Why would you grow fruit trees in your back yard?
Well for a start, the fruit will feed your family. Growing your own will save you money. And home grown fruit is healthy and tastes so much nicer than shop bought fruit.
What will you plant?
It depends on what your family likes to eat. There would be no point in plant trees that aren’t going to be utilized.
There are a number of citrus trees that are able to be planted in a back yard. No fruit has impacted civilization as much as citrus.
We drink orange juice, whisky sour with lemon, lemonade, lemon meringue pie, duck a la orange, we season fish with lemon, we burn citronella candles to keep the mosquitoes at bay and so the list goes on.
Orange Trees:
Orange trees come in several varieties.
Washington naval is the most popular one that we see in supermarkets and fruit shops. They are a good eating orange, however the fruit will deteriorate quickly.
It is a hard tree to grow because they have a tendency to catch diseases easily. The naval tree doesn’t produce as much fruit as the Valencia
Valencia oranges are ideal for juicing. The fruit holds well on the trees for months. They have few seeds and the skin is quite thin.
They adapt well the different climate conditions and are high in sugar content.
There is the blood orange and the Seville variety.
Lemon Trees:
There are two Main types of lemon. The Lisbon and Meyer Lemon.
Lisbon is an Australian variety and is descendant from a Portuguese gallego lemon. Lisbon lemons were introduced in Australia as early as 1824 and were exported to the United States from there in 1874 and 1875.
The first reference to Lisbon lemons in the United States was in a Massachusetts gardening catalogue in 1843.. The Lisbon lemon is quite thorny and has many seeds.
The Meyer lemon, is a hybrid citrus fruit native to China It is a cross between a citron and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid distinct from the common or bitter oranges.
Mature trees are around 6 to 10 ft (2 to 3 m) tall with dark green shiny leaves.is the preferred choice of many households. The fruit is quite smooth.
It produces fruit foe most of the year and is the most cold tolerant of all the lemons.
Mandarine Trees:
Once again there are several varieties of mandarine. The Emperor, the Imperial and the Honey Murcott
The Emperor has pale orange loose skin that is easy to peel. It has great flavour and is especially sweet in the early part of the season.
The Imperial is another easy to peel fruit.
The Honey Murcott is not as easy to peel as other varieties as the skin is very thin. They are quite sweet and have few pips.
Most households grow these 3 fruit trees, however there are many others that might be just as popular in other back yards.
The orang, Lemon and Mandarine fruit trees also come in the dwarf variety which is an excellent idea for smaller backyards. They can also be planted in large pots.
Position. Fruit trees should be planted where they are able to have sunshine for at least 6 hours a day to enable them to produce healthy sweet fruit.
When you should fertilise fruit trees:
You should fertilise fruit trees with a citrus fertiliser once every one or two months during the growing season and once every two to three months during the dormant season.
Drip liquid fertilizer about a foot away from the trunk. If using pellets spread them in a circle about a foot away around the trunk.
Watering:
Citrus trees love water but only if it drains quickly. Infrequent deep watering is best. Water near the drip line and allow the water to soak into the soil.
A soaker hose is the best way to water as it allows the water to soak into the root of the tree. Let the soil dry out between watering so air can work into the soil and get to the roots.
Watering should occur about once a week, whether from rainfall or manually. The area should have excellent drainage so that you can soak the ground deeply with each watering.
Recipes for use when your fruit trees produce their yummy fruit.
Lemon Butter:
- 6 eggs
- 6 lemons
- 1 lb sugar
- 4 ounces butter
Juice the lemons and whisk together with the sugar and eggs.
Add the butter and heat in a double boiler until the mixture thickens like honey. Pour into sterilised containers. Store in the fridge.
Sweet Orange Marmalade:
- 3 lb oranges
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 6 pints (15cups) water
- 6 lb (12 cups) sugar
Scrub the oranges thoroughly in warm water. Cut them in half and squeeze out the juice. Remove the pips (seeds) induct off excess pith if it is very thick.
Tie the pips and pith loosely in a muslin bag. Cut the peel into thin matchstick strips.
Place the cut up peel, juice and muslin bag in a large bowl with the lemon juice and water. Leave to soak overnight.
Next day, place the contents in the cooking pot and bring to the boil. Simmer until the peel is tender, about an hour. Remove the muslin bag.
Add the sugar, bring to the boil again, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Boil rapidly until setting point is reached.
Skim the scum off. Allow the marmalade to cool slightly, before pouring it into clean hot jars. Cover.
Note: To test for setting point:
Spoon about one teaspoonful of the preserve onto a cold plate and put it aside in a cold place for a few minutes.
If the setting point has been reached, the surface will have set and will wrinkle when pushed gently with the finger.
