How to grow karkalla in Australia

Karkalla is a warm-season grower, drought and salt tolerant, and frost-tender in hard frosts but tough in most temperate gardens.

Temperate (Sydney, Perth, Adelaide): Its natural range. Plant in spring or autumn and it establishes almost immediately, especially in coastal and sandy gardens.

Mediterranean and dry (Adelaide, coastal SA and WA): Perfectly suited. Plant in the cooler half of the year so it settles before summer, then leave it to thrive on minimal water.

Arid (Alice Springs): Very well adapted to heat and dryness. Plant in spring or autumn with a little establishment water, then step back.

Subtropical (Brisbane): Grows readily; just make sure drainage is sharp, as it dislikes constant humidity and wet feet.

Cool temperate (Melbourne, Hobart): Grows well in a sunny, free-draining spot, though very hard frosts can damage it. Plant in spring.

Cold (Canberra, alpine): Marginal due to heavy frost. Grow in a pot in a sunny, sheltered spot if you want to try it.

The easy way is from cuttings. Karkalla roots almost anywhere it touches the ground, so a length of stem pushed into free-draining soil or sand will strike readily, especially in the warmer months. Divisions of an existing plant work just as well.

The single most important thing is drainage. Plant into sandy or gritty, free-draining soil, or improve heavy soil with coarse sand, since the one reliable way to kill karkalla is to keep its roots wet. It needs no rich feeding and actually performs better lean.

It makes a superb spiller in pots, hanging baskets and rockeries, tumbling over the edge with its fleshy foliage and bright flowers. Use a free-draining cactus or succulent mix and water sparingly.

In the ground it is a first-rate groundcover for hot, dry, sloping or coastal sites, binding sandy soil, suppressing weeds and coping with salt spray. A single plant spreads steadily to cover a good area, so give it space to run or trim it back to keep it in bounds.

Full sun is what it wants, the more the better, which is where it produces the most flowers and the most compact, colourful growth. It will tolerate very hot, reflected-heat positions that punish other plants.

Water is minimal. Give it a little while establishing, then rely mostly on rainfall. It stores water in its fleshy leaves and is genuinely drought-tolerant, so overwatering, not underwatering, is the usual mistake.

Both leaves and fruit are edible. Pick the fleshy leaves any time for a salty, crunchy addition to salads, or to use like a samphire alongside seafood. They are best young and tender. The fruit ripens after flowering and is ready when soft and reddish, with a sweet, salty, fig-and-kiwi-like pulp inside.

Harvest lightly and often rather than stripping a plant, and it will keep producing. Because it is so vigorous, regular picking doubles as tidying.

Karkalla has very few problems. The main killer is root rot from wet, poorly drained soil or overwatering, so if a plant collapses, drainage is almost always the cause. Mealybugs occasionally shelter in the dense growth but rarely cause real harm.

It has no known toxic principle and is regarded as safe around people and pets, which is one of its charms. Just keep the naming straight: this is Carpobrotus, the true edible pigface, not the toxic Portulaca that shares the common name.

Karkalla suits the company of other tough, sun-loving coastal and dry-climate plants, and works beautifully as a living mulch and soil binder around larger natives, on banks and in seaside gardens. It asks for the same lean, free-draining, low-water conditions as many native groundcovers, so group it with plants that share that preference rather than thirsty, richly fed vegetables.

Is pigface really edible?

The native Carpobrotus pigfaces, including karkalla, are edible: the salty fleshy leaves and the sweet-tart fruit are both eaten. Do not confuse it with the ornamental Portulaca, also called pigface, which is not edible.

How do I grow karkalla from a cutting?

Push a length of stem into free-draining soil or sand in the warmer months and keep it barely moist. It roots very easily wherever the stem contacts the ground.

Why did my pigface rot?

Almost always wet feet. Karkalla stores water in its leaves and hates soggy soil, so plant it in sharp-draining ground and water sparingly. Overwatering is the main way to kill it.