grow | vine leaves/grapes

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Grapes have been cultivated for over 8000 years and evidence of them has even been found dating back before the last ice age and the Ancient Egyptians had realised how great they tasted and worked out that fermented, they turned into wine. The term viticulture is the science of growing grapes, and is a study many  horticulturists and wine makers have devoted their lives to.  Home grown table grapes need not take a lifetime of study, but a few tips will help.

Grapes need great drainage, full sun, and are deciduous vines.  Protection from birds during their ripening season, which is late summer and autumn, is also important if you want to eat any grapes yourself!  The most important thing to realise is that grapes are grown on vines and therefore need some support to grow them effectively.  A pergola or trellis is fine, but if you are going to get serious about grapes, and start your own mini vineyard, you are best to set up posts with about 4 wires strung between the two so that you can train them along these guides and get lots of fruit.  This idea allows maximum sunshine to get at all the branching, thus increasing your yield and also allowing easier picking and management of your vines. Pruning is the other crucial factor. Vines need to be kept cut back to a main framework each winter so that they don’t become unmanageable tangles.

When choosing a grape, decide whether you want a low acid (table) or high acid (wine) grape, and if you want a red or white skin. Also, get advise about grapes for your area, and make sure you specify whether or not you live in a humid or inland, hot or cold area as there are some that are more prone to mildew and others that need longer ripening periods than others. Lastly, when picking fruit, taste first to see if the grape is in fact ripe as grapes colour up before they become sweet, and as the saying goes, there is nothing worse than sour grapes!

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

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 | watermelon

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

Almost nothing says summer like a watermelon.  Cold from the fridge on a hot day, or still warm from growing out in the sun and then split open to gorge on that sweet flesh, it is the stuff from which childhood memories are forged.  They do, however, need some space to grow and time, as they take on average about 3 months to harvest.

The fast growing vines sprawl along the ground in any sunny position, but they do best if the area is also well drained and well irrigated until the fruits start to ripen and the vines are well fed.  Each vine normally reaps only about 5 fruit, so normally a half dozen vines are grown.  For best results, create a mound with added compost and blood and bone and into the top of this sow 3-4 seeds.  After germination, choose the best two seedlings and remove the others.  Repeat this over a few nearby mounds and your watermelon patch will start to grow.  If you want to double the crop, plant corn in the same patch as they are great companions.

You can tell when a watermelon is ripe and ready for picking because the side nearest to the ground will yellow, and a tap on the skin makes a hollow sound like a drum.  The spiral coil near the stem of the fruit will also start to brown.  Cut them off from the main vine, and refrigerate.

Native originally to Africa, they spread all around the world with the slave trade and ended up in the USA.  Although pink to red shades of melon are the most common, watermelons are actually available in white (Cream of Saskatchewan), yellow (Yellow Crimson and Mountain Yellow) and orange (Sweet Siberian and Orange Tendersweet) fleshed types.   There are also yellow rind versions such as Golden Midget and yellow spotted skin type called Moon and Stars. Sugar Baby is a particular favourite with home gardeners  as the vine is more compact and the fruits actually fit in the fridge!

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | banana

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Bananas are the 3rd most eaten fruit, after apples and oranges, in the world but are also eaten like a vegetable when it comes to the larger, green plantains, which are great in curries or fried!  Botanically known as a herb, they are actually more closely related to grass than to any trees.  Each “tree” is actually botanically a stem, and this is why they die after flowering and put up new suckers continually to replace themselves.  These semi tropical plants started off native to South East Asia, but popular now right across the tropical world, and can be grown as far south as Sydney providing they are sheltered and frost free.

The fruits grow in a large bunch weighing about 45kg and made up of about 20 hands – Each finger of which we pick and eat as a banana! Aside from the delicious fruit, leaves can be used for cooking by wrapping food inside and steaming it, and flowers can also be eaten though they need to be peeled and have the petals removed from just inside they first layer, and right in the very (white) centre. Salads made from these flowers are popular in Thai cuisine.

To grow bananas you will need a warm, sunny, well drained and well fertilised site, and a quality disease free sucker. Dig a large hole, add manure and clear away any grass, then plant your sucker.  Avoid watering straight away as this can cause them to rot, so waiting a week before giving them a good drink reduces this risk, but after then, regular water and fertilising is essential.  Rhizomes are normally planted in spring, and plants will grow to about 6m, flower and then send up a replacement sucker.  Once the banana fingers are up to size, you can cut off hands green from the bunch and ripen them inside with another piece of fruit, so save having all 45kg ripe at the same time!

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | pawpaw

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Papaya, or Pawpaw (Carica papaya), are easily grown fruit trees for the backyard.  Although they need a basically frost free position, they can be grown in a wider range of climates if placed on the north side of homes, against brick walls, to offer some overnight warmth from the reflected heat of the house.

Papaw have interesting sex lives.  Basically, there are girl plants and boys plants, and the two have to meet via the bees and the butterflies…you know the story.  But wait, there’s a twist, you can actually save yourself the trouble of planting two trees and cross pollinating by buying a bisexual plant, which will fertilise itself.

Plant your specimen in a well drained position, as they can get root rot easily, and stand back.  They are so fast growing you’ll have fruit probably forming the next season.  In fact, they only take 18 months to fruit from seed. Papaw also have the weird ability to be able to develop their fruits, and if the weather isn’t favourable for ripening, they can put themselves into a holding pattern and wait for more temperate conditions.  This means that cropping is variable, depending on when and where you have your tree growing.

Papaw can be eaten green, or allowed to change colour to either red, orange or golden, depending on the variety.  If you are ripening your papaw in fruit fly prone areas, slipping over a specially designed cloth bag is a good idea to exclude this troublesome fly and stop it laying maggots into your crop.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

grow | figs

By MEREDITH KIRTON

Since Adam was a boy, we have been growing figs, not for their large body covering leaves but for their delicate sweet fruit which is treasured.  This most loved plant is especially delicate, so handling really bruises the fruit easily, making it an ideal backyard addition where the journey from backyard to dinner plate can be minimised.
Of all the varieties, probably the yummiest is Ficus ‘Black Ischia’, but as this has very soft skin you usually won’t be able to buy it at the greengrocer.

Figs like a Mediterranean climate, which means wet winters and dry hot summers, but they are adaptable and seem to grow on the coast too, although they do succumb to splitting their fruit sometimes if the rains fall too heavily, and also to fruit fly and scale on both their leaves, stems and fruit.  The biggest pest however is birds, who also love eating figs. For this reason, figs are often espaliered, or grown flat, so that a net can easily be thrown over them, or grown inside cages or, like in the picture shown here, under an arch so similarly a cover can protect the ripening fruits.  The other trick to getting bigger harvests is to plant your tree on a rock or slab of concrete.  This stops the roots from developing a major tap root, which in turn makes the tree less large and more spreading, which results in more fruit.

Figs set fruit on both young wood and old, so can produce many kilos once established.  In Australia the first crop is in early summer, followed by a secondary, heavier crop inlate summer.  If your fruit drops when it’s young and fails to develop, chances are the wasp needed to pollinate your crop hasn’t visited.  A capri fig is the host and will need to be nearby in order to visit your tree.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS

problem | lemons

There are brown spots on my new lemons, will my fruit be ok?

Did you have citrus beetles sucking their sap?  Pest oil every fortnight on all your citrus is a good way of treting all these sap suckers…and the fruit will probably still be ok though in bad cases the flesh will also be brown and spoilt below the skin.

Photography by SUE STUBBS | Blog designed by RED PEPPER GRAPHICS