The Lemon Tree is in full fruit. I harvested about a quarter of the fruit a few weeks back which filled a 10 litre bucket. So what do you do with this many lemons?
Well half of these have gone to people at work - the other half have made a delicious Lemonade Drink - well actually about 5 big lemonade drinks!
Interested in making fresh lemonade? here's the recipe i use which is a refreshing and tasty treat - best of all, serve it hot or cold!
You need about a cup of lemon juice - this is about 4 to 5 largish lemons.
A cup of sugar (yes i know it's alot but use less is you add honey)
Some honey if desired
about 2 litres of water
Squish out the lemon juice - easiest way is to put them all in the microwave for about a minute, chop them in half and squish and squeeze with your hands and fingers - you get twice as much juice this way then using one of those useless hand orange juicers! Don't worry about the pulp or seeds - trust me here!
After you've squished about a cup (a tad more is better than a tad less) run it through a colander. Some light bits of pulp getting through won't kill you, but not too much - set this juice aside
To a pot, add about a cup of water and a cup of sugar. Some added honey is really topping on the ice cream, but my wife didn't like it, so don't be afraid to try half and half. If adding honey, reduce the sugar by probably about equal amounts and don't add the honey until last. I personally wouldn't put more than 2 or 3 tablespoons of honey though
So... heat the water and sugar mix while stirring (the sugar will stick pretty bad to the pot otherwise). keep stirring until the sugar dissolves. The water will suddenly turn from cloudy to clear when this happens. nows the time to add the honey, stir a bit more and you're done
Finally pour the strained juice, sugar water into a jug and bring upto 2 litres with plain old water
Serve at any temperature, hot, icy cold or anywhere in between.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Anniversary Orange Tree
My loving wife has bought me a Washington Orange Tree for the garden as a present for our first anniversary. Now some may say there's some symbolism involved in planting a tree, especially one that is a 1 year old fruit tree that's given to mark the first anniversary of a happy, happy marriage that has already bared 1 happy, happy baby. Some may question whether there's hidden meanings in such a token gift, especially given the tree does already have one single fruit already on it!
Well... not me! Can't see ANY symbolism here.... not a single reference to little family......
The tag says these trees can grow to 8 to 10 meters. Now that's a preeeety big big tree! Guess there'll be a fair few oranges produced....
- but that's only AFTER getting it in the ground!
So... on a small block, where do you put a tree of this splendour? Note the daisy bush shown below in the back left corner - won't be too hard to move the daisy bush, dig a hole and shove the tree there... right? - Note the little orange tree sitting expectantly at the front right of the daisy bush below - look close enough and you'll see the little orange. Putting this little, growing tree here means it's close enough to the mature lemon tree to the right, but has enough room to grow and become it's own tree
Yup! just dig a hole and take out that old daisy bush - roots and all....
Now, if you've ever dug a hole and hit a rock, you'll empathise with me here. Buried under the daisy shrub is not just a rock or two but a whole rock garden! and not just rocks, bricks, rusty tin, broken roof tile and fibro remains. The picture below was taken after about an hour of rock harvesting. After 4 hours or so, the pile had tripled in size but the hole for the tree would possibly bury my feet and not much more - expect that this will take a few more weekends yet - and so..... the Mighty Washington Orange Tree remains in its pot at this time
Well... not me! Can't see ANY symbolism here.... not a single reference to little family......
The tag says these trees can grow to 8 to 10 meters. Now that's a preeeety big big tree! Guess there'll be a fair few oranges produced....
- but that's only AFTER getting it in the ground!
So... on a small block, where do you put a tree of this splendour? Note the daisy bush shown below in the back left corner - won't be too hard to move the daisy bush, dig a hole and shove the tree there... right? - Note the little orange tree sitting expectantly at the front right of the daisy bush below - look close enough and you'll see the little orange. Putting this little, growing tree here means it's close enough to the mature lemon tree to the right, but has enough room to grow and become it's own tree
Yup! just dig a hole and take out that old daisy bush - roots and all....
Now, if you've ever dug a hole and hit a rock, you'll empathise with me here. Buried under the daisy shrub is not just a rock or two but a whole rock garden! and not just rocks, bricks, rusty tin, broken roof tile and fibro remains. The picture below was taken after about an hour of rock harvesting. After 4 hours or so, the pile had tripled in size but the hole for the tree would possibly bury my feet and not much more - expect that this will take a few more weekends yet - and so..... the Mighty Washington Orange Tree remains in its pot at this time
Monday, May 26, 2008
Change is on the horizon
Preparing to add a new post and found a strong urge to provide better visibility of WHEN things are happening in my patch of dirt - I've got pictures and things, but the overall WHAT'S and WHEN'S is sometimes a bit hard to piece together! -
So I've added a Garden Calendar at the bottom of this page - its a work in progress, but the aim is to be able to click back and see what has happened and when - this way, I can quickly find out how old my plants are and what I've done when - this should help with the learning process!
anyway... enough about this sort of stuff - better get an update done before it gets too late!
