It is official - MANGO FIESTIVAL 2013 is set for July 13.  Tickets can be purchased in advance through the web site.

It is looking so great for a wonderful crop. Every day we are checking out how the fruit is doing and it is so exciting seeing the fruit getting a bit larger week after week.  Although Florida considers itself to be the one mainland area of the country that mangos can be properly grown, South Texas will definitely have an excellent crop this year.  We are looking forward to celebrating the MANGO with all our fruit enthusiasts.

During the MANGO FIESTIVAL we will have presentations on growing and caring for mango trees and offer many of the Fairchild Tropical Garden Curator's Choice Mango for planting in your yard.

This year even our younger mango lovers will have a special activity. Folks 10 years and younger are invited to create their own Mr. Mango Head - we are looking for a mascot for this event.

For our fellow mango growers there is the mango contest where titles and prizes for the BIGGEST MANGO, the MOST BEAUTIFUL MANGO, and the MOST BIZARRE MANGO are at stake.

And finally it is the "ITS ALL ABOUT MANGO" Food Contest. With categories for both the professional and amateur this is your opportunity to show-off that great MANGO recipe.  See additional information on this contest and the entry form.

Click here to open online Mango Food Contest form.

Well there really is a lot blooming....

We are starting the summer off with a TROPICAL FRUIT ICE CREAM SOCIAL on Saturday, June 1 from 10AM to 2 PM. Think of this as a tastefully exotic experience to help you figure out which fruit is the next one you would like to add to your collection.  We will have nearly 2 dozen ice cream and sorbets and frozen yogurts available.  Avocado to Guava, Passion Fruit to Grapefruit, Sugar Apple and even Olive Oil,  these are just a few of the treats we have prepared for you.  For this event only we have 2 scoops of ice cream for the price of 1.  There will also be a limited amount of pints and single serving containers for taking hone.

We are still harvesting the SAPODILLAS, and the GUAVAS are coming in strong.  I was taking a peruse around the local supermarket - and I do have to say it would take three of guava they are offering to even match just one of our smaller fruits.  So if you are a GUAVA lover it is time to stock up.  We have both the white and pink flesh fruits available.

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is all the beautiful flowers.  Walking up to the house it is just a vision of beauty to see the lavender of the jacarandas, the brilliant purple of the Palm Beach Bougainvillea and the bright yellow blooms of the Scramble Egg (Senna surattensis).  This year the Tipuana Tipu at the office has laid down a carpet of yellow butterfly shaped blooms.  Daily rounds include checking out the Black Sapote blooms,  While the trees flowered last year, none of the blooms held on the trees.  This year we are checking them daily - some blooms have fallen - we can't seem to find the culprit - though I am wondering if the explosion of "May Beetles" is a factor.  

Another one of the "sapotes" the Pringlei Sapote has had little written about it in plant literature.  While it is another very slow growing tree, our trees have required topping on occasion to limit some of their excessive height.  They bloomed this spring and the little fruits are growing.  While their shape reminds me of a mango, they hang much differently on the trees.  The skin of the ripe fruit is tough but the flavor of the pulp is pleasant - reminds me a bit of apricot. These are tough plants handling freezes and wind and drought with hardly a blink.  Ed has often expressed some wishful thinking that they made up our south windbreak rather than the Australian pines.  If you are just starting to develop a windbreak, they might be an excellent choice for you.

This Spring we have added several of my favorite items to what we carry at in our store.  The Gardener's Hollow Leg is the perfect size harvesting bag.  And those of you into jelly making - well, I am sharing my jelly bag secret - the Nut Milk bag.  They both make great gifts for your gardening friends.  And of course we are offering Taste of Tropics gift boxes for pickup or shipping along with our Tropical Fruit Jellies and Jams. They make a unique gift for the person who has everything.  

And those of you who have been awaiting the return of our HOT PASSION #4 - our winter fruit harvest of Passion Fruit means your wait is over.

And for our Upper Valley neighbors - the QUINTA MAZATLAN now carries our jellies.  In Brownsville, the HISTORIC BROWNSVILLE MUSEUM is the exclusive retailer of our Convent Grape Butter along with our other jellies.  For our friends in the Corpus area you can find our jellies at THE BLEU FROG MERCANTILE.

Pet Lovers get your Beneficial Nematodes established now to control the flea population without the repeated use of toxic pesticides and chemicals,  These nematodes are especially effective in getting rid of Fire Ants too, as well as beet armyworms, black cutworms, cabbage maggots, cucumber beetles, fruit flies, fungus flies, leaf miners, onion maggots, plant parasitic nematodes, shore flies and tobacco cutworms to name a few pests.   

Keep Hot Wax on hand to make it easier to deal with those first appearances of pests like aphids, whiteflies and spider mites. This is a natural insect repellent that blends capsaicin with a highly refined paraffin wax and other "food-grade" ingredients. The result is a spray that coats plants with a harmless, micro-thin barrier to deter pests. Some insects are done in by capsaicin, others by the wax.  And as a added benefit it also works as an "anti-transpirant," reducing water loss and resulting stress...a true benefit for new transplants.

And keep up with your preventive spraying with Neem Oil.  Regular preventive spraying is imperative to protect your fruit trees (especially citrus) from the the serious insect pressures the Valley is under.  Using 100 % pure Neem Oil means you are taking advantage of the nearly 200 compounds in this oil, not the single active ingredient that most "ready to use" products contain.  

Bio-Wash is one of those products we just could not manage without.  Being completely bio-degradable, non-toxic to humans, birds, horses, farm animals and aquatic life and carcinogen free, makes this an important tool for fruit, flower, vegetable and grain production.  It will wash away the protective coatings of many insects, it increases the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of plants resulting in enhanced growth, hardiness and yield, raised BRIX levels and accelerated photosynthesis.  Like many members of the Rare Fruit Council, we will be forever in debt to Bob Murray of Tree House Nursery on Pine Island for introducing us to this product.