Igor1's Edible Backyard

Joined: 12/08/09 Updated: 25/08/09 Frost:
Location: Emerald

About My Edible Backyard

We have very good  soil, dark brown in colour that grows most things very well. we run a few sheep and cut hay, including from the orchard!

The orchard is still quite young, but we do have a lot of different plants from old heritage apples to nuts etc.

The rainfall is around 1200mm about double what Melb gets, even though we are fairly close to Melb. Being in the mountains, frost is a problem at times.

The biggest issue for us was a lack of soil trace elements. Particularly for the Almonds. The missing element was Boron, which is why everyone said we could not grow them in our area, they are now recovering and we had our first almonds last year! We were also missing or rather lacking a number of other elements too, Calcuim, magnesium, manganese, colbalt (note plants dont need it, but the sheep do!) , sulphur and Molybdenum.

Our place had been an intensive market garden followed by rose growers which is why the trace elements were so out of whack. Add to that the acid soil (needed lime) and high rainfall most elemts leach out.

Dont go playing with any of these, if there is a possible issue a $110 soil test will tell you all you need. You could kill things if you guess!

However, after all that over a few years, we have an abundance of plums, pears etc with many plants still coming online.

Comments

Lemon - Eureka

Comments: -

One of the best lemons, bomb proof. It won a section in the local Garden Show.

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Plum - Green gage (Grafted)

Comments: -

Grow this one for both the taste and the fact that if you have problems with birds, the green ripe plums are left for you.

passionfruit - nelly kelly (Grafted)

Comments: -

Grow these on a water tank with wire as a support. the Large thermal mass of the water stops the frost killing them.

Beware of slugs/smails ringbarking them! A bit of wood ash around the trunk helps.

Passionfruit - Banana

Comments: -

Grow this on a water tank, the large thermal mass stops the frost. It's still winter and the next batch of fruit is only a few weeks away, they are large but still green. These can be a bush pest, so make sure you pick them....

Myer Lemon

Comments: -

easy to grow

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Lemonade Tree

Comments: -

Easy to grow to fruit, only a small tree.

Pollination: Cross Pollination

walnut chandler

Comments: -

Slow to get going, trace elements helped out as well as mulch as they dont like dry  hot roots and they are not quite big enough to shade their roots. the mulch really did help.

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Cross Pollinator Variety: Frankette

Dwarf Nectarine - Early Rivers - High Chill

Comments: -

Yum, but we have serious leaf curl issues sometime despite lots of spraying before leaf burst, last year was really bad, probably seasonal, so ho0pefully better this year

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Olive - Kalamata

Comments: -

Slow to grow, starting to get there, no real crop yet

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Apple - Granny Smith

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Plum - Satsuma

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Plum - Narrabeen ^8/10

Comments: -

Grows really well

First Fruited: 3 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Cross Pollination

Cross Pollinator Variety: Mixed types

Fertiliser or Organics Used: NPK and chook poo

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Pest Control:

Organic Status:Organic

Plum