I spent most of the day re-organising pots so they're not scattered randomly and are lined up near the waterbutt for when I need to transport lots of water in a few weeks (the drought it already starting). SO HOT today, I kept having to go hide in the shade, even with a hat. And I went and broke up lots of the privet branches into smaller bits and piled them round the beds round the back, so I have giant mulch piles against the upcoming evil sun. It's slightly overkill, but it won't hurt the plants and it's a good way to get rid of the masses of twigs and leaves and sticks. And we took off another couple of branches, so we only have the two very tall ones that stick straight up now. So we now have some giant piles of branches, but an actual path cleared through them, and I've dumped two large piles out the front that I'll break up properly later.
I also planted another little dwarf mandarin tree next to the red guava (apparently they're good companions for citrus), and I'm going to stick another tree in the ground tomorrow - just deciding which one. I have too many trees! I want it to be the apple or a peach, as it will be in a row with the other apples and peach, for pollinating, but I also have other citrus that need planting, and it needs to be a small one.
I can put in more stuff round the back now that the privet's mostly gone, as there's more sunlight, but I'm going to be Good and Patient and wait til we've actually removed the rest of it (otherwise my baby trees will get trampled. Right now it's easy to send stuff crashing down).
I was going to do other things today, but kept getting distracted by happy garden time. It's so nice knowing I actually have time to do most of it properly now. There are so many little things like moving stuff into sensible places and getting irrigation stuff set up and Weeding Everything and mulch everywhere, and then deciding what I can repot or plant out. And resisting the urge to go buy more plants. That's a fulltime job! (I REALLY REALLY want a couple of Rabbiteye blueberries. I'm not quite sure where to put them, but argh. WANT. They're the commonest and most productive variety, I opted for a different one (the Southern Highbush variety) initially because it's better suited to my garden. But I want ALL THE BLUEBERRIES).
I love how well everything seems to be doing (almost everything. But the 5% of plants struggling are either really difficult or are getting eaten by slugs and never really had a chance anyway). And I have lots of flowers coming out all down the driveway in nice seasonally staggered displays, which helps fill the 'designer garden' niche, and lets me concentrate on the food stuff in the main garden (which ALSO has lots of pretty flowers most of the time, I just don't design placement around the flowers).
But I really need another watering can. Or a bigger one. Or both. Though being able to run a hose of the waterbarrels this year (as they're nice and raised now) will really help. (Last year it would take me at least six trips with a watering can AND bucket to water the whole garden. Stuff is more established this year, and better mulched, but I also have more of it and I didn't actually manage to water enough last year). Watering's tricky. Too much and the plants don't send down deep roots and get too dependent on you for water. Too little and they start dying.
And the silverbeet and rainbow silverbeet and celery is still growing away and due for another mass harvest soon.
I've found a US edible called 'Miner's lettuce' which looks like it might be an awesome groundcover/salad thing that will keep reseeding and tastes nice and is too tough for the slugs. And my alpine strawberries are starting to snowball in numbers and ripeness (and tastiness!), and my normal strawberries are starting to show signs of fruit. The peach trees all have tiny peaches on and it looks like I have a nice little crop of blueberries coming. Also guavas! The rest of the plants are still budding out, so I'll have to wait and see how many apples and citrus and grapes and things I get. I'm also hoping the haskap (honeyberry), almond, cherry and passionfruit do something this year. The plum tree is covered in beautiful white blossoms and smells lovely, but isn't self-fertile so I probably won't get anything. But I'll see.
I spent a couple of evenings last week nailing chicken wire under the patio roof and running an archway with sheltercloth up to it. I've replaced the dead pepino (I must get another of those) with the red vanilla passionfruit, and hopefully it will grow up under the arch and spread across under the roof (it needs shelter and warmth and shade, so I'm hoping I created the right microclimate).
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
2014 Fruit & Spring 2015
Haven't posted here in a while - most of the last few months of summer and autumn were full of changes in the garden, and I just gave up on posting about it until it all settled down a bit. I bought a lot more plants, put in some new beds, and have a bunch sitting around in pots waiting for further planting space.
Thinking about the garden meant I either went straight out and started weeding or digging or wandering around planning, or I was sad because I could do anything.
And then of course, there were the many foot problems, which didn't clear up until winter made it too dark and wet to go outside. And then I sprained an ankle again! So all in all, the last few months have been a bit patchy garden-wise.
But this year, I get to see what survived, what's looking sad, and what might actually start fruiting. I also have four rain barrels set up, to help avoid the nasty drought conditions I ran into last year, and cut down on the amount of water hauling I had to do.
