Pear and cherry slugs can appear at this time of year. It’s a second outbreak for the season, and it’s a good idea to control them now so they don’ t overwinter in the soil, ready to leap into action at the start of next season. While the dama [...]

Rabbits and hares can be a bad pest of young fruit trees by chewing the bark, setting back the tree’s growth. If they chew the bark all the way around the trunk (‘ringbarking’) they will easily kill a tree. They can also nip off small branches [...]

A green manure crop is usually a mix of fast-growing annual plants that are grown for soil improvement. As soon as the crop is tall enough, and before it flowers, it is either dug in or chopped off and left on the surface of the soil to add or [...]

Fruit trees rely on stored nutrients for flowering, initial root growth, and fruit set in spring (this nutrition was provided by the microbes in the soil, and any compost or fertiliser you added last autumn). As they move into spring, the stor [...]

Here’s a quick checklist for newly planted trees to tick off before they start growing, to make sure you’re giving them the best possible chance of success. Read the article in Winter - Week 10.

This is a very quick and easy cake to make, and if you’ve run out of fresh apples and need to substitute bottled apples instead it works just as well, though the texture is slightly more moist, so check the cooking time. Get the recipe in Wint [...]

We normally prune cherries and apricots post-harvest, when the tree has finished most of its summer growing. However, having the secateurs handy when you’re doing the thinning can be useful, and save a bit of work later on. Read the article in [...]

There’s a lot of confusion (and a lot of conflicting advice available) about summer pruning vs winter pruning, and what should be done when, so we’ve decided to get back to basics to help you make good pruning decisions! Read the article in Au [...]

Noticing how your fruit trees have performed this summer will give you vital information to guide which trees need more work. Read the article in Summer - Week 12.

Compost tea is a great way to build your soil, making a small amount of compost or worm castings go a long way by rapidly multiplying the number of available microbes—it’s science in a bucket, but way more fun than you had in the school scienc [...]

Taking a nutritional snapshot of your trees will help raise awareness of the nutritional status of your trees, help you plan what needs to happen in the future, and also diagnose potential problems you’re having right now. Find the activity in [...]

Tansy is in the Asteraceae Family, and is also called buttons, bitter buttons, scented fern, stinking willie, cow bitter, golden buttons and mugwort. It’s native to Europe, but is now common in Australia and many other parts of the world. Read [...]