Visit Russell 20 November 2016

On Sunday 20 November the Food Garden Group visited Russell and Bronwyn's garden at Acton:

We are having such an unpredictable cold Spring, but on the day of the visit to Russell and Bronwyn’s garden it was sunny and warm but not too warm, and the wind, which Russell tells me is often fierce at Acton, died down as a good size crowd of people began to arrive.

Entering via a really great looking ornamental garden, we reached a large food garden area. Russell and Bronwyn have a 2.5-acre property, and many of us were jealous of the amount of space the veggie patch (above) and fully-netted fruit and berry area (below) occupied.

It all looked green, prosperous, productive and incredibly well looked after. Russell gave us a diagram of where various fruit trees and berries were and the list showed 56 varieties. Wow! It might well be the most extensive fruit tree and berry collection we have visited so far.

Wasn’t it great to walk in the orchard area with nets high above? To be completely without mesh or netting for individual beds and trees and bushes, but with 100% protection from birds and possums and wallabies gave a good uncluttered feeling.

I reckon that Russell (in the middle in the photo above) had as good a time as everyone else, discussing and sharing and catching up.

I loved Russell’s bean trellis made from bush poles.

But, like in every food garden, there are always a few things that are not working well. A horseradish type of weed has taken a liking to Russell’s veggie patch, and wherever Russell sows something, the weed comes up first and takes over, if left untouched. We saw it in many places around the garden. Very frustrating. It will take patience and persistence over a number of years to get rid of it.

When I saw the hothouse (below) I realised that Russell is probably going to win the prize for first ripe tomato of the season. Well done. But growing tomatoes in Tasmania is tricky and outside the hothouse was a potted tomato plant that had been over-watered and was not liking the experience.

The photo below shows about half of the large strawberry patch, with weed mat and irrigation. Russell has Tioga and Red Gauntlet strawberries here. He told me the Tiogas are producing much better than the Red Gauntlets and he might get rid of the Red Gauntlets. I just felt that all plants looked great and that he is going to have a plentiful strawberry crop.

The photo below shows some ripening nuts on an Almond tree in a second fully-enclosed fruit tree area, because, why have just one netted fruit tree and berry area, if you have space to have two?

The gardens were great and we have such a great group of people who make every visit a happy event. The produce table was overflowing. And morning tea was yummy, also because Russell provided us with sausages from the BBQ.

Thank you Russell and Bronwyn for hosting the event and for making the gardens as beautiful and impressive as they were. And oh, let’s not forget the neighbours, who helped with parking, the BBQ and in the veggie patch – your help was much appreciated.

This text was previously published on the Food Garden Group blog. It was written by Max Bee.