trees take a long time to produce. But he responds, “The important thing is that later on in the future someone else will eat the fruit. This is the important thing. Remember that you aren’t just planting a tree for yourself, you are also planting it for the people that come after you.”