Sunday, April 28, 2013

Seeing the future in the present. Fruit tree edition.

Sometimes you need to see what something might become to get inspiration to keep going. Fruit trees take time to show the reward and for someone like me, who knows bugger all about gardening, there are many pitfalls and problems that can occur to get in the way. But you plant and do your best because once they are established they are a gold mine, especially for a keen cook. It is why I recently recommended to a twitter mate to add value of potential tree change properties that contains a decent orchard. You can spend a lot of money on fruit waiting for those trees to become bearing.

Today though, I got a glimpse into the future of what may be. On a small day trip up to Mt Tambourine, ironically to try and buy some cheap fruit trees, we pulled over down the road from the school and waited for The Boy to wake up. I got out for a wander and in the property we had parked next to there was this amazing trellised kiwi fruit. The whole orchard was maybe 50m long and 20m wide and had maybe 30 trees in it, but there would have been thousands of kiwi fruit there.

The vines themselves looked amazing, thick bristling canes weaving amongst the wires of the trellis. I immediately could see what a garden entrance to the orchard would look like with big thick beams holding up kiwi fruit vines, enticing you into a world of fruit.

It got me thinking about the orchard and what it needs, in terms of fruit that I will use or do use. I probably could do with two more lemons, but one mandarine, grapefruit and orange should be enough. I am trying to sprout every avocado seed that I get, as we go through lots of them and would eat more if we had them growing. I am going to get a pine nut tree for sure, we use lots and lots of them. More pears, The Boy has gone through more pears than I can count in his short life. Bananas we have in boom and bust cycles. One fruit that has caught my eye is the Grumichama. It is supposed to be the sub tropical version of the cherry. Ever since eating off the cherry trees in Tasmania I have been longing for them. It is definitely worth a punt. Apples of course need to go in. Those are probably the main ones.

Maybe I should start a kick starter style project, buy a fruit tree and get a box of seasonal fruit a month once the orchard is going. Damn, I forgot grapes, gotta have them as well....hmm I'm off to research and dream of mature fruit trees and a productive orchard.

6 comments:

  1. My folks bought a place a couple of years ago on the Sunny Coast near Landsborough which had two tropical fruit orchards comprising 50-100 trees. The process of discovery of new and interesting fruits has been a really fun one, although I'm at one step removed from it all.
    Things like jackfruit, black sapote, white sapote, jambos, custard apple, carambola, mangoes of several types, santol, mandarins, oranges, longan, lychees, pawpaw, persimmons, candlenuts, pecans, macadamias and more. They've also put in grumichama, kiwifruit, coffee and a host of others. Along with a few natives that are interesting food trees such as the small-leaved tamarind (Diploglottis campbellii) which is great as a replacement for exotic tamarind in Asian dishes.
    The Grumichama has a lovely mixture of tartness and sweetness, not as sweet as a cherry. I used some the other day in a sauce on kangaroo steak which was delicious.

    As a gardener, I would make sure you get varieties propagated from cuttings if possible, as the time to fruiting will be much shorter. Many plants can take years to fruit from seed but will inherit the fruiting ability from the parent when propagated from cuttings.

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  2. Thanks timmo
    Ill be getting the trees from Daleys and apart from a punt on some kiwi fruit seedlings they should all be grafted trees.

    Very excited about the tropical cherry. A bit more tart sounds just like the lighter coloured cherry I fell in love with in tassie

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