We live next to Quarry Lakes Park, one of the East Bay Regional Parks. The landscaping is a brilliant example of ecological restoration. The park was built on the site of old gravel quarries - reshaped with power shovels and bull dozers to form five lakes with contours and trails. Since Niles in a historic center of horticultural nurseries, the decision was made to base the landscaping on a variety of world plants, not just local native vegetation.
The outcome is exciting! A peninsula extends into one of the lakes to contain a collection of rare and unusual fruit varieties. The rule is "anyone can pick any fruit - but you can take only what you hold in your hand - no bags, pockets, or boxes... I have been exposed to some new very enjoyable fruit varieties and have incorporated several trees in our home garden...
There is something wonderful
about going into our own garden and picking fruit fresh from our own trees. Figs are just finished... and they were so good this
year... we had enough heat that they had a high sugar level. I like them best warm from the sun... Some people peel them but I love the texture of the outer
skin too. To me squeezing a fig to find if its ripe is a very sensual experience!
After figs we have jujube fruit known as Chinese Dates – the
fruit is about the size of a big cherry with one small seed. I always start eating them too early – but
even immature they are delicious. At
their best they get wrinkled, deep red, and very sweet. It is a fall treat to pick a handful when I’m
working in the garden – just for a snack... You may recognize them from Chinatown - where they are commonly sold by the small bag full. Their proper name is Zizyphus!
Next come guavas – I planted the small red Chilean guava –
called Strawberry guavas – their flavor is very intense and I enjoy them a
few at a time.. They must be really ripe to be good. Also I have green colored Pineapple Guavas about
the size of a large hen’s egg. When they become ripe and soft I cut them in
half and use a spoon to scoop out the heart.
Milder flavor than the Chilean
variety...
I’m starting to pick an occasional Granny Smith Apple – they
are a true “winter” apple – with the main crop getting ripe in November...
those we will make into canned apple sauce for the long cold months of December
– April when there is no fruit ripening.
Also we are looking forward to two varieties of persimmon...
The flat, Fuji persimmons have a texture like an apple – tasty and crisp. These Hayashi persimmons are more rounded and larger. They become very soft and are best eaten just on the edge of
frozen... they have a sweet nutlike flavor... wonderful!.. Persimmons have such
beautiful orange color, sometimes with black spots. They ripen just after Halloween.
I planted a quince tree that bears well – but we are not too
fond of the texture and flavor of quinces... They are good baked, and they make a wonderful quince butter ( like apple butter ). We give many of them to a baker friend
that makes delicious tarts with them...
When I was a kid in Kansas we thought of Rhubarb stems as a fruit– and I am growing genuine Kansas rhubarb brought to California by my
uncle Delbert. He grew it in southern
California. Many forms of rhubarb die
back with frost – but not this one – Its bright red stems and green leaves are attractive
all winter long... It gives me pleasure to share my “Uncle Delbert” rhubarb
with others. I am put out by people making jokes about rhubarb! It makes one of my favorite pies!
To a botanist, tomatoes are a fruit – and they continue to
produce a bounteous harvest continually from very early July to
Thanksgiving. I grow “Ace” and
”Earlygirl” because they are so prolific and bear steadily all season. Forget heirloom varieties – most of them
require a much hotter climate than we have here...
I also planted a bed of new hybrid strawberries that are large, well shaped fruit, that taste like strawberries should taste... an intense sweet flavor! They bear continuously for several weeks in the summer.
Oranges, Tangerines, and Lemons are pretty much year
round... but I am picky and go looking for year old oranges that are hold
overs, still on the tree from last year – they are the sweetest and have the
most flavor. Naval oranges just don’t
ripen well in our climate – but Valencia oranges are super!
For the next ripe fruit we will have to wait until the end of
May or early June – when Loquats ripen... they are a strange little fruit –
with a sweet sour flavor and huge brown seeds.
I planted a modern hybrid with larger fruit and smaller seeds... I am
quite fond of them!
What winter doesn't have in fruit – I compensate with
lettuce and greens... two kinds of Italian Kale and two kinds of leaf
lettuce... plus this year I am experimenting with planting potatoes in
October... Potato plants will take a bit of frost, and even if we get a heavy
frost the soil will not freeze solid, so growth will quickly return.
I welcome each new fruit as it comes into season and eat
them with pleasure. And with the last of each fruit
I am sorry to see them end.. but its time to move on to the next variety. I think there is a great lesson
about life in there somewhere...
