Fruits all year round

bshubbard — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:36:00 GMT

One of the joys of gardening in Spain is that delicious fruits full of undiluted antioxidants, vitamins and minerals are at hand throughout the year for eating, harvesting for later in the year, drying for snacks or storing at the end of the season.

Unfortunately our fresh raspberry harvests finished in November – having started in May! - but by then we had vitamin/antioxidant-rich late grapes, fresh pomegranates, various varieties of seasonal mandarins and oranges, and, of course, lemons on our perpetual flowering/fruiting lunar lemon tree. From autumn harvests, almonds, pecan nuts and walnuts are stored in their shells without exposure to air until they are cracked for eating.

Having been grown ecologically, the mandarin and orange peel is safe to dry and eat or include in cooked dishes. Since we rarely water the fruit trees in order to maximise flavours rather than artificially maximising the size and weight of fruit, one is constantly tempted to eat more than the minimum recommended five to nine portions of fruit and vegetables a day. At Christmas the pudding and mincemeat was made from home grown and dried fruits and nuts.

Why not plan now to do the same!

Clodagh and *** Handscombe are practical holistic and self-sufficient Irish and English gardeners living in Spain, who have written several books, including ‘Growing Healthy Fruit in Spain’, and many articles to share their ideas and experiences.
For more information, visit their website: www.gardeninginspain.com.

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Fruits all year round