Monday, July 21, 2008

Home-Grown Fruit Year-Round

It took me quite a bit of research to figure out the fruiting trees/shrubs/plants that deliver the most flavor, quality and quantity per square foot (I live in a regular-sized suburban lot). I also wanted to ensure we had at least two types of home-grown fruit to enjoy each month.

I could not find an already made list that would fulfill our needs anywhere, so I am sharing my list hoping it might help someone else. The list I made is a fruiting schedule per month for Central Florida...

Here it goes:

JANUARY
Star Fruit (aka Carambola)
Grapefruit
Kumquat

FEBRUARY
Grapefruit
Loquat
Chinese Jujube
Strawberries

MARCH
Cherry of the Rio Grande
Loquat
Surinam Cherry
Chinese Jujube
Strawberries

APRIL
Cherry of the Rio Grande
Grumichama
Loquat
Surinam Cherry

MAY
Surinam Cherry
Blueberry
Grumichama
Loquat
Orange
Cherry of the Rio Grande

JUNE
Surinam Cherry
Blueberry

JULY
Blueberry
Watermelons
Melons & Cantaloupes
White Sapote
Longan
Che Fruit

AUGUST
Fig
Muscadine Grape
Bunch Grape
Atemoya
White Sapote
Paw Paw
Che Fruit
Longan

SEPTEMBER
Longan
Muscadine Grape
Bunch Grape
Star Fruit
Kiwi
Fig
Atemoya
White Sapote
PawPaw
Che Fruit

OCTOBER
Goji Berry
Star Fruit
Kiwi
Kumquat
Fig
Orange
Atemoya
White Sapote
PawPaw
Longan

NOVEMBER
Goji Berry
Star Fruit
Kiwi
Kumquat
Florida Cranberry
Grapefruit
Orange
PawPaw

DECEMBER
Goji Berry
Star Fruit
Kumquat
Grapefruit
Orange

On & Off YEAR-ROUND
Bananas
Key Lime
Indian Lime
Persian Lime
Sambokan Lemon
Eureka Lemon
Moringa Tree


We currently have about 65% of the listed plants and by year's end we should have all of them....fingers crossed. From the ones we already have, about a quarter have been started from seed...mostly the berries, which are very expensive if bought as ready-to-fruit plants.

With these fruits plus the veggie seeds we have been saving ourselves from the last mini-crops we should cut our grocery bill next year by about half (if not more) and we'll eat better quality food. Can't beat that!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My goodness, I'd love to own 65% of these! Great list! :-)