Spring has finally arrived in South Eastern Australia and the fruit trees are full of blossom with busy bees everywhere doing their thing. I love this time of year. The soil is heating up as are the days, and finally a bit of sunshine to boost growth here in the suburban food farm.
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During this episode I share a few spring fruit tree tips. I talk about soil conditions, fruit tree pest issues, and pest removal tips for apples, pears, and citrus.
Plum Blossom
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Until next time, stay green and keep keen!
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Hi Gavin,
don’t give up on your pears. I planted some almost 6 years ago, and last Autumn was the first time I saw any fruit – just 4 pears per tree! I’m quite confident that this year there will be more. Similarly with our apple trees, the first few years saw nothing, but each year there are a few more. Last year my peach tree, planted at the same time as the pears, yielded 13.5 kilos of perfect peaches. Joy doesn’t begin to describe how I felt!
I’m on my third attempt with lemon trees. The Armidale Winter frost really knocks them about, and my mistake has been not to establish the tree well enough before frost, and not to put it in a sheltered enough position. For anyone reading in a frost zone, apparently the crucial factor is not to site the tree where it gets morning sun as this burns the leaves. At my old house we had a thriving tree in a corner that faced north west.
This year I’ve had a problem I’ve never encountered before – native birds knocking off the flowers on some of the trees. I’m not sure why they do this, and luckily I was home to scare them off. I will be netting again this year for sure.
Madeleine.x
PS – Gavin, do you know of the English gardener called Alys Fowler? Maybe I’m just the last one to discover her, but I thought I’d mention her in case you haven’t seen her. She did a BBC series called The Edible Garden and all six parts are available free on youtube. It is completely inspiring to see what she achieved in a small space, and she also does a bit of foraging, pickling and preserving on some episodes – highly recommended!
Madeleine.x
Oh Gavin I’m so jealous, our poor apple tree is still bare! Mind you it didn’t start to lose it’s leaves until mid-July, very late. By now it’s usually a stunning ball of pretty white fluff in the front yard. My citrus are all looking good too.Hoping for bumper crops of limes, grapefruit and oranges this year, I have plans to make lots of marmalade and essences and chocolate peels and glace fruit and citrus cleaners – oh the things I want to do with citrus! I’ve been out of the garden for almost 7 months and I’ve really missed dirt under my fingernails and aching knees 🙂 but I was able to get out there for a couple of hours last Sunday and oh my goodness it was bliss. I knew I missed it but I had no idea how much.