Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Mandarins, possums, passion fruit and strawberries

So much juicy goodness

The mandarins are now ripe, so while siting on the front stairs waiting for my mom to arrive I finally picked one. It was ripe, sweet and juicy and so fresher than fresh that I could feel my cells dancing with joy just like when I drink juice. I love the surge of excitement or happiness or ove for something that I enjoy doing. That's how I feel about my garden and the things that grow in it. It's a fair bit of work and the grasshoppers seem to be getting a disproportionally large share but I just love that I can grow at least some of my own food.

The evidence

I went to the back yard and noticed something unusual just by the compost bin - a passion fruit skin with a whole in it. This was clear evidence that the possums had been dining at their local restaurant last night. No wonder they thrive in suburbs! We have at least 2 living in our ceiling and they often eat fresh scraps from the compost bin which is about 20m from where they exit the house. What do they do the rest of the night then apart from making babies! We've had our fair share of those too.

Going out for the evening?

Anyway, I was confused by the skin as we hadn't thrown away any intact passion fruit recently. To my delight, I looked up and there in the mulberry tree was a passion fruit vine that had crept over from the neighbours with 4 deliciously ripe fruit dangling within reach. Heaven. They too are sweet and tantalising on the taste buds.

I hope there more!

Finally, it's time to plant strawberries. We bought 10 plants in a little bundle from the markets last weekend and hope to have a strawberry patch by our front door. They are 'Camarosa' variety which should produce big, red juicy fruit towards the end of the season. It's not an heirloom variety unfortunately and since it crops late we might have to procure some other types to have strawberries all winter long.

The new strawberry plants getting settled in.

Do you grow any of your own food? Ever had that surge of pride from eating something that you had put work into?

6 comments:

  1. Oh yeah! :-)

    But I have a question about that passion fruit. Is that the fruit from the vine with the beautiful passion flower? And did it turn that color on the vine? I am so intrigued!! We do grow a lot of our food, but that is one I am in the dark about.

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  2. This is wonderful.Eating what you grow. Wish I had room for a garden. Enjoy the fruits of your labor lol.

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  3. I grew up with vege gardens and always loved the sitting in between the beds munching on beans. You've inspired me to get digging again, it's such a great feeling.

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  4. Patty - Yes to both questions. The flowers are absolutely amazing aren't they?

    Kristi - Perhaps a potted garden? That's how I first started. It's great for tomatoes.

    Berni - Go for it! You're lucky too, I always dreamed of having a veggie garden as a kid.

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  5. Healthy possums=happy possums? :)

    I'm growing my own grape tomatoes this year. We're just at the blossom stage now, so we'll have to wait to see how successful I am with them.

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  6. Cammy - Listening to their antics in the ceiling each night, I think the possums are happy without a doubt. At least they like their accomodation! Grape tomatoes should be great - sweet and juicy when ripened on the vine. YUM!

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