Hiya Gt, brrrr, tis a tad cool, specially as my room is open to the verandah which is open to...but a quilt and feather doona waiting at the bottom, rolled up over puppy and me, we're fine, but sure have socks on right now, besides fluffy housecoat. Could be worse, 8C is a killer, and I'd not be here typing.

Well you might ask, Gt, it feels like we've planted everything in the book from the DPI titled Tropical Tree Fruits of Australia, (1983) since when I bought this lot in 1987 (don't ask how much we paid, grins) we were attending the Rare Fruit Council meetings in Mossman out of curiosity - or maybe it was a cheap afternoon/evening out. Lots of samples, seeds and plants to collect then and we planted them all. And over time tasted, savoured spat and cut down what wasn't worth maintaining.

We're now reduced to a valiant 30 year old seedless lime (the largest tree in the orchard which the cockatoos have tried, destructively, told each other that it's useless for seeds and have left my whole orchard alone through herd communication ever since!), eureka lemon, several mangoes (from seeds from the trees at the top of the Buchan Point road which has giant mangoes yearly but don't set fruit here because of die-off). An avenue of taun grows well, but like many bush tucker or lesser known tropical fruits are hardly worth the bother, retained as boundary trees and lures for bats. Syzygium jambos which is huge but ditto for bats. A canistel we've just cropped and a very creamy addition to our desserts. Persimmon, I still have hopes, mandarin, mulberries, lemon myrtle, allspice, pulasan...not much else.

Really, it's not worth us keeping trees that need a lot of work, netting and watering since we're getting old, heck, we are old. I envy the places like Murano's fuel depot in Miallo where he grew a mango which went to 15 feet, obviously didn't like, cut down, planted another and it's the same height already within the same short time and seemingly without pests BUT, he's surrounded by sugar cane for miles and obviously is well protected from predators. (lol, and prolly pees on them at night).
The long months from june till november is usually a very dry time, almost parched and a lot of work without a watering system. We're closer to the equator than say, Florida, yet we lack their common afternoon downpours and I envy that.

Now I've babbled on and not told you much at all, I just suggest plant and see. My side boundary neighbour has done that and I can't wait to see what happens to his gorgeous selection of partly grown trees he put in this past year. If I'm nice to him maybe I don't need to do all the work.... :))