Tag: fruit
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Mediterranean Fruit – the Orchard 2025
It’s been a year since the last orchard “status report” 2024. Time for an update: Pyrus / Pear Tree “Clapp’s Favorite” I covered the ground around the tree with horse manure and green waste in October. In April the tree looked very good and bloomed profusely. In May it suffered from a heavy attack of Dysaphis pyri…
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Ficus Carica – Fig Trees
Figs are the quintessential Mediterranean fruit tree and when we moved here in 2022 I was so happy about the miniature grove of fig trees at the very back of the garden! But in that summer and fall we didn’t see a single fig. Having no experience at all with fig trees and lots of…
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Rubus idaeus and fruticosus: Raspberries, Blackberries & Friends
Taking a bowl into the late summer garden and picking through the raspberries and blackberries was a lovely reality back in Switzerland. I had planted fall raspberries and thornless blackberries that grew into vigorous shrubs intent on taking over the world and delivering countless luscious berries from late summer well into December. Down here, so…
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Oh My Darling Clementine…
I was hankering after a citrus tree and I needed to have something vertical on the terrace… so I planted a clementine tree in a large pot. At the moment I’m not sure whether that was really a good idea or more a bit of plant abuse. I planted this “Clemenules” (Citrus reticulata, Clementina fina)…
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Morus albus – Mulberry
Small fruit like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries etc. are difficult in this Mediterranean garden at 50masl. It is simply too hot and dry and even mulched and in half-shade it’s almost impossible to keep them watered enough for them to truly thrive. One small fruit will do famously though: mulberries. Though originally native to China and…
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Mediterranean Strawberries?
Stepping out into the dewy garden on a summer morning and gathering a handful of strawberries for breakfast – a gardener’s reality in Switzerland and other Northern regions. Down here, for me, alas, it remains a dream. It may be different in the nearby hills but at 50 masI it is simply too hot and…