Growing citrus, berries and herbs

Hello everyone! I've had a good break and although we've been going through a heatwave, that will end today and the weather will be cooler for a few weeks. It's a lovely time of year now, the spring flowers are blooming, birds are visiting from far off places and from the look of the rose leaves, the leaf-eater bees are happily munching away. It’s the ideal time for sitting on the verandah with a lemon cordial and letting the world pass by. I am happy here, I feel as much a part of this place as all the trees deeply rooted in our dry soil. We all get our strength and nourishment from being here and I can't imagine being anywhere else.

Washington navel orange. This flowers now and I harvest oranges in June and July.

This is a Grumichama or Brazilian cherry, a gift from Morag Gamble. It had a few flowers last year but this is the first year I'll get a harvest. It can be eaten fresh or used in jams and pies.

This little orange tree is a Lane's Late. It's full of flowers but I expect many of them to drop off between now and when it fruits. Most orange trees lose flowers but still give a good harvest.

Out in the garden, I've been focusing on my citrus trees. I have two Eureka lemons, a Washington navel orange and a Lane's Late orange. In  this area, the lemons fruit most of the year, the Washington navel from early June to mid July and the Lane's Late oranges from July to late August. Right now, both  orange trees are full of flowers and the two lemons are flowering on new growth. Of course, spring time is the best time of the year for growing most plants. It’s the time when plants naturally put on new growth and produce flowers, vegetables and nuts. If you’re able to give them some help, with good soil, manure, compost, the right growing conditions and water, the warmer weather and sunshine will do the rest. So if you’re thinking about growing food, spring is the time to get started.

Here is a post I wrote that might help beginner gardeners start spring gardens

Another post of mine about growing your own food

I have two blueberries planted a few weeks ago. It's the new Burst variety, supposedly larger and tastier than the blueberries I grew in the past. They're growing in 50cm wide grow bags.

When grown in the right climate, citrus are really tough plants. Mine were able to survive nearly two years of neglect when Hanno was sick and I had no time for gardening. I have almost no memory of those first 18 months without Hanno. I know I made food for myself and got a basic grocery delivery of milk, eggs, butter, tea, salt, flour, fruit and vegetables but I don’t think I made my bed everyday. I looked after Gracie with her food and grooming but most of the time we were two sad sacks sitting on the front verandah - me staring into the bush and her watching the front gate expecting Hanno to walk in. Grief is such a powerful force. I underestimated its emotional intensity and the power is has to change us. It took me a long time to work out the best way to keeping living true to my values and not become someone I didn’t recognise.

The flowers are growing very well and have brought a huge number of various bees, mostly native bees, to the garden.

Here is the herb garden as it is now. In here I'm growing two chillies, parsley, perpetual spinach, rainbow chard, apple cucumbers, French radishes and green onions. I've left one green onion to produce seeds and when that flower blooms and develops seeds, I'll collect the seeds to grow in future years.

After a few years of no sewing, I’m delighted to be back at my machine. I’m just finishing a half apron of blue gingham linen and I have green gingham linen that I’ll use to make a full apron. I’ll also make a summer nightie but I don’t have the fabric for that yet. Of course, there’s always mending to do so I’ve adjusted a couple of skirts and fixed hems too.

One thing that always surprises me are the scraps, thread and general rubbish that is generated by sewing. It’s not a huge amount but the accumulation of all those tiny scraps and threads that spread out over the sewing table and floor. After I publish this post, I’ll be cleaning the entire room.

There have been so many new readers here and on IG. I’m not sure why these sudden streams of new readers happen, I guess it’s other writers sharing a post or something from my blog. I hope you find what you’re looking for, especially information to help you live a more sustainable life. And to all my long-term readers, thanks for staying with me over the years offering support and friendship along the way. I appreciate you being here.

I was going to write about food today, the cost of living crisis, ways of saving when buying food and the different forms of protein but this post is getting too long so it will have to wait. I hope to get that written and on your screens asap - it will be this week. Take care, everyone. ♥️ 

ADDITIONAL READING

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Know your measurements and stick to the rules

How to remove all four of the most common summer stains