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 […]

Plums in potentia: Marjorie’s seedling hopefully bearing fruit at last

May 2, 2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

Way back in the mists of time (2014), I planted up my then brand new raised beds for the first time with a wide variety of expensive plants, all of which were doomed to die and be replaced within two years. All, except my Marjorie’s seedling plum tree. Since then I have loved it, I […]

When aphids attack: How to build an organic defense

June 20, 2014.Reading time 3 minutes.

Disgusting: Aphids colonising the plum tree The other day I was out in the garden and pottering about with a cup of fresh mint tea making a mental list of tasks that needed doing when it occurred to me that the fan-trained Marjorie’s Seedling plum tree that I planted in a raised sleeper bed appeared […]

Planting up raised beds

May 30, 2014.Reading time 3 minutes.

…or “How to decide what to grow”. The plan for the garden always included lots of pots on shelves and in a greenhouse but when it came to the raised beds themselves, I wanted to take advantage of their size to grow more substantial plants that would also cover the fences in time. My idea […]