Fruits in an neglected orchard

I cannot believe it is already August 2012. My real life outside Blog world has been beyond busy leaving me with very little time to blog. We have been travelling since the end of June through the end of July attending Lacrosse College Recruiting Showcases with my son. We crisscrossed the east and west coasts of the US, returning home to San Diego for a couple of days in between with barely enough time to wash dirty laundry and repack for the next trip. Having two gardens and hour apart, I resigned myself to the fact that there would be many casualties of neglect.


Finally, yesterday evening I ventured into my Chula Vista garden. It was overgrown with weeds as it had received multiple watering a day due to some glitch in the irrigation controller. We came home from the airport at midnight to find the irrigation on, then running again at 3 am when we went to bed  and at 8 am in morning!! What will my water bill be this month?? Irrigation is now turned off for the rest of the week to allow the ground to dry off.


The good new is the fruit trees are doing fine. I will let the pictures speak for themselves while I dine on some delicious Mission Figs :)

Black Mission Figs

A very reliable and  prolific producer of Figs

Thompson Seedless Grapes

Persimmon are mainly still green in color and starting to grow larger. 

Curry leaf plant branches inter-twine with Persimmon branches. The Curry leaf plant is now about 12 years old and has naturalized in my Chula Vista garden. It maintains its leaves year round but is less aromatic in the colder months. It is old enough now that it setting out young plants at the base.

Two young curry leaf plants at the base of the mother plant

It will not be long now before I can make my favorite summer drink -Passionfruit Lemonade. Passion Fruit vine is flowering and young fruits are forming.

Beautiful Passiflora and young fruit which will turn purple when ripe.

Dragon Fruit plant flower is so beautiful. Each year the plant flowers but no fruit sets. Maybe, this is the year we will actually get Dragon Fruit. 

Manila Mango seems happy to give me some fruits each year despite my shoddy treatment and neglect.The  base of the tree was surrounded by weeds.

Dried blossoms and little mango fruits

Two mango that set fruit earlier

The past two years the Sapote/ Ciku has flowered very freely but no fruit has set. I wonder if the climate is not right for it or it needs another plant for pollination. It is one of my husband favorite fruit so we are hoping for some this year.

Strawberry guava reliably pumps out fruits despite being choked by the Ivy Geranium that has taken over a huge section of the side garden.

The Ivy Geranium had grown over the Bougainvillea, the Strawberry guava and is now spreading its flowering arms towards the Mango tree. When I finally get to trimming it back I should be able to get some nice Geranium cuttings.

Due to extreme hot weather the Pomegranate had a lot of flower and fruit drop. There will be very few fruits this year in the Chula Vista garden.

Red Pomegranate

White Pomegranate

Pomelo tree is full of fruit but I suspect that it will be very dry inside like last year. It is said my Chula Vista weather is not hot enough for it to be juicy and sweet. Certainly last year the fruits were large and beautiful but dry inside. One hopes....

Not as many fruits as last year.

I plant some Aeonium at the base of the Pomelo tree.... or rather I cut off some Aeonium intending to make new plants and I DID!! They roooted themselves and thrive where I left them. Aren't they beautiful?

I was very excited when my Lychee set many branches of fruits. But mother nature was against me. During a rain storm branches another tree fell on it, splitting my tree in two :(  This is the remaining part that of the tree and so far the fruits have stayed on. Hopefully, we will get a bite or two.

My Keng Hwa is flowering. I have been reading lately about Keng Hwa plants which have fruited. It makes sense as the are a relative of the dragon fruit and other cactus that produce fruits or pear. Do you like how I neglected it and let the weeds choke it till it flowers?? Sometimes we kill a plant with kindness. Not me!!

Bad news....my vegetable garden is an All Natural Weedfest!! That's for another post