Medlars ready to pick in autumn

Medlars (Mespilus germanica) have been cultivated for centuries and are an extremely ornamental and useful hardy tree native to the south-east Europe and the eastern part of Turkey.

Single white, sometimes pink flushed unscented flowers in late spring and vibrant russet reddish-brown foliage in late autumn add to the eye appeal of the round flattened tan fruit with its indented calyx and crown of pointed sepal remnants. Fruit matures to a dark brown in late autumn to early winter.

Medlar covered in fruit by Gail Thomas

Medlar tree in full autumn colours

Medlars prefer full sun and grow well in temperate and cool climates to around 2-4m tall and 3-4m wide. They are adaptable to most well drained soils, are not bothered by frost and prefer to be protected from wind. The trees thrive on animal manure and other organic fertiliser and only require light pruning in winter. They can also be espaliered, pruned to an open vase or topiary shape or grown in pots.

There are two cultivars, both self-fertile, the spreading Dutch that produces large fruit and the more compact Nottingham which bears smaller fruit best eaten fresh.

Medlars are best picked while still hard then stored in cool dry place calyx down for 1-2 weeks to blett when the fruit will soften and take on a dark brown hue otherwise they are extremely unpalatable due to their high tannins. Once ripe, medlars have an over-ripe apple aroma with a soft delicate custard-like texture and a mild honeyed flavour.

Medlars contains large seeds, are easy to peel and can be incorporated into cakes, cookies, desserts such as puddings or as a mousse and also make an interesting alternative to quince paste to serve as a cheese or meat accompaniment. Being high in pectin they are excellent for jam or jelly. Peeling the fruit and removing the seeds from the paste-like flesh can be a time-consuming and messy but well worth the effort as the jelly is particularly good as an accompaniment to game meats or incorporated into savoury sauces. Medlars can also be made into a liqueur by placing the fruit in a jar with vodka and sugar and leaving for a few months to mature.

Leonie Mills with her fruit art, carved for children

Along with mentoring secondary students looking at a future in hospitality, chef and owner of Jack & Jill restaurant in Geelong Vic. Leonie Mills was eager to inspire and educate even younger palates to the delights of fresh fruit and vegetables. “I wanted something that was fun for primary groups so I’ve developed a program ‘Leonie’s Fruit Art for Kids’,” enthuses Leonie who generously gives of her time taking the program into local schools. With local fruiterer Harvey’s of Highton supplying the ingredients, Leonie’s buffet of imaginatively carved produce including watermelon sharks, fruit salad trains, rabbits, ducks and floral arrangements immediately grabs the youngsters’ attention and in no time they are excited to try the array of new taste sensations.

www.jackandjillrestaurant.com.au

Crunchy and delicious paradise pears

There’s nothing better than a fresh juicy ripe pear, simply by itself, as a perfect match with a glass of Sauternes or in any number of sweet or savoury dishes. Kicking off the season in January and February are the delightful tiny paradise pears, also sometimes known as sugar pears, crystal pears or faccia bella, with their rosy blushed cheeks.
While the fruit is of a miniature size and borne in bunches, the trees grow to a more conventional 4×4 metres in an upright form although they could easily be adapted to espaliering or shaped to suit smaller gardens. Pear trees require minimal spur pruning only as needed while the trees mature and do best in temperate to cool regions. They have a deep root system so deep watering when dry is also recommended.
Paradise pear trees are now available from nurseries for the home gardener through Flemings and while pollination is unknown for paradise pears Flemings suggest possibly Corella. Trees start producing after about 3 years and these crisp and crunchy golf ball-sized fruit can be enjoyed fresh with cheese, are great for kids’ lunch boxes and are also excellent for cooking.
Individual whole pears are a perfect size to serve as part of a refreshing salad – wrap them in slivers of prosciutto – with antipasto or simply peel and pickle them in spiced vinegar syrup for later use. Likewise, they make delightful individual pear tarts and can also be brandied with sugar for dessert– strain off the brandy syrup, add some grated lime rind and juice and set as an accompanying jelly.

Bright red rhubarb stems

If you are an extra in a movie, providing background audience noise, you are supposed to murmur rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb. I don’t know where this idea originated or why rhubarb (why not cabbage, cabbage, cabbage for example!). Sometimes ‘peas and carrots’ are substituted but I do know that in Asterix the crowd always murmurs rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.

