The start of our grove and much more...

5:45 PM 1 Comment

The Start

We have an area in the back yard which was once a small dam filled with an invasive weed. The weed was a great additive to our compost piles as it added heaps of nitrogen and was a great mulch but we were concerned about the weed escaping during heavy rain and washing into the surrounding creeks. A friend of ours did a great job of filling in the dam with a front end loader.

After filling the dam in 2012, thanks Steve.

This will be the start of our grove. Over the last two years we have been scattering any spare green matter that I didn't want in the compost, like weeds or woodier stems which break down slowly and chook poo and horse poo to try and improve the soil.

Our grove is underway with 2 x native tamarinds, two finger limes a lemon and a black mulberry.

In 2016 we visited Daleys Nursery in Kyogle and purchased a few fruit trees to add to them. A Grumichama  and a Cherimoya  as well as another Macadamia.

Fast forward to 2017

And one of the Tamarinds died, as did one of the native Finger Limes, the rest are doing well.  

Cherimoya doing well., doubled in size !

Eureka, it's a Lemon !

We've since added Dragon Fruits x4 , a Blood Orange.  

Blood Orange

Around the yard

Down in the netted Orchard we've also added 2 x Avocados (a Type A and a Type B) , a dwarf Mulberry and 2 more varieties of Figs.  

We also added a Liquid Amber Tree to replace the two Oleanders that were in the back yard that we removed, 

Liquid Amber

as well as a Crab Apple for its bee attractant properties and it's fruit is full of pectin for jam setting.

Banksia in flower !

In the garden

Winter is coming, some things are lovin' it, some not so much.  

Oranges getting close

Asparagus getting closer to needing to be cut back (when they brown off)

Bok Choi

Echinacea as a bee attract and Insect deterrent for naughty insects !

New Passionfruit, seeds courtesy of Trevor's Mum !

In the kitchen

Toni has been busy as always, making her own Mayo, Rosella Jam and Sauces etc.  Bread and Cheese of course, Mozzarella this time.