It is Autumn, officially, here in NZ, and there's plenty of heat although not a lot of rain. Much of the country is in drought, although rain is, yet again forecast this week. Here's hoping.
I don't have a big garden at all, but I do have a few trees.
My peach tree was a bit of a failure in its output. That's not new, but I found some small peaches today and here they are. They are the size of apricots but pretty nice to eat.
In more exciting news, though, there are heaps of green fruit on the red cherry guava tree and today I noticed they are starting to ripen. Yay!! Last year I made my first ever lot of cherry guava jelly and it was a massive success. This is a tree that must have grown from a seed dropped by a bird (possibly my neighbours had a tree years ago and the seed came from there, who knows) but because the tree grew next to a huge camelia tree, I never knew it was growing until it became obvious there were two trees there, and one of them was not like the other. Then, a few years ago, it started fruiting and when I consulted a tree-loving friend on whether these red berry things were edible, he said they were. I got the camelia tree cut out a couple of years ago in favour of the cherry guava, and the first few years I just eat them off the tree when I went by.
But last year, there was a bumper crop and so I looked up recipes and made the guava jelly. This year its looking the same, so I will do it again. Good job I saved the jars.
The downside, like with any jam or jelly, I guess, is that they are loaded with sugar, but so yummy spread on toast, and pretty darned nice just to pull off and eat!
I don't have a big garden at all, but I do have a few trees.
My peach tree was a bit of a failure in its output. That's not new, but I found some small peaches today and here they are. They are the size of apricots but pretty nice to eat.
In more exciting news, though, there are heaps of green fruit on the red cherry guava tree and today I noticed they are starting to ripen. Yay!! Last year I made my first ever lot of cherry guava jelly and it was a massive success. This is a tree that must have grown from a seed dropped by a bird (possibly my neighbours had a tree years ago and the seed came from there, who knows) but because the tree grew next to a huge camelia tree, I never knew it was growing until it became obvious there were two trees there, and one of them was not like the other. Then, a few years ago, it started fruiting and when I consulted a tree-loving friend on whether these red berry things were edible, he said they were. I got the camelia tree cut out a couple of years ago in favour of the cherry guava, and the first few years I just eat them off the tree when I went by.
But last year, there was a bumper crop and so I looked up recipes and made the guava jelly. This year its looking the same, so I will do it again. Good job I saved the jars.
The downside, like with any jam or jelly, I guess, is that they are loaded with sugar, but so yummy spread on toast, and pretty darned nice just to pull off and eat!