Garden Update -- Avocado Trees

It is the end of May and our avocado trees have finished with their flowering and fruit has set.  Above is a picture of a Lamb Hass avocado that I took yesterday morning as the sun very conveniently provided me a spotlight right on the young fruit.  A great write up of the history of the Lamb Hass avocado and its bearing patterns are the Yard Posts blog, which I have found to be a good resource on all things avocado. 

Young fruit on our Reed avocado, which is somewhat behind the Lamb Hass.  The sun was not quite so accommodating for my Reed picture.  But, you can already see the round shape of the Reeds as opposed to the more oval or pear shape of the Lamb Hass.  These avocados will be ready to pick in about a year.  I suppose one thing that has surprised me about the mature fruit from these trees is just how big the avocados are.  The Reeds will grow to softball size and the Lamb's are as big or bigger.  Both are excellent eating. 

May Garden Update -- Nectarines Are Ready

 This morning's picture shows nectarines that are just about ready.  This really is a beautiful tree, from the flowers earlier in the year to the bright red fruit. And the fruit is, of course, great to eat -- on par with our peaches, but I think even better. We will have nectarines in abundance for a week or more, depending on how hot the weather gets.  I was surprised to learn that nectarine trees have been around a long time, dating back thousands of years to east Asia.