Right now in gardens in Southern Australia the rhubarb clumps are thriving and many families are harvesting big bunches of stems and turning them into stewed fruit, crumbles and cakes. I have just found a new rhubarb cake recipe, it came from my sister via her friend’s grandmother and it is delicious (see the end of the article for the recipe). So, although now is not the time to plant rhubarb it is the time to harvest it and eat it. If you don’t have any, check our your neighbours’ gardens and later in the year (late winter) see if they will divide their clump and give you a piece.
Instructions for planting, growing and harvesting follow.

Delicious, old-fashioned rhubarb, Rheum x cultorum, is making a comeback in the garden and on the menu. While its stems are used in mainly sweet but also savory dishes, botanically it is classed as a vegetable. Although in 1947 an American court declared that it was a fruit for the purposes of taxation. The Greeks saw it as food for barbarians while the Chinese revered it for its medicinal uses. During the 1600s in England it was worth more than double the price of opium.
Seed or crowns Rhubarb can be grown from crowns or seed, but seed grown plants are very variable in colour and size, so for home gardeners it is really best to purchase a crown or potted plant with good stem colour. Plant crowns or divided clumps from late winter to early spring and harvest 12-18 months later. Seed to harvest is 3 years.There are named varieties of rhubarb with different varieties in different states, they include ‘Victoria’, ‘Sydney Crimson’, ‘Wandin Red’, ‘Silvan Giant’ and ‘Ever Red’. Alternatively, if you are lucky you may have a friend or neighbour with a good sized plant they are willing to divide. This way you will know you are getting a plant with good flavour and colour.

Young rhubarb plants grown from seed.

A vigorously growing clump of bright red rhubarb

Position and planting Rhubarb grows best in cool and temperate regions with good rainfall. It can be grown in the sub-tropics in cooler, elevated regions but is really not suitable for the coastal sub-tropics or the tropics. Rhubarb needs good drainage, as it doesn’t like to be very wet, but equally it needs plenty of water in hot dry weather. It likes sun, but I’ve found it does best in my temperate garden where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Rhubarb plants prefer a slightly acid soil (5.5-6.5) and are heavy feeders so before planting, dig compost, manure and blood and bone into the soil, water well and leave for a week or so. Plant crowns or young plants about 90 cm apart, from May to October. The average family will need only one or two plants. Just cover crowns with a thin layer of soil and firmly press them into place. Water in well and mulch with compost, lucerne or pea straw. Keep mulch away from the actual crown to discourage rot.
Growing and harvesting Once a month during the growing season, water with seaweed extract and some liquid fish emulsion; this encourages stem formation. It is almost impossible to over-feed rhubarb. Cut out any flower stems that develop and pick stems very lightly in the first year. Never harvest more than half the clump at any one time, removing the outside stems first. To pick, hold the stalk near the base and pull out from the plant. This makes sure that the whole stem comes away and doesn’t leave a stump, which could cause rotting as it breaks down. Remove the leaves from the stalks. These leaves are poisonous (very high in oxalic acid), so don’t eat or feed them to poultry or other stock, but they are safe to add to the compost.
Dividing clumps Dig up and divide clumps every 4-5 years, preferably in winter. Use a fork or spade and dig the whole clump from the soil. Shake off excess dirt and with a knife or sharp spade divide the clump into large pieces, each with two or three growing points and good roots. Replant into well-prepared soil, in a different position from the original.

Green-stemmed rhubarb tastes the same as red-stemmed.

Stem colour Stem colour is very variable, even from named varieties. The reddest colours are produced during cold weather, the optimum being 10°C. Temperatures above 25°C slow growth and suppress reddening of the stalks. Even with temperature variability, if you have green-stemmed rhubarb, you won’t be able to make it red. Green rhubarb can still be very flavoursome, but if you want red rhubarb you will need to buy a new plant.
Pests and diseases Rhubarb does not have many pest or disease problems in cool and temperate regions. Keep an eye out for aphids, grubs, slugs and snails. Plants may occasionally be affected by downy mildew, rust and leaf spot. These can be prevented by watering only in the morning and at ground level, by removing affected parts, and spraying with an organic fungicide. In warmer, more humid regions crown rot can be a problem. This causes the whole plant to collapse. Really good drainage is essential. Remove and dispose of affected plants (not in the compost). Replant into a new position.
Use Rhubarb stems are used mainly in sweet dishes. I love it simply stewed with sugar and a little nutmeg. But it is also made into jams, jellies, sauces and pie filling. It is rich in potassium, calcium and vitamins A, C and K. In Poland it is added, with spices, to potatoes, while Afghans add it to spinach and in Italy, it is distilled to make the low-alcohol drink, rabarbaro.

