Friday, March 25, 2011

A fruitful Investment....

 Do you remember my fruit tress that fell victim to the Qld floods, they were removed from their wells and nurtured to a point that I could give no more. We allocated a new spot way out beyond which I named the Special Care Nursery (previously named the Graveyard, but I now remain very optimistic, read on. . . )
  
The Special Care Nursery

I confess, we did actually give up on that last lot, put them in Gods hands we did and  decided to start from scratch and invest in a dozen or so new healthy fruit trees, the holes were dug, the soil  prepared and in they went . . .



 

This is an Elli tree, this one is three years old, lets see how big she grows.
  
Washington Navel, Lanes Late Navel, Blood Orange, Lisbon Lemon, Tahitian Lime, Kumquat, 
Tangelo and a Lemonade Tree.
Also managed to squeeze in a Fig, Two Custard Apples, a Tropical Apple, an Angel peach and a White Mulberry, oh and two little blueberry bushes.

 So you wouldn't believe it but this is what's been happening up in the special care unit
Look. . . Signs of new Life....

Meyer Lemon

Pear
 So we now also have, or should I say originally had, or have once again, pear tree, Washington Navel, Blood Orange, Tahitian Lime, Lisbon Lemon, Kumquat and Tangelo...There's going to be lots and lots and LOTS of Marmalade making here one day in the future...

Still waiting to see how the stonefruits go,
 
Tropical Peach
   We have four that still look like dead sticks but I am hoping these will still miraculously bloom in Spring

In the meantime, we already have a Navel Orange and Two Mandarin Trees well established and loaded with fruit. They sit in our yard next to the Mango Tree and Macadamia Nut Tree....

I have a new Paw Paw or actually I think it's a Red Papaya growing strong and should produce next season and a small handful of banana trees well on their way too....

I'm ready for the next raspberry season, am hoping to double the size of my crop this year...
Oh nearly forgot the passion fruits that are growing crazily out of control over my chook coop, two yellow panama and a purple panama.
 
Near that I have a large Black Mulberry I planted about 12 months ago along with a hand full of wild Mulberries I dug up from the side of the road.....
 

So all in all we've actually got quite a good fruit bowl planted....I didn't realise until I sat down just now and wrote this post...Oh and the Gooseberries. Well, they say in some climates they are perennials and other climates they are annuals, I found out mine were only annuals...
Not to worry I have a bag of Cape Gooseberry seeds ready to plant this spring along with a good handful of Rosella.
So fingers crossed now for a  Productive and Fruitful life ahead.....

19 comments:

  1. Hi Karen, great looking orchard or should I say orchards! Lots of jams and preserving headed your way. Maybe I need to send my lemon tree to the special care unit, mine turned it toes up and I repaced it and this one is only just surviving.

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  2. So glad you are getting back on track after the floods. Sounds like you might need to start a market stall at the gate when everything fruits. We wern't flooded but due to the huge volume of rain some things drowned (farewell Blueberries) but others that are now drying out have started to thrive

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  3. wow! I'm very impressed!

    I hope your stonefruits make an amazing recovery too.

    your mulberry is looking great! have you got any fruit from it yet?

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  4. Ya gonna be one very busy girl soon. preserving, preserving I collect some bottles for you in the meantime lol

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  5. Hi Karen, Fingers crossed that they ALL survive now, lots of TLC still needed.

    Fiona, I did think about a Market at the front gate, but with my hungry lot I don't think any will get out of the front door. I am lucky if anything (especially from the veggie garden) ever makes it actually into the house to start with...

    Alecia, My mulberry got 4 mulberries last year! and it has a few new buds on it now, everything is still so young, but we will wait, we will have purple smiles one day...

    Thanks Rina, Can't wait to get out the preserving pan! How long does it take to get fruit, is it about 5 years? I will have to get a shelf ready in the shed to start storing my bottles! Once again, that is if it's not eaten before it gets to the kitchen!

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  6. My goodness. You certainly have been busy. It must be really exciting thinking about what should come of all this hard work.
    I was given a gooseberry plant last year and the entire crop of fruit (about 30-40 berries) is in the freezer waiting for me to work out what to do with them. Actually, I had forgotten about them until I read your post. Thanks for the reminder.

