Citrus in September

The garden at Towerwater is returning to normal. All the outstanding tasks are slowly but surely being completed. Our focus can shift to the abundant citrus fruit waiting to be turned into marmalades, cordials and liqueurs.

With the naartjie peels macerating on brandy in the cellar, soon to be turned into homemade Van der Hum liqueur, it was time to start making marmalade.

Ginger and Seville marmalade

The first batch of marmalade was made of Seville and ginger and the second batch, just good old fashioned Seville marmalade.

Seville marmalade

The citrus trees are bursting into blossom, as if to hurry us up to pick the remaining fruit. The garden seems to be colour coding the fruit and flowers currently on display.

The yellow lemons and orange oranges and naartjies echo the yellow and orange of the clivias in the herbaceous border that is in turn, echoing the yellow and orange nasturtiums in the orchard.

Yellow Clivia

Orange Clivia

On a cold rainy Sunday morning in September, the garden was warm with bursts of orange and yellow from the orchard to the vegetable garden. Even the dandelions decided to brighten up the lawn with their yellow faces.

The orchard bursting with nasturtiums

With the citrus trees eager to start their crop for next year, we have our work cut out for us to use up the current citrus crop in September.