Love in the time of COVID-19
Are you stressed? Does that seem like a stupid question, in the current circumstances? Isn't everyone, all around the world stressed as we sit apparently helplessly being hammered by constant media reports of COVID-19 spreading like wildfire? It's like the bushfire...
Should you prune in summer?
There's a lot of confusion about when is the best time to prune fruit trees, but we reckon it's much easier to approach pruning with the mantra that there's no "right" or "wrong", there's just cuts, and consequences. We think this approach takes the pressure off so...
Using biochar to improve your soil
Biochar is one of the most useful soil additives you can use, and while you can add it any time of year (like compost), autumn is a great time to do it before your trees go to sleep in winter, to boost the organic matter in your soil and provide more habitat to help...
How to Make Pink Lady Apples Pink
Do you grow Pink Lady apples? Ever wondered why sometimes they're a gorgeous dark pink colour... Beautiful dark pink Pink Lady apples ... and sometimes they're pale? These two examples are both from the same trees at our farm (in different years). So, what's the...
How to prepare your fruit trees for winter
This week, we're noticing that the leaves are just starting to change colour on some of the fruit trees at our place, so we're focusing on things you can do in the garden to help your fruit trees get ready for winter. The farm's starting to get that 'autumn' feel...
Burnt Batlow Orchards
On a recent trip to visit one of our Grow Great Fruit members, we came home via Batlow in NSW, one of the many towns that was devastated in this summer’s bushfires. We chose Batlow because it's one of the most famous apple growing areas in Australia, and we'd long...
When should you pick your almonds?
Apart from all the fruits that are grown commercially in the orchards on our farm, we also have a pretty big garden, with a wide variety of fruit and nut trees, including 8 almond trees (2 each of 4 different varieties) under net. We're big fans of nut trees in...
Does fruit love rain?
As a fruit grower, lying in bed listening to rain on the roof can bring up a wide range of emotions, from joy to despair! In our typical dry summers most people welcome rain when it comes, so it never seems appropriate for us to express concern about the damage it can...
Grafting citrus – ouch!
With the bark still lifting and the sap still flowing, we have already knocked over all our budding for the season! That must be a first. It feels like we’re always rushing at the wrong end of the season to bud tough old buds to sleepy seedlings that are ready to go...
Planning for productivity
Autumn is a great time to review the process for planning your home garden to get maximum productivity over as long a period as possible. We harvest fresh fruit from our orchard for 6 months (from late spring to late autumn), and it's easy to replicate this at home....
Four reasons for yellow leaves on fruit trees
Welcome to autumn! It's pleasant enjoying the cool, crisp mornings, there's a definite shift in the air, and we've even been enjoying some rain. Even if it still feels quite summery at your place, you can expect to start seeing some typical autumn features in your...
Could grasshoppers be eating your fruit?
If you still have fruit on your trees this summer, you may have seen this type of damage on it. It's caused by grasshoppers (or more unusually, locusts), which can become quite a problem from about mid-summer onward. A locust on the window of our packing shed They can...