So I've added a Garden Calendar at the bottom of this page - its a work in progress, but the aim is to be able to click back and see what has happened and when - this way, I can quickly find out how old my plants are and what I've done when - this should help with the learning process!
anyway... enough about this sort of stuff - better get an update done before it gets too late!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Vegie Seedlings
They get a drink every morning and it shows, the seeds that were planted direct into the rose garden are taking well
The peas are all lined up in a row - so many infact that they'll need thinning out over the next few weeks - Don't want to do this too early though as I'm sure to lose a few between now and then
The broccolli are the tallest of all the seeds planted and by far doing the best of the lot. There's about 20 or more plants all about 1 to 2 inches high - Will definately need some thinning - question will be, where to transplant the thinned plants to???
Seems that nearly all of the lettuce have started growing now - shown below is the biggest. I've got some iceberg lettuce seeds too now so I'll need to find space for these and get them started
The peas are all lined up in a row - so many infact that they'll need thinning out over the next few weeks - Don't want to do this too early though as I'm sure to lose a few between now and then
The broccolli are the tallest of all the seeds planted and by far doing the best of the lot. There's about 20 or more plants all about 1 to 2 inches high - Will definately need some thinning - question will be, where to transplant the thinned plants to???
The silverbeet cannot boast the same growth as the seedlings above. I've been checking every morning, but so far, just weeds. There MIGHT be one plant that looks a little different to the others... Time will tell...
The seedlings planted out the front last weekend have not shown yet. The delphenium is a known slow starter and can take 4 to 5 weeks to emerge. but the shallots???? hmmm..... keep watering and waiting
Below are a few flowery pics taken this morning. BTW, click on the pictures to see larger ones!....
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Autumn Chores
Another busy Autumn Sunday in the garden. After the usual "Buddy run" in preparation for mowing the lawn, Lisa and Lily decided it would be fun to grab a picnic blanket and have morning tea out the front. It seemed pointless trying to cut the grass around them so I deiced to weed the garden out the front.
The soil is a nice dark and rich colour - it looked so good I couldn't resist sowing a few seeds in it. This is the garden outside the lounge room window by the way.
I planted some Giant Delphinium (http://www.yates.com.au/GardenCalendar/July_06/XSeedofMonthJul06.asp) seeds and also a few shallot seeds - after all what's the point of having a garden if you can't eat it!
Anyway - finished cutting the grass and then decided it was time to take action against the growing levels of black spot on the roses. I used a concentrate spray called Rose Shield and while mixing it noticed it also controlled rust on oranamentals - Remembering that the leaves on the azaleas out the front were a rusty, bronzy colour, I decided to give them a going over too - OK so I'm not entirely an organic farmer!
All in all, it was nice day that was quite productive - sitting here typing this and feeling a slight tinge of sunburn
The soil is a nice dark and rich colour - it looked so good I couldn't resist sowing a few seeds in it. This is the garden outside the lounge room window by the way.
I planted some Giant Delphinium (http://www.yates.com.au/GardenCalendar/July_06/XSeedofMonthJul06.asp) seeds and also a few shallot seeds - after all what's the point of having a garden if you can't eat it!
Anyway - finished cutting the grass and then decided it was time to take action against the growing levels of black spot on the roses. I used a concentrate spray called Rose Shield and while mixing it noticed it also controlled rust on oranamentals - Remembering that the leaves on the azaleas out the front were a rusty, bronzy colour, I decided to give them a going over too - OK so I'm not entirely an organic farmer!
All in all, it was nice day that was quite productive - sitting here typing this and feeling a slight tinge of sunburn
New babies!
The vegie seeds planted about 2 weeks back are starting to come up. You may recall that these were planted directly into the soil. There was quite a bit of rain that week , some of which was very heavy, so I was worried they'd rot and not work.
They've had a fair bit to battle through in their short lives! - rain for their first week, drought for their second week and and few attacks from Buddy thrown in there too who must be feeling neglected while the back door is kept closed to keep the warm in the house
But through this adversity, some seedlings have emerged!
It's a bit blurry - but here a 3 peas in a row There's about 10 seedlings in total coming through
A tiny bunch of lettuce coming through, not iceberg but the loose leafy type simply called Red & Green Salad - this area of the garden was hit hardest by Buddy's attack, there are about 3 or 4 of these little clusters coming through - I'll give it 2 or 3 more weeks and start re-sowing the patches to keep a constant suppy when they grow
The brocolli starts emerging too - this is very sporadic in how its coming up, I'd planted the sedd in a line but probably only about 30% has started growing so far totalling about 3 or 4 plants, maybe some were put in too deep?? This is an Italian Sprouting variety according to the packet
They've had a fair bit to battle through in their short lives! - rain for their first week, drought for their second week and and few attacks from Buddy thrown in there too who must be feeling neglected while the back door is kept closed to keep the warm in the house
But through this adversity, some seedlings have emerged!
It's a bit blurry - but here a 3 peas in a row There's about 10 seedlings in total coming through
A tiny bunch of lettuce coming through, not iceberg but the loose leafy type simply called Red & Green Salad - this area of the garden was hit hardest by Buddy's attack, there are about 3 or 4 of these little clusters coming through - I'll give it 2 or 3 more weeks and start re-sowing the patches to keep a constant suppy when they grow
The brocolli starts emerging too - this is very sporadic in how its coming up, I'd planted the sedd in a line but probably only about 30% has started growing so far totalling about 3 or 4 plants, maybe some were put in too deep?? This is an Italian Sprouting variety according to the packet
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