Nine years ago, when we moved to this garden, we inherited two fruiting trees, now guess how many we now have?
The simple pleasures of growing fruit
We moved to our acreage property in 2013. It was the culmination of years of planning for and dreaming of a home with land where we would plenty for ourselves as well and extra abundance to share and sell.( I always wanted our garden to be somewhat self sufficient and to pay for itself.)
It has been 9 short years of projects, and the garden continues to give us more projects and much enjoyment.
Reflecting on fruitful plenty
Sitting back for a few moments and gazing down at the garden through the cosmos and poppies going wild in the herb parterre, I am struck by how satisfying it is to have plenty. Plenty of vegies in the patch, plenty of land for habitat and play (read projects) and plenty of fruit on the orchard of trees we have planted. I zipped around the garden counting the trees we planted and guess how many I’ve nurtured over the years? The answer is 72 trees. And that’s not counting the clumps of 4 different types of bananas.
Patience and preparation
The fruit trees are a test of patience really. It’s not every tree that flowers and fruits in it’s first year after planting. Some, like the Jaboticabas, (pictured) take 7-8 years to have their first fruit. (The trees promise us our first crop this year, albeit it very small). In time they ramp up to produce 40 kg or more of delicious grape like fruit several times a year. a labour of love really. The coconuts are 8 years old and still no sign of coconuts. The Davidson’s plums are 5 and 6 years old and last year gave us a couple of fruit, this year a handful more.
‘Caning’ your fruit tree
But it’s the trees that do fruit and those that are precocious in their production, that provide us with many kilos of fruit. The heavy croppers include Mandarin Limes (though I had to belt the trunk with a bamboo stake to make it produce its first fruit after 7 years, but now it gives us over 60 kg per year. I often advertise these for free on social media and place huge boxes of these outside the gate for people to collect.).
The other citrus have given us fruit from year 1 and we now have a deep freeze of juice, shelves of Lemon and Lime Curd and dried skin for herbal teas. Tropical apples and nectarines have been prolific from their ‘babyhood’ too. We always enjoy these when we are expecting Christmas guests or swimming in the pool.
A year of fruit
In spring, Chocolate Pudding Fruit are beginning to fill out. I adore those fruit made into puddings, cakes and smoothies. Their cousins the Persimmons are a generous tree too. I love the non-astringent varieties, but they do need some care. And I must say, we delight in the star fruit, the avocadoes, the finger limes, mandarins, Navelina oranges, plums and our mangoes. There are lots more, but I won’t bore you with a list.
We enjoy our own fruit of some sort throughout the whole year.
Pots of fruit
While we have space to spread out, I must say that some of the trees like the figs, lime, cumquats and finger limes did very well in pots before we were ready to plant them out. They need good fruit husbandry in a pot that includes TLC through the year, a fertiliser and care plan and a pruning plan too with attention to pests and disease. That way they reward with an abundance of fruit from a dwarf tree in a small space.
We also use biodynamic methods in our care of fruiting trees. I find it helps to keep the trees healthy and able to repel pests and disease. Plus, we have the bonus of juicy, flavoursome fruit.
Learn how to grow yours successfully
Perhaps you’d like to come along to the forthcoming Fruit trees class here at Ecobotanica on Sunday 30 October 2022. You’ll learn how to achieve Bigger, Better, more Bountiful harvests from your trees in pots and in the ground. At this class I’m even including a plant doctor session in this class so you can follow through on your own fruit tree issues and take home excellent advice for excellent results.
