Spring Starfruit

Back in June, I wrote about our second harvest of winter starfruits. In the post entitled, ‘Cool Climate Starfruits’, I pondered about the rest of the fruit on the tree…

“Interestingly right now…, our tree has many little starfruits along its lower branches: I do wonder whether these small fruits will lay dormant over the remaining winter and mature with the warm rays of spring.”

Well, the answer is in: the small fruits have indeed ripened over the past fortnight with the advent of spring warmth. In fact, these fruits are much sweeter than those which ripened at the end of autumn, and have sustained no damage from cool evenings and the occasional frosty morning.

Ripening spring starfruit

As usual, we have used the starfruits to make delicious juice drinks.

While the final few fruits mature on the lower branches of the tree, and before the tree initiates its spring growth, I have taken the opportunity to lop the top branches of the tree: it had begun to reach unwieldy heights. Too much time to be spent on a ladder if left unpruned!

Ready for the liquidiser...

The tree has also received its first feed of pelletised chicken manure for the season. Furthermore, it has been receiving a little extra water during dry weeks. During a recent visit to Malaysia, it was jokingly explained to me that tropical fruit trees are ‘manjar’: they are spoiled and therefore need to be pampered! So, pamper away…

Wishing you hours of enjoyment and contentment in your garden…