I've been watching our avocado tree for many many moons. Going on six years to be exact. No production. Not a single avocado. Nada.
So this year we decided to do something dramatically different. We watered the tree. And ta-da. We have avocados! Lots of them.
I'm so excited to have avocados actually growing on our tree that I've gone a little overboard with documenting the tree -- from flowers to little fruit and now larger fruit. The photo above was taken a few months ago when the Jacarandas were in full flower and the moon happened to be out. If you look carefully you'll see baby avocados hanging toward the bottom of the photo.
This picture kind of shows why some call avocados "alligator pears." A nice descriptive name for a fruit I think.
I grew up with avocados. My grandfather grew them (and watered them I bet). He grew both Hass and Fuerte so we had avocados most of the year -- boxes of them.
To help them ripen up, my mom used to stuff avocados in the towel drawers. The towels were soft and warm and protected the fruit while it ripened. It was a common thing in our house to go to the towel drawers and dig around for a ripe avocado.
Then, of course, if you found a ripe avocado, you'd need some fresh lemon to go with it. And some toast. Salt and pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
I'm told we have a couple of months before it is time to pick. I can't wait.
7 comments:
mmmm I love avocados! You have a very lovely tree there. I loved how your mom kept them in the towel drawer. I also loved your coyote picture! Check out my blog next time you're bored.
http://eye-see-you-randi.blogspot.com/
How cool! My grandparents had avocado trees when they lived on Mentor Avenue. But I don't remember the towel drawer part, haha. I hope you will post follow-ups on their maturation!
Water a tree??? Who wooda thought that!
I think the watering lesson is in one of those, "Things you don't learn in college", books.
There's a avo tree in a parking lot in Sierra Madre that keeps me well supplied. The avos are small, black, and very thin skinned, so it's some type of heirloom. I actually can't tell much difference in taste, but it is extremely difficult to strip off the peel. If I had my druthers, I'd go for a hass or fuerte.
Never had an avocado tree, just lime, lemon, and tangerines.
When we moved from S. Cal.
to MICHIGAN, we found that the stores would throw out their avocados when they were ripe. They thought they had gone bad. For years we got free avocados this way, until someone finally clued that part of the country in. Ahh, that was the only thing that made the bitter cold winters tolerable.
tamara
townsend, ma
Mmmmm. Guacamole!
The avocado is a exclusive fruit that can be found in many grocery stores across the country Also known as the "Alligator Pear” and it has lots of vitamin E. Avocados are grown in tropical climates like Central America, Mexico, Florida as well as in California.
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