2010 Mandarin Crop

This is our complete harvest for this year (minus 3 that we already ate). It is a decent improvement over the 13 we had last year. We were hoping to leave them on the trees to fully ripen, but we are having a freeze over the next couple of days, so I picked them all yesterday afternoon. This morning, here is what I saw when I woke up:

Apparently, even the green ones were tasty.

More trees

My dear husband has officially become a tree-aholic. Over the last month he has purchased the following trees (granted some were to replace ones that didn't make it through last winter):

5 Olive
2 Asian pear
2 Peach
2 Cherry
1 Fig
1 Pomegranate

These combined with the original orchard and Mandarin grove, brings our total tree count to nearly 50 since we moved here in August 2008. I am glad we like fruit.

Garden Journal - Pruning

Pruning has been on my list of to-do's for a while now. We attending a tree pruning class at Eisley's Nursery at the beginning of February. From that class, the first priority was to spray the trees with a fungicide (we were long overdue!) Once the Copper spray had been applied, the next step was to prune. I finally got around to it yesterday.

Above is the Giant Babcock Peach. It has already started blossoming. So has the Fantasia Nectarine. I am concerned that some of the other trees didn't make it through the Winter storms we experienced this year. I will give it another week or two for the blossoms to come out before looking for replacements.

It's Mandarin Time

It started with our grove...

Next came the blossoms...

Then tiny, tiny fruit...

and finally, Mandarins!

This is one of the 13 Mandarins we grew this year. At least we are averaging a little more than 1 per tree.

Tree Protection

Lately, the local deer population has been snacking on our citrus trees more often than not. Since the trees are in the front yard and there isn't a fence, we decided to install protective rings around each tree. The 5 foot stakes are protruding 3-4 feet out of the ground and the wire ring is slipped over them. The rings have been on for about two weeks and already there is new growth. So far so good.

Bug Hunt

Tonight we went on a bug hunt. Something has been eating the squash and marigold plants in our garden down to bare stems. I was looking earlier this evening and only found the occasional bug. But armed with flashlights, my husband and I went in search of the predator. As soon as we spotlighted the marigolds, it was obvious what had been eating our plants, earwigs! It was like a buffet and the earwigs were gorging themselves.

After seeing the earwigs in action, my husband wondered if it could be earwigs that are munching on our orchards as well. A quick trip confirmed his suspicions. They were feasting on the mandarin trees too!

Searching online for control measures yielded various methods, from small cans with a layer of oil to rolled up newspapers. However, it was the Sluggo Plus product that caught my eye. It is certified organic and seems to be effective at killing earwigs. It also sounds like less of a hassle compared to emptying traps everyday. So tomorrow, it's out to get some Sluggo Plus. I am hopeful it will kill the earwigs fast.

Lemon Love

Last Sunday for Mother's Day I decided to make a wonderful lemon cake for our moms. I was really excited because we have a beautiful, mature lemon tree in our backyard that is full of fruit. Not to mention that this gave me the opportunity to buy a bundt cake pan. Growing up, I can remember baking cakes in my mom's bundt cake pan. I love the shape and immediate fanciness of a cake that comes with using this pan.



I baked the cake without a hitch. The recipe is really simple and my Kitchen Aid mixer came in handy. I just dumped the ingredients into the bowl and turned it on. Also, I discovered the simplicity of Baker's Joy spray. No more greasy fingers and shaking the pan to coat it with flour.

Meyer Lemon Cake
Adapted from Great Aunt Ruby's Lemon Iced Cake at Chickens in the Road.

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups raw sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3.4-ounce package (dry) instant lemon pudding
2/3 cup water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract

After mixing the ingredients, I continued to let the mixer run for about 10 minutes to add fluff to the batter. I am not really sure if this did anything, but the original recipe called for it. I sprayed the bundt pan with Baker's Joy and baked it uncovered for 40 minutes, then covered it in foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Once it was done (toothpick test), I turned it out onto a cake stand to cool.

Following the original recipe for the glaze, I asked my husband to pick me 3 lemons from our tree. I proceeded to grate the peel and capture the juice. As I mixed in the powdered sugar, it didn't seem thick enough. After adding extra sugar, I decided to use it as is - even if it was a little runny. The end result was fantastic. I can't wait to make it again.

