Today marked the end of an era; the era of mandarins. For the past 3 months, Frank and I have been eating mandarins every day. Probably 10 a day on average with peaks much higher. Literally hundreds of the things. In the past couple of weeks some local fauna have joined in on the fun (I suspect possums). But all good things must come to an end and here are the last of our mandarins picked from the tree today.
The pile below contains the leavings I raked up after we picked the husks of the mandarins from the tree. Whatever emptied these skins also pulled off quite a few leaves. But the tree looks beautiful and I’m sure it will come back with just as much fruit next year. As a bit of insurance, I put a handful of fertiliser in the watering bottle that stands upended at the topside of the tree’s drip line (you can see the bottle I’m talking about here), then filled the bottle with water that will seep down to the roots.
We also picked a nice serving of snow peas. Frank blanched them for lunch and they were sweet and tender. If I’m honest, I have to say I like them better raw, straight from the vine, but that could just be the romanticism of eating something I’ve grown. Once it’s cooked it does look an awful lot like a store-bought pea pod!
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 