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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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.
