grow | nectarine

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Nectarines and Peaches (Prunus persica) are one of the quintessential summer fruits, with the season running from late October right through to April, and a real glut coming onto the market around December/January.  What many people don’t realise is just how easy peaches are to grow, or how beautiful they can be… They can be grown in many areas of Australia, as the varieties available range from tropical selections (that cope with the heat) right through to cooler temperate varieties. They also can be bought in dwarf varieties, suitable for small gardens and pots, sold as Trixzie® grow about 1.5m x 1.5m. Their fruit is full sized, despite their diminutive statue.  They can also be espaliered to be able to grown along walls and in narrow spaces, or kept as a beautiful small tree. Another idea is to plant more than one type in the same hole, known as duo and trio planting, or grow multi grafted plants to allow for a few different types, and on the one plant. Known as fruit salad trees with these multi-grafts it is possible nowadays to have the one tree bear a white fleshed peach, yellow fleshed peach and a nectarine all on the same bush!

Nectarines and peaches also have the added bonus of being self fertile, which means that they don’t need another variety to still be able to cross pollinate and set fruit, which can be a problem in the back yard situation for some other fruit tree.  The biggest problem you will face is likely to be the birds, who, just like you, love the juicy sweet flesh but will also eat them greener, ruining the crop.  Nets are essential for keeping them out of reach.

Peaches also get fruit fly in some areas of Australia, so you will need to be vigilant for this as the fruit ripens. Normally planted in winter when they can be purchased bare rooted and the range is widest and cheapest.  They can be bought year round though if potted, and like a full sun position and are quite hardy, but don’t like being water logged so you will need to ensure that the soil drains will.  Dig a hole, fill it empty with water and check that it drains away completely in 10 minutes.  If it’s acting like a bucket, build up your planting level to above the ground in either a mound or raised bed, to ensure drainage is adequate. They will take about 3 years before they bear reliably, and need particular training to keep the bearing.  To do this, each winter remove any branches that grow inwards, and shorten the remaining branches, all the time creating an open vase like shape, just like you do with rose bushes but on a much bigger scale.  Also watch that you remove suckers, or the shoots that appear below the bud union, as they appear as these can overbear your plant and have no guarantee of being a tasty fruit…they are just chosen for their disease resistance and vigour as an understock. Each winter, check your plant for scale insects and spray with a suitable copper spray at bud swell to stop the disease peach leaf curl attacking
your plants.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | oranges

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Few backyard fruit trees are as giving as citrus.  An all seasons tree, a well cared for orange tree looks great year round, with white, fragrant  spring blossom, glossy evergreen leaves and the stunning globes of glowing  fruits in winter.  They also don’t take long to start bearing fruit, with most varieties producing after 2-3 years, and they have the added bonus of being self-fertile, so they don’t need a mate in order to set fruit, just the birds and the bees to do their trick!

Choosing the type of orange that most suits you depends on what you’re likely to do with the fruit.  For juicing, the best type is Valencia, as
it’s juicy, but for eating, most people prefer the Navel, which is seedless and sweeter, and known for its belly button like indentation.
There are also sweeter still blood oranges, which have a red tinge to the flesh.  Most types grow 4m or so tall, but you can get all these grafted
onto dwarfing rootstocks, called ‘flying dragon’ which normally keeps them about 1/3 smaller than they would naturally grow.  These in particular,  are useful for growing in pots.

Oranges love a sunny, well drained position.  It’s particularly important to regularly feed your citrus trees, as they have hearty appetites for
nitrogen, to keep their leaves green and fresh, but shortages of magnesium and manganese can also cause leave yellowing. Also potassium is needed for fruit and flower set, and regular moisture supplies too as any drought conditions can cause them to jettison their crop.

Pests to watch out for include the spines citrus bug, the bronze orange bug (known as stink bug) and aphids and scales.  Citrus leaf miner too can
cause problems.  All these can be kept in check by regular sprays of horticultural grade oil sprays (like Pest Oil) from late spring to late autumn.  This is a safe way of pest control as the oil doesn’t contain any poison.

Harvest oranges any time after they have coloured up, but waiting till after a light frost tends to sweeten their flavour.  Extreme cold will kill citrus trees, so protection from heavy frosts is also needed.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

review | potting mix

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Growing edibles in pots is the only option for many people on units or townhouses. If you want a potting mix that is certified organic to grow your garden in, the you can’t go past the Grange Range with it’s specially designed blend for vegetables and herbs. Look for it at your garden centre or contact www.grangehomegardener.com.au for stockists.

problem | watercress

What’s the best way of growing water cress, does it need a lot of water?