After having the cake for Mother's Day, my mother in law asked about our lemon tree. She said that the lemons from her tree were getting soft. She showed me one and I noticed that it looked different from ours. The color was lighter and the shape was different. Our lemons are rounder and have an orange tint to the skin (see photo above). I decided to research different types of lemons to determine what kind of tree we have growing in our yard.

After a quick search, I have come to the conclusion that we have a Meyer Lemon tree. Apparently Meyer lemons are very juicy, much more than the other standard types. This would explain the problems with my glaze. Next time I will measure out the amount of juice so the glaze is a little thicker.

Tiny Mandarins

It has been a little over a week since the citrus blossoms started blooming. I was pleased to discover tiny mandarins emerging from the wilting blossoms. Some of the other mandarin trees are getting blossoms and the lemon tree is still in full bloom.

Citrus Blossoms

When I think of Spring blossoms, I often picture the white and pink blossoms that adorn the orchard trees. By now they are long gone. But to my surprise, there is a second round of blossoms that I forgot about, the citrus. This is one of many blossoms on our mature lemon tree. They are very fragrant and have a nice pink tint on the outside of the white bloom.

In contrast, the mandarin blossoms are solid white and not as fragrant. They are also smaller than the lemon blossoms. I suspect it is related to the size of the fruit that is produced. I can't wait until all the trees start blooming, it is the first sign of fruit to come in the fall.

Our Mandarin Grove

Mandarins are a favorite crop for Loomis and the surrounding areas. There is an association dedicated to the locally grown citrus and a festival to celebrate it every year. For the past several years we have been purchasing 3-4 brown paper grocery bags full of mandarins each season. We really enjoy the fruit and wished we could grow our own. I planted 1 tree in our suburban backyard last spring in hopes of capturing a little bit of that taste from our own land. Fast forward 11 months and here we are living in Loomis, with plenty of space to grow our own mandarin supply.

Today we transplanted 5 trees into the ground. We have chosen to grow the Owari Satsuma variety of mandarin for its frost hardiness (to 24 deg F) and the fact that they are a pleasure to eat (seedless and easy peel). We are hoping to get some additional trees, but apparently the Satsuma variety isn't purchased in large quantities at the local home improvement stores. We were told last night a Lowes that we can order specific trees through their store. We still need to get in contact with their plant buyer to confirm.

I am very excited because I can overlook the grove from my desk. Since they are all dwarf trees, they have a very cute look about them.

It's bare root season

In case you haven't noticed as you were walking around your home improvement store of choice, the bare root trees and roses are in. They don't look like your typical tree or bush so you may walk right past them (I did and I was even looking for them!). Look for a stick coming out of a cylinder shaped plastic bag. They will probabaly be leaning against something since they don't stand on their own very well. Once you find them, let the fun begin.

One of the key benefits of moving to Loomis was having enough space to plant trees. I had done some preliminary planning on the types of trees we wanted to plant. When I finally found the bare root trees, I at least knew the quantities we wanted of each fruit. I dove in and started moving the trees around to reach the ones in the back. I went toward the back because I caught a glimpse of a few of the more desirable varieties that had already been purchased from the front of the pile.

At the end of the day, I had purchased 10 bare root trees. Adding those to the 6 we transplanted when we moved, we have a grand total 16 trees in our fruit orchard. Here is the mix:

Fuji Apple

Granny Smith Apple

Chinese Mormon Apricot

Kadota Fig

Fantasia Nectarine (2)

Juneglo Nectarine
Frost Peach

Indian Free Peach

Giant Babcock Peach

July Elberta Peach
Shinshiki Pear

Fuyu Persimmon

Elephant Heart Plum
Santa Rosa Plum

Wonderful Pomegranate

In addition to the information tag attached to the trunk, Dave Wilson Nursey has a lot of good information about fruit trees and backyard orchards. Digging the holes for the trees was fairly easy and we were please to discover that our soil was quite good. Following the recommended planting method for the trees, we were able to get them planted within a few hours.

I captured our orchard layout in visio so we would know which trees are planted in each location. Other than being fun to look at, this will be a good reference when it comes time to spray for leaf curl and all the trees are bare.