Citrus joy and a bumper pumpkin crop to boot
Hinterland Homesteading with Racheal Pascoe
Our citrus season is well and truly under way, and I am delighted to report our three-year-old mandarin tree is loaded with fruit. It had a couple of mandarins on it last year, but this year it has gone all out and we have about 35 fruit. How terrific!
I have always wanted to grow delicious mandarins in my own garden. I know my fellow gardeners will understand the joy.
I did think it would take a lot longer to get a good amount of fruit off the tree, but honestly it has only been 3 years since I purchased it. I planted it in a spot in the garden which is full sun and I prepared the ground before planting by loosening it up and working through aged manure. When the tree was establishing itself, I made sure I didn’t let it dry out. I have also planted an orange tree, so hopefully it too will do well.
While I am waiting for our orange tree to bless us with fruit, I am happy to support the local fruit shops and buy locally grown oranges. I always ensure what I am buying is supporting our farmers. Try not to buy fruit from overseas if you can help it. Even better if you find someone selling or giving away fruit at a driveway stall. Enjoy!
Orange Juice for good health
How fabulous is it that our local citrus season aligns with the cold and flu time of year!
Beat the colds and flus this year by enjoying locally sourced oranges to make your own juice. You really don’t need a fancy electric juicer to make juice at all. Just a little elbow grease and before you know it, you have a beautiful glass of homemade juice. So good for you! It’s not actually very often I get the electric juicer out, only because I don’t fancy cleaning it all up for a couple of glasses of juice.
I have a hand juicer, where you squeeze and rotate the orange half and the juice trickles down into the well at the bottom. It works wonderfully. If you have an abundance of mandies, you can juice them too! The juice from mandarins is just as lovely and even sweeter than oranges.
Tripping over pumpkins
Our pumpkin vines are all dying off and we are slowly picking all of the pumpkins. Usually as we trip over them! At last count we still have 39 to harvest. We devised a system of putting in a bamboo stake beside each pumpkin. The top of the stakes are all painted hot pink, so we can easily see them. When your pumpkin vine really takes off, it is a sea of large green leaves which so easily hide the pumpkins! We found a couple of rotted ones pumpkins that we had missed. Our new system will help us keep on top of what is ripe and makes it easy to check on them. When we harvest a pumpkin, we take the stake out. A simple and cost-effective solution.
Tamarillos
We are watching our new tamarillo bush with absolute wonder at the moment. It is the very first time we have grown the fruit and it seems to be ripening! The bush is already about 1.5m high and has probably about 2 kg of fruit on it after only being in the ground for less than a year. We are looking forward to trying the fruit. The skin is apparently bitter but the flesh and seeds are likened to a cross between a tomato and a passionfruit! What a wild combination! Stay tuned, I will let you know what it is like.
The ginger leaves are dying off and we have harvested a little of it to share. The choko vine has woken back up and is dripping with chokos. The potatoes are all doing well and the cabbages are getting nice hearts. The silverbeet is looking terrific and the lemon tree is happy. A little wander around the garden sees me going back in the house with some homegrown goodies each day now. I hope your garden is giving you joy and helping to feed you and your family.
Happy homesteading everyone!