In a tub or bucket – see page 362  of Meredith’s book Harvest for lovely images and instructions!

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | strawberries

By MEREDITH KIRTON

September is the month of strawberries in Australia, ripening first in Queensland and then the season works its way down the coast towards Victoria, each week signaling another flush somewhere of yet another plump, juicy fruit.

Growing to about 0.5m in width and only 20cm or so high, the strawberry is ideal as a groundcover, or as a strawberry patch, but can also be grown in pots, baskets and window boxes.  In fact, this berry is ideal for the backyard, so long as you can protect the ripening fruit from birds and even the pet dog, who all love the taste of the fruits.  Try nets and empty glass jars to prevent them from getting to your crops.

To grow your own, it’s important to protect these fruit not only from hungry mouths, but also from the ground where they can get fungal problems easily.  That’s where the name “straw”berry actually comes from, as originally straw was placed around each bush to protect the fruit from landing on the damp ground.  Commercial growers often use plastic, but growing your fruit in baskets and pots also has the same effect.

Strawberries need full sun to flower, and there are both white and pink flowering types.  There is also a yellow fruited Alpine or non-spreading strawberry, which is said to be harder for birds to see.  It is, however, just as tasty!  Dig in lots of manure prior to planting rhizomes or seedlings, and feed regularly with liquid manure or liquid blood and bone to encourage recropping.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | olives

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Nothing says “Mediterranean” quite like an olive.  These fruits have been used as a source of oil and flesh (once pickled) for Millennium, and these days are no less popular throughout the whole world.  As a garden specimen they are also very adaptable and ornamental.  The foliage is a beautiful silvery grey and very drought resistant once established and the plants themselves are also quite tolerant of cold.

Plants can grow in a number of ways, from espalier or “flat packed” against a wall, to standardized specimens or into trees, where they are normally kept pruned to about 4m tall.  They need a well drained soil or pot to perform well, with adequate moisture over winter and spring when they are in blossom.  Feed once a year with complete plant food.  Cropping will normally take about 5 years to produce decent quantities.  Olives are normally either for oil or fruit/pickling types, so be sure to choose a suitable variety that suits your need.  Kalamata is probably the most popular.

Olives appear on the trees in Australia at Christmas time and are large enough to pick by about February for green olives and March/April for black olives.  Of course, olives straight from the tree are totally inedible.  At some point thousands of years back people realised however that soaking them in the sea for a few weeks washed out the bitterness and rendered them delicious.

Commercially olives are treated with caustic soda, and other numbered ingredients!  If you’d rather replicate the Ancient Greeks and Romans and have salt brined olives, it’s easy, but does take some weeks.

To Pickle, soak olives in water for 10 days, changing water daily. Make a brine solution of 1 cup salt to 4 litres of water. Soak olives in brine for about 4 weeks, changing the brine solution every week. The time it takes varies greatly depending upon the olive variety. Weight the fruit under the water with a clean plate and you can speed the process up by cutting the skin, this will allow the brine soak into the olive more.

Some people prefer to make “sultana olives” which just uses straight rock salt instead of brine to draw out the bitter juices.  They layer olives and rock salt alternatively in a plastic container, punch holes in the lid and the base and turn the container daily allowing the juices to escape.  After about 10 days the olives should not be bitter and should look wrinkled.

With either method, when you are happy with the taste, store them in sterilised jars with fresh brine and a little olive oil to help keep them fresh.  You can add herbs etc 24 hours before use by pouring off the brine, adding oil and herbs and then enjoying these flavours imbued the next day.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | marjoram

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Marjoram is a loved herb both for its fabulous culinary qualities and also for its medicinal properties.  In the garden, it grows to a height of about 40cm and is very closely related to oregano and in the mint family, where many herbs reside.

Marjoram makes a very pretty addition to the garden as a rockery or spreading plant over walls and comes in a variety of cultivars, including a bright gold form and variegated cream and white foliage type.

Marjoram is frost tender in very cold climates, but can easily be cut back and mulched to protect it or potted into containers and overwintered in more protected positions.  It likes a free draining position with full sun bringing out the flavour and colours of the plant, but will also tolerate semi shade.  Fertiliser isn’t necessary and regular trimming if not harvesting will maintain a healthy crop of young, tasty leaves.

The small leaves can be added fresh or dried easily and still keep their flavour, and are best picked just prior to flowering, but can used at any
time. The stems are useful for threading meat onto for kebabs, especially when they are about to flower and get some more height to them.  Hang them in a cool, dry place for a few days till dry and then store in sterilized jars for  no more than 6 months in order to maintain the best flavour.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS