Today I planted four more fruit trees. That takes the tally up to 19 fruit trees on our 779 sqm block! We have 10 in pots and 9 in the ground.
The four that we planted today are two navel oranges (centre), one mandarin (left) and one blood orange (right). Here is a picture of them across the back of the fence.
This took Adam and I the good part of an hour. We used a good organic soil mix that drains well and I added about 3 handfuls of worm castings over the top of each pot as citrus has roots close to the surface and feeds well by a top application of organic fertiliser.
After lunch, I spent some time pottering around the new greenhouse. I set up a 210 litre water butt that captured rain from the greenhouse so that I can water the plants inside.
I used left over grey water pipe that I had in the shed and connected it to the gutter with clamps.
I tested it with the hose, however all the water drained to the front of the gutter where I had blocked up the holes. So a few bangs with the rubber mallet on the back of the frame soon sorted that problem out. It now drains towards the pipe, and into the water butt.
I then put the frames of the old seed raising tents into the greenhouse so that I could stack the seedling trays on.
Over the next few weeks there should be many more trays of seedlings including some capsicums that I have in a pot about to flower and I will plant out a few pots of tomatoes.
It was quite hot in there at midday. It got to about 37C on a 26C day. A little too hot for most seedlings except for tropical fare. I opened up the top window and the doors and it still only got down to 32C. Trial and error will get the temperature control right.
Kim set up a nice arrangement with the cyclamins that I bought her today. We found an old chair in the pool area and she set it up like this.
Very nice female touch I thought.
Tomorrow, as I am on holidays for a week, I will put a couple of pavers in front of the door and clean up the rest of the garage area. I will also be up at the crack of dawn to clean out the chook house so that I can use the bedding in the fallow bed. I will also add some coconut mulch to each of the new citrus tree pots to keep the moisture in the soil.
It should be another eventful day!
The greenhouse looks wonderful – what a potentially cosy place to escape to on cold yet sunny winter days.
Wishing you happy seedlings and glorious citrus fruit. By contrast I’ve just raised wee broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco and spinach seedlings inside as Wellington temps now mostly below 20
Relieved that you are feeling better and have more energy, sending thoughts of healing and wellness,
Michelle and my Zebbycat
I’ve planted 3 fruit trees in our backyard, 3 years later, still no fruit. Frustrating, however there are some flowers on it now. So, maybe someday I will enjoy oranges, apricots and nectarines.
Nice green house by the way. Impressive.
Hi Gav – I have a very similar style of greenhouse and we ended up covering ours with 50% shade cloth as it regularly gets to over 40 in summer (with doors and 4 roof windows open it hovers round the 30-35). We have ended up leaving the shade cloth on all year round and it still gets up to a nice 30 even in winter…..although much of that heat dissipates overnight even with the bubblewrap layer we put on
Gavin, this is a beautiful sight. You will get to know how best to manage it and your winter seed raising will increase so much you will need to buy more land to grow all the stuff!
I hope your hospital stay fixes you up …. we are all thinking of you, out here in Blogland.