Remove the flower stems to encourage new stem growth

Win’s rhubarb cake
2 eggs
50gms butter (melted)
250 to 350gms of brown sugar (depends how sweet you want it!)
2 full cups self raising flour
250ml of plain yoghurt or sour cream
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
500gms of roughly chopped raw rhubarb stems ( do not use pre-cooked rhubarb)

Grease a round, square or loaf tin, line the base with baking paper.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly with wooden spoon (it is hard work as it is quite a thick mixture) – add the rhubarb to the mix last and stir through.
Put mix into greased tin
Bake in moderate oven for approximately 1 hour (check after 30mins or so and turn it around in the oven) or until it springs back when touched and browned off on top. You can sprinkle more cinnamon on the top while it is cooling if you wish.

This is a moist consistency, slightly sharp and not too sweet cake. Eat on its own or serve with cream, ice cream, custard ..
Store in the refrigerator as it has yoghurt/sour cream in it.

I’ve never quite mastered the art of growing berries but I’m hoping this book will make the difference. Allen Gilbert is a well-known and very experienced garden writer who has grown most of the berries described in the book. He is very much a hands-on gardener with books on citrus, tomatoes, nuts, apples and espalier already published. He starts this one by defining berries. Many plants that we think of as berries (strawberries and blackberries for instance) are not technically berries. While plants such as guavas, magosteens and persimmons are berries (botanically speaking). So the first part of the book covers those plants that are generally believed to be berries, namely blueberries, brambleberries, cranberries, currants, elderberries, gooseberries, jostaberries, mulberries, raspberries and strawberries. The second half looks at botanically true berries that are not included in the above list. Cape gooseberries, Chilean guava, feijoas, goji berries, guavas, jaboticabas, kiwi fruit, mangosteens, passionfruit, pawpaws, pepinos, pepperberries, persimmons, pomegranates and tamarillos. It is a great mixture of common and unusual fruits and covers everything from how to propagate, grow and harvest, to pests and diseases and how to deal with them organically, as well as some well-chosen recipes showing how to use the fruit when ripe.

It is full of ideas I am itching to try, like growing strawberries in hay bales and raspberry canes in half-tanks; how to tell when feijoa are ripe, the best time to harvest goji berries and growing your male kiwi fruit in a pot so it doesn’t take over. I actually have the opposite problem, and my male kiwi fruit keep dying but maybe a pot is the answer to that too. The other lovely thing about many of these berries is that they don’t take up too much space. So whatever size your garden you will have room to grow quite a few. A really excellent, inspiring book.

Buy it from your local independent bookshop, borrow it from your library or buy a copy online from the store.

Berry Bounty by Allen Gilbert, Hyland House Publishing, Flexi-cover, full-colour, 224 pages $29.95

Organic Fruit Growing by Annette McFarlane, ABC Books, HarperCollins, Softcover, 223pages, $35

Fleming’s Fruit and Ornamental Tree Guide, Fleming’s Nursery, $29.95 (incl. postage in Australia).

This mook (a cross between a magazine and a book) is the second in the series produced by Organic Gardener Magazine. It is made up of articles by well-known garden writers from across Australia. Some articles have been previously published by Organic Gardener, others are written specifically for this mook. There is everything from pruning (an article I keep going back to, to check how it should be done) by Peter Cundall to pest control by Jerry Coleby-Williams and planning the orchard by Phil Dudman. It also looks at harvesting and storing the produce. The fruits covered include apples, avocado, bananas, berries, citrus, grapes, mangoes, melons, nuts, olives, passionfruit, stone fruit and strawberries. Comprehensive and cheap at only $10.
Borrow a copy from your library, buy one from your local newsagent or go to the store on this website and buy a copy online

Turk's Turban, Delicata, Potimarron, Australian Butter, Buttercup and Bohemian are just a few of the heirloom varieties of pumpkins available to grow.

Heirloom varieties of squash, gourds and small pumpkins

At Petty’s Orchard they held the Heritage Apple Day with over 100 varieties of apples to try. From the beautiful sweet dessert apples like Cox’s Orange Pippen to the more tart but sublime when cooked Edward VII (a late season English cooking apple first recorded in 1902) , and even cider apples like Dabinett, an old Somerset cider apple producing bittersweet cider.

Such a rich panoply of tastes and textures, colours and scents. So much to loose if we don’t make an effort to preserve our heritage of varieties. So what can we all do? It’s pretty simple really, support the organizations and companies that sell these precious seed and grow unusual varieties of vegetables and fruit. Grow these vegetables and harvest and store our own seed, that way we help to preserve genetic diversity for future generations. Volunteer for the organizations that keep these fruit going, like the Heritage Fruits Society — PW

Scarlet Stymared

Sweet Coppin