Comments on: Autumn Harvest

By: Penny

Penny — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 16:53:14 +0000

Hi Vicki, Good luck with your plans for the orchard. What fun to be starting from scratch. Really the design depends on what you like. My inclination would be to have groves, interspersed with other plantings. But if you are a very neat person you might be better to put them in rows and it can make maintenance easier. Before you start it might be worth having a look at Allen Gilbert's book All About Apples, as well as dealing with a huge number of varieties of apples, pruning and organic solutions for pests and diseases of apples, it also looks at some real life examples of organic and permaculture orchards, how they have been laid out, distance between trees and so on. You should be able to borrow it from your local library, but if not, I have copies for sale in the shop: All About Apples It would be fine to cut back the pink lady right now. Generally it is best to cut back new growth by one third in summer, but it would also be ok to even yours up so that it looks more balanced, even if this means taking off more than one third. — PW

By: Vicki Cooper

Vicki Cooper — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 11:08:58 +0000

Dear Penny
I have a new farmlet, no house and no trees! Plans in the pipeline though to address both deficiencies!! I have been collecting and nurturing some fruit trees in pots, waiting for the best time to plant and it sounds like the time has come at last.
I wonder what layout approach you would suggest. For example to create several “mixed” fruit tree groves , or to set out in rows orchard style.

My pink lady which I bought bare-rooted last spring has a very tall trunk now and has only one side branch which also grew madly. It looks unbalanced. Could I prune both back now as a summer shaping or should I plant it out and let it establish first?

Your website is looks beautiful, I just heard you mention on 3CR that your son designed it. Great work and I’m looking forward to roaming around it regularly.
Cheers
Vicki

By: Penny

Penny — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:32:43 +0000

Hi Kerry, Your pear has pear and cherry slug. They are not poisonous. You just need to sprinkle something on them that will dry them out. Lime is perfect but even talcum powder will do. I would certainly do no harm to cut back the tree and now is a good time to prune pears. Thin out extra branches to open the whole tree out, Peter Cundall (my guru on pruning) says that the branches left should be about 150mm apart, then cut each remaining growth spur back by about one third. — PW

By: Kerry Watson

Kerry Watson — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 06:29:35 +0000

Thanks for the info on apples. I’m quite excited about gardening now that I own my first home, so I’ll be sure to get to Rippon Lea.
But I’ve found what I think is an old pear tree stuffed in behind them. It’s in very bad shape. It’s about eight feet tall and all the leaves are sort of brown and desiccated, and they’re covered in slimy little brown grubs about a centimetre long with a bulbous end (bum?). Are they poisonous? And if the tree can be saved by severe cutting back, would it survive replanting? I don’t know how old it is but it’s obviously been crowded out.
Thanks again for the website. It’s easy to engage with it even if you’re not an experienced gardener, and I like the “tone”.

Kerry.

By: Penny

Penny — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:02:06 +0000

Hi Kerry, Glad you like the website. Please let me know if there is anything you would like me to write about. There are so many different varieties of apple (possibly as many as 7000 worldwide) that you really need an expert to help you identify yours. As you are in Victoria, it might be worth going along to the Rippon Lea Estate apple day on the 3rd of April. Not only do they have many old varieties growing in the orchard, but this year Justin Buckley, the head gardener at Rippon Lea, says they have propagated over 40 different varieties and will have around 800 trees for sale. They have also procured some genuine cider varieties and grafted these as well. I'm sure there would be someone there on the day who could have a go at identifying your apples. Where: Rippon Lea Estate, 192 Hotham St Elsternwick, 3185 When: Sunday April 3rd from 10am As far as feeding goes, I would cut any grass really close to the ground, water well and spread compost, well rotted manure and worm castings over the surface. Add some trace elements and some gypsum and cover with mulch right out just past the drip-line of the tree. Don't put the mulch up next to the trunk as this can cause collar rot. My favourite mulch is lucerne hay, pea straw or sugarcane mulch, because they let the water percolate through and gradually rot down adding organic matter to the soil. — PW

By: Kerry Watson

Kerry Watson — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 08:32:28 +0000

Hi, Penny! Haven’t seen you since your last book launch – love the website. As you know, my field is publishing, not gardening, so I have a couple of questions.

I’ve just moved into a new house with two magnificent apple trees. But they’re not ripe and I need to know how to identify them.

They’re about six metres tall but all the fruit seems to be on the lower branches. I suspect they need the top chopped off and all the branches in the centre thinned. My mother said they need to be fed, too. With what?

I’ve put your website into my favourites and I look forward to a weekly dose of gardening for complete idiots.

Kerry.