Posted by Tom Thomas on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 @ 01:35 PM
It's that time of year in Arizona. We have been enjoying our oranges for the last few weeks. They are pretty sweet this year. Today we decided to go ahead and harvest the remaining 30+ oranges on our tree. Here is my harvest helper next to the fruits of our labor.
I must admit it is not hard to grow oranges at this point. Our tree is established and now we just feed it a couple of times a year with some all purpose organic NPK and occasionally add some Great Big Plants Organic Compost to the water at the base of the tree. Our biggest challenges are sunburn on the fruit, and properly adjusting the watering for the hot summer weather. This tree may be too close to the wall for maximum growth. Still, we get about 50-60 oranges a year from this one. Last year we planted another one (to the left) and hope to enjoy its fruit for years to come. The blossom buds are starting to form and it won't be long before the sweet smell of orange blossoms fill the air.
Meanwhile, here is the real challenge- our grapefruit tree.
I am the only grapefruit eater in the house and I am overwhelmed every year. (And a person can only drink so many grapefruit margaritas.) This tree gets the same NPK feedings and treatments of Great Big Plants, but has outgrown its cousin and way outproduces it. I estimate that we will harvest about 175-200 fruit from this tree. Grapefruit anyone?