“Hazels are multi-trunked, suckering large shrubs or small trees 10 to 18 feet tall and wide. The plants are deciduous, shedding all their leaves soon after the nut crop matures.” Excerpted from “What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden?” by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. Timber Press, December, 2013. Click here to pre-order your copy of the book.
Read more →“Our mandarin trees in Hawaii had been planted by a previous owner and we never knew which cultivar we had. The trees had been neglected and were stunted but were nevertheless able to regularly produce delectable fruit for us. What a joy it was to walk out into the garden first thing in the morning and harvest a handful of ripe, fragrant, delicious mandarins for
Read more →“Melons are a warm season, annual crop. They need a long, warm growing season with plenty of heat to develop maximum sweetness in the fruit. When the fruits reach baseball size, put two bricks or stones, side by side, beside the fruit and place the young fruit on top of them. The stones absorb heat during the day and keep the fruit warm at night.”
Read more →“Lime fruits are spherical and from one to two inches in diameter. They are usually picked while green but when fully mature they are yellow. Even when fully mature the fruit is not sweet. It is very tart, with high acidity and a strong and distinctively “limey” aroma.” Excerpted from “What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden?” by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. Timber Press, December,
Read more →“Loquat fruit ripens three months after flowering, in late winter or early spring, at a time when most other fruit plants are only just beginning to flower. The fruit is one to two inches long and round to pear-shaped. It is a thin-fleshed pome like an apple or a pear and is borne in clusters, like grapes, of four to 30 fruits.” Excerpted from “What’s
Read more →“We once owned a large lemon tree when we lived in southern California. It was loaded with dozens of ripe lemons one spring when a friend came to visit. He promptly harvested all of the lemons. All of them. Then he juiced them, made a fresh lemon meringue pie, and froze the remainder of the juice. The pie was fabulous, we used the frozen juice
Read more →“Pineapple guava has small, tasty, strongly aromatic, kiwi-like berries one to three inches long in August to October. The berries are smooth skinned and gray green. The fruit falls off the plant when it’s ready to eat. You can pick it early and it will ripen indoors.” Excerpted from “What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden?” by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. Timber Press, December, 2013.
Read more →“How it got the name grapefruit is something of a mystery. Some believe it’s because the large, round fruit hangs on the tree in clusters, like grapes. On the other hand, the size and shape of the fruit strongly resembles grapeshot, or cannonballs. Grapeshot was stacked on the decks of tall wooden sailing ships of the 18th century in clusters, again, like grapes.” Excerpted from
Read more →“Soft, juicy, and sweet as honey, fresh figs get top-ratings from most people lucky enough to have tried them. If dried figs are the only figs you’ve ever eaten you’ve got to try some fresh figs. Fresh figs are to dried figs as table grapes are to raisins. Both are good but they are so different in texture and flavor that it’s hard to imagine
Read more →“The European grape, Vitis vinifera, the wine grape of history, legend, romance, and religion has been entwined with human culture for untold millennia. Recent discoveries show we’ve been making wine from this grape for 7,400 years, since the Neolithic period.” Excerpted from “What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden?” by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. Timber Press, December, 2013. Click here to pre-order your copy of
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