Autumn tasks

This week I have been working my way through some autumn tasks, some of which are concerned with using up our citrus harvest. The mandarins are all gone now. It turns out that when your three grandchildren move close, you have a ready market for all the mandarins you can grow! DGS#2  (2 and a bit years old) delighted in taking a small basket of mandarins home to Mummy when he visited, and Mummy tells me he was capable of eating three of them in an afternoon!

I have now given 4 large boxes of Meyer lemons away to the neighbours through our local Buy Nothing FaceBook page, but I reckon there are at least two more boxes full left on the tree. They have also gone to my DDIL and her mum too. The Meyer, being a sweeter and bright yellow fruit, are a bit of a magnet for fruit fly. The crop comes in a huge wave, over about 4 weeks so it is important to try to get them off the tree before the fruit fly finds them. I freeze affected fruit before disposing of it. We have a rigorous baiting regime and a practice of never leaving fallen fruit on the ground, and as a result we are not getting too many spoiled fruit.

Everyone is amazed to discover the delights of the Meyer lemon: thin skinned, sweeter than the Eureka and very juicy, they are a big hit. I made 4 jars of preserved lemons, one for me and others to give away to friends.  How to preserve lemons here 

The pink grapefruit and the tangelos are a delight to add to our breakfast juice. We feel like we are staying in a posh hotel, with freshly squeezed juice every morning!

I made a tangelo cake for Mother's Day lunch. It is like a whole orange cake but you boil the tangelos and cool them before use. This is the recipe I used.  Instead of the syrup, I warmed up some spiced tangelo marmalade (one of DH's specialities)  and used it as a glaze on top of the cake. It went down a treat with some cream on the side.

There was a special occasion this past week. DH and I celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary! DH decided not to go with the gifts set down in the 'modern calendar of anniversary gifts" which declared that the 44th was the time to give groceries! Instead I got some pretty candle bowls. The Ellenbrook family came over for lunch and DH did a barbecue.

This is a chalk drawing of me, complete with white hair and dragonfly earrings! Drawn by DGD (aged 8), with a bit of help from her little brother.

 I am continuing to make over the front garden around the bird bath. I have been moving irises, cannas, a gardenia and various groundcovers from other parts of the garden, to create a sort of central bed under the fruit trees. These trees are mostly deciduous -apart from the olive- so the bed will get lovely winter and spring sunshine before being protected by the leaves from our hot summer sun. Most of the things I have moved have settled in well. I have a couple of pots of annuals coming up -anemones and calendulas, which I will add in a few weeks, along with some bluebell bulbs. It should look good in about 4 weeks or so. I keep having to remind myself to grow flowers -so much of what I do is about growing food!

The 'Glamis Castle" David Austin rose is doing well at the end of the front garden central bed. It has been here for years. I have plans for moving some other roses away from it to the back -so they can get more sun, and so this one can be less crowded.

I am slowly working on my next quilt, which has a gardening theme too. 

The other things I have been doing include continuing to refine my compost making skills -I am convinced that they are the backbone of the garden- and attempting to improve my skills in growing and saving seed and taking cuttings. This week I have started saving basil seed for next year.

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