Welcome, Cherry Guava!

And here I was, thinking that the fruit production on my little bit of paradise was over until the Mandarines coloured up in a month or two, and that it was probably time to take the pruning saw to the base of the cherry guava.  I planted it in my blueberry cage a couple of years ago, and although it sprouted branches in all directions, and the occasional green bulbous-looking fruit, it seemed to do nothing but get in the way of my blueberry and cranberry picking in a most unproductive manner.  This was its final year - in Biblical fashion* I had given it one more year to produce fruit, when a wander in that direction today surprised me with red fruit on this strange plant!  Reaching nearer the bush and bumping the wire, I was even more surprised that the nearest red bulb dropped off!

Ripe fruit!  

And I'm missing it!

In no time at all, I had a bowl, and was inside the cage, and I look to have a huge crop!

I had seriously given up on this bush, but it was waiting its time.

And it's yummy!  Wahoo!  Fresh fruit for breakfast straight off the back lawn again!

(Reading up on it, I find that I wasn't misguided in planting it in the blueberry cage, as apparently birds love the fruit, so it has gained an indefinite stay of execution!)

*Luke 13:6-9

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...

...wrote John Keats in his poem to Autumn in 1819.

We are in autumn here in New Zealand and after some health issues, I have only weeds in the vegetable garden.  I am looking forward to this growing season and spring, by which time I'll have cleared the dreadful seed-bearing mess, and be ready to plant vegetables again.

And then from the depths of my memory I thought - carrots!  Didn't I put in some carrot seeds months ago?

I went fossicking, and yes indeed I had!

Can you find the carrots amongst the weeds?  Hint - that's the green things!

And I have carrots!

I love this about gardening for food!  You get these amazing gifts!  Not all the crops I plan and nurture provide me with food, but it's these unexpected bonuses that brighten the tasks.

I hadn't netted the grapes this year, and knowing the fight I fight against those tiny grape-sucking birds even when I do, I hadn't bothered to even check.  But today I did, and there, thick in the untrimmed foliage, hanging low were - beautiful huge ripe grapes!

The feijoas fruit - and very sensibly drop their ripe crop at my feet when it's ready - whether I do anything to them or not, and the Cape Gooseberries have been very prolific this year.

I am abundantly blessed!

Cape Gooseberries

An erratic cropper, these plants self seed in different parts of the garden each year and I always hold my breath that the fruit will ripen before the cold weather stops the process!  This year the crop has been a beauty!

They die right off in winter and come up anywhere next spring!

I originally planted several seedlings bought from a church fair, and they have never re grown in the same place.  On the presumption that God knows where they best thrive, I just allow them to flop all over the tomatoes, pumpkins, beans or wherever they appear each year!

This year I've experimented with freezing the golden fruit - isn't it amazing?! - and they certainly have coped with a couple of weeks in the freezer.  I think the resulting golden globes will be fine defrosted naturally in the breakfast muesli in the winter!

They look like little Chinese lanterns hanging from the bushes and are sweet with just a little tang, if you know what I mean!

Feijoa time!

I only notice it's feijoa season when I see them on the lawn - as the feijoas ripen, they just fall off!
This year I'm going to try freezing the pulp, just scooped out with a spoon and sealed in a container, as they'll be great in muffins and other cookery later in the year.  I'll also see if the defrosted pulp is suitable to pop into muesli for breakfast!
They're delicious, with their own unique flavour!

I've got two trees, apparently necessary for pollination, but strangely only one produces fruit.  As they are fairly prolific, that's not a worry!

They produce lovely spiky red blossom, and are grown commercially in New Zealand.  For more detail check out this feijoa website.

Plums!

About 3-4 years ago I planted a Japanese plum tree, and it has slowly been growing and producing a few plums each year.  I have to net it to keep the birds away from the fruit, and there is the added risk of winds blowing the blossom off right at the crucial time, so that the crop is very light.

It's necessary to net it in such a way that the birds can't reach the fruit through the netting, or by pushing the netting towards the plums and reaching with their beaks.  Very clever are our birds!  Using a technique handed to me by grape growers, I use bird netting clipped together by the plastic bread bag clips.  Works really well!

It's a lovely shaped tree and I love having it in the garden, fruit or not.

This year it produced abundantly for its size, and although the birds did get a share, and although the netting was swirled out of place by gale force winds, I have just picked these plums which I am delighted with!

Thank you, plum tree!

Summer time and the berries are ripening

Blueberries!  First pick was on New Year's Day, (but only a spoonful if I am to be honest!)

Now I'm picking every second day - about five bushes, some older and some young keen fruiters - and this was today's  harvest:

Rhubarb and Sultana Chutney

During the week at work, it was decided to vary the morning tea biscuits with some cheese on toast, it being winter and all. I volunteered to bring the chutney and fronted up with a jar of my Rhubarb and Sultana, which I later discovered was the last of that recipe in my pantry.  It was time it was used, having a date of some six years ago, but this is one of those preserves that improves with the keeping.

It received so many accolades that I was inspired to go out to the rhubarb patch to check supplies, and  finding it was growing well (not that it ever does anything but!) 20 stalks met with my knife.  (Just in case anyone is going to race into horrified comment, the knife only meets the stalk at the leaf end of course!  The other end is pulled from the plant to preserve the integrity of said plant.)

So today I made a new batch, not to be used for about three months if I can control myself!  This is the recipe:

RHUBARB AND SULTANA CHUTNEY 

1 kg rhubarb stalks​

250g onions​

250g sultanas

3 tsp mustard seeds​

1 tsp ground ginger​

½ tsp cinnamon

3 tsp black pepper​

750 ml white vinegar (or cider vinegar)

1 tsp salt​

750g white sugar.

Slice rhubarb and onions finely.  Add all ingredients except the sugar into a big heavy bottomed pot.  Bring to the boil.  Add sugar and stir until dissolved.  Simmer 45 mins or until thick.  Put into hot sterilised jars and seal.  Keep for a few weeks if possible to mature before eating.  Makes about 7-8 jars of varying sizes.