Summary of 2014 Summer/Autumn Fruit:
Stonefruit
Apples
I got to eat 3-4 apples last year; from one of the Columnar apples (the Polka), the Blush Babe and the Golden Russet. All were a bit sharp, and ripened very late, probably because I shouldn't have let them fruit (I picked most of them off, but I couldn't resist leaving the odd one... ). I chopped them up and popped them into the microwave for five minutes to get individual apple-sized bowls of stewed apple.
I now have five or six apple trees - two local red delicious type dwarf varieties (Blush Babe and Little Rascal), two columnars tucked in up the end, one semi-dwarf Golden Russet in a pot, and one Early Strawberry (to go in the ground). I bought the first four because they were columnar or convenient (sold locally), then realised they all ripened around the same time and were fairly similar apples, so I had to get a couple more. The Early Strawberry is, well, early, and the Golden Russet is supposed to be a very different flavour of apple (and not much of a fruiter, so it's sort of experimental). I'm not a fan of the sharp granny smith types.
Peaches
Bang on schedule, the Honey Babe burst into blossom a couple of weeks ago, and the Kotare Honey is just starting to follow.
I actually got fruit off these last year! The Kotare Honey peaches were prolific, tiny and sad, the Bonanza ones were few, huge and delicious and the Honey Babe were in the middle. I'll see how they go this year, but if the Kotare Honey doesn't improve, I'll get rid of it. The Honey Babe needed more water.
They all got a bit of leaf curl, but I picked the worst of it off, and then they were fine.
Other
The Cherry and the Almond are still in their first couple of years, so I might see flowers this spring. The Cherry is schedule for a transplant from pot to ground at some point; it dried out far too much last year.
The pears and quinces are holding on, and not doing much. They need time and/ repotting, mostly.
I actually found a dwarf plum! It's just poking out a few buds right now, and I just have to cross my fingers that it will be pollinated, but at least I have one.
I got a couple of feijoas off the Unique, but the Bambini didn't get fertilised at all. I've moved Unique's pot round the back next to the Bambini to try and improve that this year. I did get about five little Red Guavas, which were nice, and this year should be a lot better, as the plant is bushing out nicely.
Berries
The Pepino bush and the little Blueberry Muffin have been devoured by slugs, and also not very happy in the winter cold. I'll see if they get their leaves back with spring, and try moving them.
The other blueberries have been sporadically flowering and fruiting since I planted them. Once mostly died, but has new growth from the base, the others just keep popping out random flowers. I didn't pull a lot off because I didn't expect them to keep flowering. I'm tempted to indulge in some rabbiteyes, but I know they'll probably go wild, and I still don't have acidic enough soil. And I just need to give my current plants enough time to settle in before I can judge properly.
The strawberries have been doing okay - some died off, others flourished, and some of the day neutrals actually fruited all winter. The Alpines did amazingly, and I was getting a few berries a day right into winter (then the taste declined, as the period between ripeness and mush shortened to about a day or less. The big plants are still fruiting).
The raspberries got the mould, so they were out.
The blackberry and currants are all still growing into things, so I'll see if they start doing anything this year.
I also splurged on four Haskap plants, as a less-acidic-soil alternative to my blueberries (my soil is a little too neutral for me to get my hopes up over those). I thought they all died off last autumn, which was depressing, but it appeared to be a combination of transplant shock from the heat of later summer (they all came from the far end of the New Zealand, as there aren't any local sellers yet), and the onset of autumn. They all have tiny leaves starting to bud out, showing that a plant can look dead for 5 months and still be okay.
My grapes are both alive too - the one in the ground (Niagara) always looked pretty happy, but the Canadice Seedless Grape in the pot was a bit more delicate and got nasty sunburn (or a fungus) towards the end of summer and all its leaves went brown and dropped off. I left it in the hope that it would magically come back to life, and I just noticed some new leaf buds, so that's wonderful.
The Myrtus ugni were... random. They clearly hate wind and getting too dry, and the various bushes around my garden are all reacting differently. One's died off entirely, others are incredibly healthy (some practically next to the dead one). I noticed a sort of greyish pallor to the leaves in summer, which seems to be a sign that they're too hot or dry. I didn't get many berries, which may just be because they were settling in.
Citrus
These are doing... variously. Most look pretty healthy, but aren't really fruiting yet, and a few are clearly not enjoying winter. I got a handful of delicious tiny mandarins off the one round the back, and three lemons off the Meyer, as well as one absolutely fantastic and very tiny orange. The Lime has taken off and is actually growing now, it's double the size, so I won't be removing any fruit this year. I also have a few new dwarf citrus to round out the harvest seasons, a Buddha's hand because I can (it's covered in buds right now) and a Kumquat Meiwa.
Thinking about the garden meant I either went straight out and started weeding or digging or wandering around planning, or I was sad because I could do anything.
