KitschWitch's Edible Backyard
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Joined:
13/08/10 Updated:
14/01/12 Frost: Medium About My Edible BackyardWhy KitschWitch Love's Edible Plants I love everything about growing edible plants--their beauty, watching them grow and the gift of their overwhelmingly delicious fruits. It helps me to feel more connected to the Earth and the cycle of life to grow at least of my own food. I think it's very important for chidren to have that experieince too--to take responsilbilty for growing food, to know they can, to reap the tremendous satisfaction of being able to graze on the tastiest, most nutiritious food in their own garden. |
Raspberry - Heritage (Seedling) 10/10 KitschWitch's Edible FruitsUpdate: 131 days 17hrs Comments: - These are one of the best fruits we grow--very tasty, easy to grow and quite a long fruiting season. They taste so much better fresh than frozen, canned or supermarket bought. We have quite a few varieties of raspberry. They all taste good, but the Heritage ones have a long fruiting season through autumn (even up to June), but just a few fruits at a time. It's worth growing quite a few Heritage plants. Just buy one to start with though, because they spread like crazy from the roots so by the next spring year you will have 10 plants or so. They can be pruned out if needed and replanted elsewhere and will also grow easily from stem cuttings. The Heritage variety fruit in their first season (from a spring planting), on the new growth. After fruiting it's best to prune them right back to ground level since those stems won't fruit again. This is easier than pruning summer-fruiting raspberries which fruit on the seond year's growth (so you have to leave the new shoots and cut back only the ones that fruited). The stems grow fairly tall (2m) and tend to flop over if left. Ours are loosely supported by a nearby mesh fence. you can also tie nearby stems to a tall stake. This works really well and is flexible. I estimate .5kg of fruit per plant per year--one plant = one stem. Our huge patch arose from one original plant though! Fruiting Months March, April, May Planted: 2008 Height 2 metres Growing: In the Ground Fruit Harvest: 0.5 kilograms per Year First Fruited: 0.5 Years from purchase in pot Sun/Shade: Full Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringPollination: No Pest Control: None needed. The birds don't seem to get them. Children are the main risk :) Organic Status:Organic Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 8 of 8 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Lemon - Meyer (Grafted) 9/10 KitschWitch's Edible FruitsUpdate: 650 days 18hrs Comments: - This tree is about two years old now and has been fruiting for the past 2 months--around 50 fruit altogether. During the first year I removed all of the flowers so the tree would put its energy into growth. There have already been more flowers so we should have another flush of fruit in a few months. The fruit are large, not as bitter as traditional lemons but great for most purposes. My children like to suck on them (but then they also suck on trad. lemons). The tree is very healthy, no discoloured leaves. We feed it with compost and it also gets a good share of urine during the warmer months! I might have put some trace element mix on it at some stage and would do so again. it is growing in front of a cream-painted north facing wall, which suits it well. I will try a traditional lemon soon to see if that also goes well in the frosty Canberra climate. Fruiting Months June, July, August Planted: 2008 Height 1.2 metres Growing: In the Ground Qty: 1 Fruit Harvest: 50 Fruit Per Year First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot Sun/Shade: Full Sun Water Given in: Spring Pollination: Self Pollination Fertiliser or Organics Used: compost, urine When I Fertilise: When Fruiting, Yearly, Winter, Spring Pest Control: None needed so far. Organic Status:Partially Organic Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 20 of 21 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
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