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  7. BM, I have never thought about what else to do with my Gooseberries because around here everything just gets picked and eaten as it ripens! Jam comes to mind (for some reason...)or maybe a nice topping to put on Icecream...
    By the way, I made the Pear & Blueberry cake a couple of days ago...Ohhh Yummo, just used frozen blueberries, super moist, super yum, super easy, I'm addicted to this cake, there's another ideae for your Gooseberries... :)

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  8. Oh I do remember yes. Which is interesting, because I barely remember anything from day to day to be honest! Fabulous that the special care ones are going so well, isn't it wonderful when something you'd given up for gone springs back into life. You are going to have one fabulous orchid, lucky thing :)

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  9. Graveyard. That is comical! Hoe fortunate you are to be able to grow all these fruits where you live. I am in Canada and Apples are our passion as well as berries. WE have taken to planting two apple trees per year, but hard winters take tolls on these trees, not always producing as well as wished. That said I am envious of your arbouring skills, and hope you have abountiful harvest.

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  10. Nice lot of fruit you have given me some ideas for my own mini orchard or jungle I really like the Ellie fruit she looks sweet I agree you are going to be very busy harvesting all that

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  11. That certainly is a good fruit bowl, and you should have a good supply when they are all fruiting.

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  12. What a fantastic array of trees you have, getting to harvest your own mango and papaya, ohh I only wish. I hope they all do well for you.

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  13. What a great harvest you will have before you know it! Reminds me that we moved all our citrus trees after realizing they didn't like getting wet feet so close to the dam. They transplanted well and we have had many years of citrus in their much preferred spot. Good for you - you're going to be busy with all that fruit!

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  14. Hi Karen,
    love love your marmalade! First time I have ever made it and it actually turned out.
    You are going to be so busy with all those fruit trees!
    Ps. I also love love your old stove!!
    Rosie (Rosies Farm)

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  15. Yes, I remember! It looks so good now. I hope they all continue to grow well and you have abundant harvests in future years.

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  16. Greetings from Southern California

    I believe God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things and I will live until my work is done. Visiting nice blogs like yours is one of them. Right now I am so far behind I don't think I will ever die! :-)

    I invite you to visit and follow my blog if you want too.

    Take care and have a nice day :-)

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  17. Ali, I'm sure you have had your fair share of sick plants, it's great when you see them all happy & well again.
    HeritageFG, To be honest, I actually like Apples better than Oranges, You are lucky to be able to grow them, I am trying a Tropical Apple, we'll see how it goes...
    Cathy, Good luck with your Orchard, My Elli tree is very very sweet. I have dug her out of that hole now and popped her back into her cosy bed!
    Debbie, DEBlue, I'm going to be chopping up Fruit Salad ALL DAY..One Day...Wish we had planted them years ago...at least they are in now and on their way.
    Duchess, it seems they don't like wet feet , that was our problem in the first place, we have a lot of rock underneath us and the water had nowhere to run off...
    Rosie, I am glad you liked the Marmalade; I bet you had a lot of fun making it!
    I have to send out a very big Thank-you to you Rhonda Jean, without your concern and encouragement my trees may well have wilted away in their wells, your advice was gladly received, and just at the right time...:)

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  18. Oh dear. Too bad about your fruit trees. I guess when trees are out in the elements these things are bound to happen. We live in south east queensland. Our one and a half acre block fared pretty well. We didnt suffer any major damage. Out at the farm, it was a raging torrent and quite a few of the trees on the riverbank washed away. We couldnt cross the river to check our cows, but they were all okay in the end. The link is here in case you'd like a look: http://thrumykitchenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/01/waterlogged.html

    I love the sound of your future orchard. Some great fruits there and oh yes, the marmalades, jams and jellies ahead of you will be a treasure trove. You sound like my kind of lady. I love preserving too. Glad I happened upon your blog.

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  19. Wow, you have an amazing new orchard of fruit trees! I'm so jealous of all that you can grown in QLD, we suffer from frost where we live in Victoria. Sorry to lose the trees through the flood but hopefully the new ones will grow really quickly. I see you have five kids too, I'm looking forward to watching them grow too, now that I have found your blog. Take care beautiful x

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Thank you for taking the time.
Karen

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