And then of course, there were the many foot problems, which didn't clear up until winter made it too dark and wet to go outside. And then I sprained an ankle again! So all in all, the last few months have been a bit patchy garden-wise.
But this year, I get to see what survived, what's looking sad, and what might actually start fruiting. I also have four rain barrels set up, to help avoid the nasty drought conditions I ran into last year, and cut down on the amount of water hauling I had to do.
Summary of 2014 Summer/Autumn Fruit:
Stonefruit
Apples
 |
| Golden Russet apple in organza jewelry bag against bugs |
I now have five or six apple trees - two local red delicious type dwarf varieties (Blush Babe and Little Rascal), two columnars tucked in up the end, one semi-dwarf Golden Russet in a pot, and one Early Strawberry (to go in the ground). I bought the first four because they were columnar or convenient (sold locally), then realised they all ripened around the same time and were fairly similar apples, so I had to get a couple more. The Early Strawberry is, well, early, and the Golden Russet is supposed to be a very different flavour of apple (and not much of a fruiter, so it's sort of experimental). I'm not a fan of the sharp granny smith types.
Peaches
 |
| Honey Babe Blossom from 17th August |
Bang on schedule, the Honey Babe burst into blossom a couple of weeks ago, and the Kotare Honey is just starting to follow.
I actually got fruit off these last year! The Kotare Honey peaches were prolific, tiny and sad, the Bonanza ones were few, huge and delicious and the Honey Babe were in the middle. I'll see how they go this year, but if the Kotare Honey doesn't improve, I'll get rid of it. The Honey Babe needed more water.
They all got a bit of leaf curl, but I picked the worst of it off, and then they were fine.
Other
The Cherry and the Almond are still in their first couple of years, so I might see flowers this spring. The Cherry is schedule for a transplant from pot to ground at some point; it dried out far too much last year.
The pears and quinces are holding on, and not doing much. They need time and/ repotting, mostly.
I actually found a dwarf plum! It's just poking out a few buds right now, and I just have to cross my fingers that it will be pollinated, but at least I have one.
I got a couple of feijoas off the Unique, but the Bambini didn't get fertilised at all. I've moved Unique's pot round the back next to the Bambini to try and improve that this year. I did get about five little Red Guavas, which were nice, and this year should be a lot better, as the plant is bushing out nicely.
Berries
 |
| White Alpine Strawberries |
The other blueberries have been sporadically flowering and fruiting since I planted them. Once mostly died, but has new growth from the base, the others just keep popping out random flowers. I didn't pull a lot off because I didn't expect them to keep flowering. I'm tempted to indulge in some rabbiteyes, but I know they'll probably go wild, and I still don't have acidic enough soil. And I just need to give my current plants enough time to settle in before I can judge properly.
The strawberries have been doing okay - some died off, others flourished, and some of the day neutrals actually fruited all winter. The Alpines did amazingly, and I was getting a few berries a day right into winter (then the taste declined, as the period between ripeness and mush shortened to about a day or less. The big plants are still fruiting).
The raspberries got the mould, so they were out.
The blackberry and currants are all still growing into things, so I'll see if they start doing anything this year.
I also splurged on four Haskap plants, as a less-acidic-soil alternative to my blueberries (my soil is a little too neutral for me to get my hopes up over those). I thought they all died off last autumn, which was depressing, but it appeared to be a combination of transplant shock from the heat of later summer (they all came from the far end of the New Zealand, as there aren't any local sellers yet), and the onset of autumn. They all have tiny leaves starting to bud out, showing that a plant can look dead for 5 months and still be okay.
My grapes are both alive too - the one in the ground (Niagara) always looked pretty happy, but the Canadice Seedless Grape in the pot was a bit more delicate and got nasty sunburn (or a fungus) towards the end of summer and all its leaves went brown and dropped off. I left it in the hope that it would magically come back to life, and I just noticed some new leaf buds, so that's wonderful.
The Myrtus ugni were... random. They clearly hate wind and getting too dry, and the various bushes around my garden are all reacting differently. One's died off entirely, others are incredibly healthy (some practically next to the dead one). I noticed a sort of greyish pallor to the leaves in summer, which seems to be a sign that they're too hot or dry. I didn't get many berries, which may just be because they were settling in.
Citrus
These are doing... variously. Most look pretty healthy, but aren't really fruiting yet, and a few are clearly not enjoying winter. I got a handful of delicious tiny mandarins off the one round the back, and three lemons off the Meyer, as well as one absolutely fantastic and very tiny orange. The Lime has taken off and is actually growing now, it's double the size, so I won't be removing any fruit this year. I also have a few new dwarf citrus to round out the harvest seasons, a Buddha's hand because I can (it's covered in buds right now) and a Kumquat Meiwa.
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