Orange Trees

I have two orange trees in my garden, planted 7 years ago.

orange blossom

Both are pathetic stunted creatures, and only one has ever produced fruit, and it was of such poor quality that I was sorely disappointed.

Note to self: in future, check the orange variety when buying orange trees!

The one at the end of the garden has flowered before, only a handful of flowers at a time that seemingly never pollinated as fruit never appeared.

baby oranges 

This year, however, both trees were absolutely covered in blossom, and now in May have loads of tiny green fruit.

Last year we had an abundancy of grapes, most of which were left to the wasps, but this year seems to be the year of the orange.

That is, assuming the tree shown here is in fact an orange tree.

Considering it has never fruited before, it could well turn out to be a mandarin or even another lemon tree.

Orange tree

Sad to say, my citrus fruit trees never get fed, although in their formative years I did supply then with some citrus fertilizer.

The soil here is rocky, hard, alkaline, free-draining although lacking earthworms. It desperately needs mulch added to moisten and protect plants from the hot sun.

My fruit trees are mostly planted in the north side of the house where they get protection from the sun at least part of the day.

I also have a plum tree and a loquat tree, each of which will be talked about in other posts.

Intro to Izzy's Spanish Garden

Hi:)



My name is Izzy.



Welcome to my blog about gardening here in south-eastern Spain, where the soil is poor, rain water extremely limited and the tap water contains more chlorine than the local swimming pool! Izzy's Spanish Garden is going to tell you about the trials and tribulations of gardening here in Spain.


The sun, however, is almost always present.


Winters are cold but never freezing, (although there could always be an exception one year) and nine months out the year we are subject to the most horrendous winds which is why I do not have a greenhouse. I think only a brick one could withstand the gusts and that kinda defeats the whole object.


Summers are long hot and dry, and usually windless, which is when even a slight breeze would be Heaven-sent.



This is equivalent to USDA zone 10. My old home in Western Scotland was zone 9 (believe it or not), and I've spent the last year or two experimenting and learning what plants plants can grow in both places.