Problems in the orchard: peach curl and aphids, oh my!

August 24, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

Our beloved, if somewhat immature orchard, has had its share of teething issues. Only about half the trees had pollinated fruit (although frankly given that they all survived our utterly naive planting at all meant we really didn’t care). But of more concern since then has been the things that have gone wrong. Our peach […]

Leaf my trees alone, grass!

May 29, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Help, the trees are being eaten by the grass! When we bought our little homestead, it came complete with a small herd of alpacas to keep the grass down in our back paddocks. I now see why. We’re a month away from getting our small flock of edible sheep and the grass has just exploded. […]

Being cruel to be kind: Do I need to remove the fruit from my bare rooted trees in their first year?

May 27, 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

I broke my husband’s heart today. As I left the house he looked up with a woeful expression and begged me to reconsider. He asked me if there was anything he could say to change my mind but I remained firm. The tiny fruits being set on our new fruit trees in their first year […]