Homes

Garden orchard: growing your own

There’s nothing like the pre-summer try on of last year’s (or last decade’s) bikini to make a person think she should eat less bread and more fruit.

At the same time, the idea of strawberries and other red things such as cherries, guavas, plums, rhubarb, tamarillos and persimmons, which look so stunning with cream – oops, I mean yoghurt – demand some attention be paid to nurturing a home orchard.

Winter’s a more common time for planting fruit trees, however subtropicals will appreciate being planted now so they are able to establish before they have to face the winter cold.

You can also still plant other fruit trees, as long as you’re prepared to nurture them over summer. If you plonk something in the soil and then forget about it, there’s little chance it will develop a strong root system, so it will be vulnerable to disease and pest attack. At the end of it all you’ll have a poor fruiter.

Dig deep

Virtually all fruit trees like free-draining soil, with only feijoas and pears toleratinga bit of wet.

If you’re unsure about yours, dig a hole about twice as big as you’d need to plant a tree, fill it with water and watch it drain. If you have dense clay soil, you might need a coffee while this is happening!

This little test is the gardening equivalent of watching paint dry, but it works. If the water is still in there after about 45 minutes, you should either find another location, create some drainage, make a mound for your tree, or prepare the soil in advance for planting later on.

If the hole’s empty before your coffee cup is, you may need to doctor the soil a bit to create an environment that retains moisture so the roots can absorb nutrients. So throw in some organic compost to help everything along.

Slightly more pleasant than watching water draining out of a hole is sitting in the sun, so if you have time to kill, put on your straw hat and sun lotion and park yourself where you plan to plant.

Fruit trees need about six hours of sun a day to grow well. If you like sun lazing, you may feel the need to check out more than one location.

Go green

Wherever you live in the country, consider eco-sourcing your trees. It stands to reason a local nursery will grow varieties suited to the immediate environment. Don’t be embarrassed to drive the nursery man nuts with the number of questions you ask – at around $30 each, fruit trees are a pricey investment but you can get information for free.

once you’ve planted your trees, stake them. Believe me, the weather won’t stay calm forever and it’s always better to be prepared. Then mulch, but not too close to the trunk.

Water the tree every second day if there’s no rain and don’t think that because you’ve made a puddle with the hose the soil is saturated. It won’t be. Stick your trowel in there and you’ll likely find it’s as dry as a bone 2cm down. Watering this way encourages the plant to grow roots close to the surface which makes it vulnerable to getting burned in hot, dry soil.

If you don’t like the idea of standing in the warm sun of an evening with a glass of wine in one hand and a hose in the other, there are various irrigation systems which will take care of the job for you. Some will even tell you how much water you’ve given each tree. They won’t deplete your wine cellar, either.

Three favourites

Permaculture principles tell you that everything you grow should have three uses – produce food, provide shelter and enhance the soil. In my book, they should also look and smell good.

Cherry Guava For that reason, I think cherry guava is a great fruit tree. It’ll grow in a wide range of temperatures as long as it has free-draining soil. Guavas prefer full sun, although they will grow and fruit in part shade, especially if given a feed of fertiliser with a high nitrogen content and cut back in early spring.

They produce small white flowers in late spring and fruit from around mid-April till June-July, depending on where you are in the country. Pick when the fruit are deep red and soft to the touch. They’re self fertile so you only need one, but plant three – it looks better. Eat fresh, or try making your own jams or jellies.

Tamarillo They used to be called tree tomatoes, now they’re tamarillos. However, one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact they are still a sharp, tart, acquired taste. Even if you don’t like to eat them, you can’t deny they’re a lovely-looking plant. They like a sheltered, sunny spot with well-drained fertile soil.

Like many fruit trees, they’re shallow-rooted, so make sure you water and mulch them over summer. If you have wet soil, plant them on a mound for better drainage. Pests don’t bother them much, although aphids might try them. They’re also very good for you, full of vitamins A, B6, and C, as well as lots of iron and potassium.

Lime They’re perfect because they’re multitaskers, with a nice shape, evergreen, great flowers, super scent and masses of fruit.

Tahitian limes do well in subtropical areas, but there are other kinds which suit different environments. Bearss limes are cold hardy and are heavy croppers. The fruit are virtually seedless, and the tress begin fruiting young, at just two or three years old. Another new kid on the block is Kusaie lime, which has a particularly intense flavour. This variety is frost tender, but it’s also reasonably cold resistant and it’s a good cropper, with a main crop in summer and more year round.

What fruits when over summer

  • December/January – orange, plum, apple, raspberry, boysenberry, apricot, passionfruit, red currant, peacherine.

  • February – Plum, blackberry, apple, prune, avocado, peach.

  • March – Plum, nectarine, peachcot, fig, cocktail kiwifruit, grape, raspberry, pear, apple.

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