Growing rosehips, pruning a split apple tree branch, future garden plans including a Lazutin style beehive and massive yields from tomato plants were amongst the conversation at the final northern garden visit for this season. Despite only being 7 months old, Nicki's garden in Ravenswood was filled with productive vegetable beds and a mix of new and established fruit trees.
Nicki led the group on a tour of her garden starting with the rosella bed. She had grown up with this plant in Queensland and wanted to see if she could grow it here, with the hope of making rosella jam as her mother did. The crop has done well with some fruit for harvesting but not enough for jam making. The pretty flowers start off yellow and turn pink and the fruit is very tart if eaten straight from the bush. Next year a larger crop will be grown to enable jam making.
The rosella crop
The rosella fruit which grows to about 3-5cm in length
The orchard includes two old but productive apple trees and is located on the side of the block to help provide a windbreak for the vegetable beds. Nicki has planted two young peach trees and a Stella cherry that was supposedly grown on dwarf stock. There was some discussion about how to prune it with a suggestion made to cut the main stem at a manageable height. The tree now stands around 3m tall!
Cherry tree supposedly grown on dwarf stock
Apple tree with a split in the branches - group consensus was to remove the branch while the tree is dormant over winter. It appears that the wood below the split is sound.
Fruit trees are underplanted with flowering plants to encourage pollinators and provide colour
Nicki has enlisted the help of her sister to assist with building a potting shed It is planned to catch the water from the shed and use it in an outdoor sink for washing produce.
The vegetable beds were purchased secondhand to facilitate growing a vegetable patch quickly. The soil is rock hard clay which can't be dug and there are rocks to contend with. The beds were filled with pea straw and various manures which has proven to be a winning formula.
Temporary vegetable beds with the potting house at the rear
Tomatoes that have now been harvested were extremely productive with Nicki's pantry and freezer nicely filled. One variety (a hybrid saucing tomato) provided enough tomatoes to make 15 litres of relish and 25 litres of passata from just 2 plants! One Roma tomato plant produced four 10 litre buckets of produce which are now dehydrated and in the freezer.
An enclosed berry patch with Haskap berries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries is planned in the near future.
Raspberries currently occupy a temporary bed
Nicki recently attended a beekeeping course and is looking to set up a Lazutin style hive. The Lazutin hive is shaped like a treasure chest and encourages the bee colony to live more naturally as it would if located in the wild. In the Lazutin hive the bees act in a more natural way and are not focused on producing honey as they do with other styles of hives.
Future plans include a greenhouse, a dedicated compost area, a chook house (already partially constructed) and a chook run which will include the orchard area for pest control.
The chook house currently under construction
A young wallaby breached the exclusion measures in place and enjoyed a good nibble of the brassicas
A bed of very healthy herbs
Thank you Nicki, for the informative tour and for sharing the garden in its early stage and your plans for the future. We look forward to returning down the track to see how it all unfolds. Thank you also to everyone who contributed to the morning tea and produces tables.
The group presented Denby with a card and gift as a token of their appreciation for organising the northern garden visits this season.
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