Florida Garden

Navel Orange

There are 3-4 more orange trees, i'll have to count when im there next.

Here is one of them.

Navel Orange August 2013

Its getting bigger. I guess the early years were more of a struggle and now its sort of established itself. I dont think it will grow much faster, but it wont look like its about to die again I imagine. Its taken ages to get to just this. One day it might be taller than me.

Navel Orange July 2012

Still slow going. It sends up a few shoots but then seems to go back to sleep.

Navel Orange August 2011

Its still alive but its not really growing much. Note, after being here two weeks and watering regularly its sprouted leaves. I think this is a good example of how dependant a garden is on water. Although it seems obvious, I thought the plants would sort of grow somewhat, but without water they tend to do nothing at all. Not that im that fussed but its clear that the orange trees, including this Navel are going to take forever to grow. The photo close ups show the new growth, which, is pretty exciting. Shame im going back to England now but at least theres still 1 month of the wet season left.

The thing with the wet season is that its not really enough. When it rains you get a bit of water, but most of it washes away so 2 inches is not really worth more than 2-3 days with the hose at most, after that its value has gone.

Also, im hoping that for every new sprout theres a new root under there and greater capacity for enduring the challenges ahead. If this and the other orange trees can get through to year three I think they'll be made.