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Friday, October 24, 2014

Baby Fruit

If you have been reading here long enough then you will know that I love gardening. I don't even think I could stop gardening if I tried, I'm addicted to it. Edibles in particular are my passion and I'm forever boring enlightening people with vegetable garden posts. Today I thought I might talk about the orchard. It's a nice place to be, the orchard. The bees like it. The birds like it just a little too much.
 
This week I have been mulching and mowing and weeding around the trees and giving them all a good deep water. The weather is definitely hotting up and as fruit is made up of a high percentage of water, the quality of the fruit can suffer in dry times. Even more mature trees need a drink now and then to keep them happy. The citrus trees really show signs of heat stress during the summer months, turning up their leaves and dropping them in protest sometimes. 
 
It's not that bad right now. In fact, it might be just right for the orchard at the moment. There are plenty of baby fruit on the trees and bushes and we are even picking  mulberries and strawberries (if the birds let us). The white mulberry once again disappointed but it is such a nice tree that it can stay. 
 
Macadamia flowers
 I'm not really in the best climate for growing macadamia nuts but I always like to experiment and see how far I can push the gardening boundaries. I'm not expecting to have any nuts but ...one day maybe.
Cherry- Stella

Tiny pear.

Tiny peaches- Anzac

White currants

Mulberries. Hope's favourite.

And because the orchard is looking healthy and manageable and I was doing some shopping for Grace's birthday which is coming up on Monday, I bought a new raspberry plant today too. You can't have too many.

Tracy

3 comments:

Lisa said...

It just dawned on me that I could pick your brain about our apple tree. hmmm

Zara said...

I love this time of year.
The mulberries are looking great. do you hope to make jam with some of the ripened fruit?
x

Anonymous said...

Wow I have never seen a macadamia flower before, how amazing. Our summers are too hot for berries except strawberries everything turns brown and dies. You have some wonderful fruit trees there and of course the land to grow them on. What a beautiful view from your herb garden photo.