ACT My Edibles

Raspberry - Heritage (Seedling) ^10/10

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

Pollination: No

Pest Control:

None needed. The birds don't seem to get them. Children are the main risk :)

Organic Status:Organic

Lime - Kaffir ^8/10

Comments: -

Can use the leaves for tea, to flavour dishes, blended in sauces, in sorbet, in salads.

Height 1 metres

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 4

First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

When I Fertilise: Winter and Spring

Pest Control:

Eco fungicide, neem sprays.

Organic Status:Organic

Mandarin - Emperor (Seedling) ^9/10

Comments: -

Fruits every year really well and tastes awesome

Fruiting Months July, August, September

Planted: 2003

Height 4 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 5 kilograms per Year

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Never

Comments

Sounds like you have a very successful mandarin tree there. For some unknown reason my mandarin produced no fruit this year but every other year it has. I get fruit mainly in summer though.

Parsley Curly leaf ^10/10

Comments: -

Love parsley to eat, for decoration of food for flavouring foods in salads, tabouli

Feijoa ^8/10

Comments: -

I love to grow Feijoa in my backyard. Their fragrant flesh is just magic and with grafted plants I can produce lots to enjoy with my kids!

Fruiting Months March and April

Planted: 2009

Height 0.8 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 4

First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer and Winter

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Cross Pollinator Variety: Duffy, Apollo, Seedling

When I Fertilise: Winter and Spring

Pest Control:

Limited. Ocassionally a bit of pest oil if scale appear.

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Question:

I have grown feijoa for a long time but rarely seen them respond to fertiliser with more fruit. Do they have a more specific requirement, e.g potassium?

satsuma mandarin (Grafted) ^10/10

Comments: -

Mandarin Silverhill (a satsuma selection) grafted onto a troyer citrange rootstock.

This is an almost pest free, small tree with fragrant flowers and delicious seedless fruit.  It's frost hardy and fruits early which makes it an excellent choice for Canberra.  The fruit is so good that I'm surprised i have never seen satsuma mandarins in the shops (or even one satsuma mandarin tree).  They look a lot like small tangelos.

Our tree has survived being almost ringbarked twice by our pet rabbit and drought.  However, last season i watered it regularly, and consequently had an excellent crop of good sized fruit.

I am looking forward to more vigorous growth once the bark has fully regrown. 

I'm not really sure when i planted it.  1999 is just a good guess, but probably earlier.

Fruiting Months March and April

Planted: 1999

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Autumn

Pollination: No

Fertiliser or Organics Used: varies, compost, rabbit manure and urine, possum manure, cow manure, blood and bone with potash, proprietary organic fertilisers and i have used osmocote citrus food some years ago.

When I Fertilise: Spring

Pest Control:

0ccasionally i have seen leaf miner and i simply removed the affected leaves.  I remove most orchard butterfly caterpillars, leaving one or two for interest.  Rabbit mesh kept the rabbit at bay.  Scale is removed by hand.

Question:

If I plant other varieties of satsuma mandarins or other citrus, will i get seeds in my mandarins? 

Mandarin - Clauselliana (Satsuma) (Grafted) ^10/10

Comments: -

Super juicer, great fresh segments, Lovely tea, superb tasty marmalade, loads of fruit, not too tall,

Fruiting Months May, June, July, August

Planted: 2004

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 8 kilograms per Year

First Fruited: 3 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pruned By: 10% in After Fruiting

Pollination: No

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Pest Control:

Just squish the caterpillars.

Organic Status:Organic

Blueberry - Backyard Blue

Fruiting Months January, February, December

Planted: 2009

Height 0.7 metres

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 2

First Fruited: 2009 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pruned By: 20% in Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

Fertiliser or Organics Used: Fertilizer for acid loving plants

When I Fertilise: Spring

Organic Status:Organic

Pear - Packhams Triumph

Pear - Williams ^4/10

Comments: -

Previous tennants planted these pear trees. Not sure how old they are but they look pretty well-established. We only had 3 edible fruits, the rest were all black and spotty or eaten by birds.

Fruiting Months January

Height 2.5 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Autumn

Pruned By: 10% in After Fruiting

Pollination: No

Pest Control:

None.

Blueberry (Grafted) ^6/10

Fruiting Months January

Planted: 2009

Height 50 Centimetres

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 2

Organic Status:Pesticides Used

Davidson Plum - NSW

Comments: -

Struggling a little, but still surviving.  Anything that survived last summer would have to be guaranteed to live forever!

Planted: 2008

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

When I Fertilise: Yearly and Spring

Organic Status:Organic

Tangelo - Minneola (Grafted) ^9/10

Comments: -

My little Tangello is doing OK considering the climate in Canberra. It has survived its first winter here. Looking forward to flowers and fruit. In the meantime I am sending a photo of my Lemonade tree which is a great producer.

Planted: 2008

Height 75 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

First Fruited: 10 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

Fertiliser or Organics Used: Cow and chicken manure

When I Fertilise: Spring

Pest Control:

Winter oil.

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Blue Lillypilly ^5/10

Comments: -

strong frost

Pollination: No

Pomegranate - Wonderful (Grafted) ^5/10

Planted: 2009

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: No

Pitaya - Red Dragon Fruit ^5/10

Comments: -

Frost

Kumquat - Variegated

Dwarf Mulberry - Black

Comments

Apple - Pinkabelle (Grafted) ^8/10

Planted: 2008

Height 70 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Cross Pollinator Variety: Dwarf Granny Smith

Fertiliser or Organics Used: Dynamic :ifter, bllod and Bone, Cow Manure

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Pest Control:

None at this stage

Organic Status:Organic

Grumichama - Black

Finger Lime - Grafted

Mandarin - Daisy ^5/10

Fruiting Months April and May

Planted: 2008

Height 1 metres

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 5 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 4 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: No

When I Fertilise: Spring

Organic Status:Partially Organic