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Grow Great Fruit

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24.01.2022 "When you grow your own food, you know where it comes from and it just tastes better." Sums it up, don't you think?

23.01.2022 We love it when our Grow Great Fruit members like Bernie (aka Lois) Lincoln here start sharing their fruit growing expertise - helping the world grow better fruit, one apricot tree at a time!

23.01.2022 Tree surgery! This is a beautiful example of a healed whip & tongue graft - whoever was on the tools (Katie) was clearly having a good day when she did this one. If you're serious about your fruit trees, grafting is a great part of the skillset you can use to keep your home orchard thriving. We've got a blog up this week talking about some of the different ways we use it on our fruit trees! At our link in profile or here:... https://growgreatfruit.com/practical-grafting/ See more

21.01.2022 It's been a week for overgrown fruit trees around here, helping some of our GGF members with this problem, and then finding this tree (second slide) in the garden. It looks worse than it is though. It's a three year old pear tree, and while it looks kind of like it's being smothered, in fact it's only this vetch, which is actually a brilliant nitrogen fixer and almost definitely doing more good than harm by absorbing nitrogen from the air and making it available to the tr...ee's roots underground. Once we'd cleared this vetch away (without pulling its roots out) so we could prune the tree, our hunch was confirmed as we could see the tree actually grew strongly this year and is obviously getting on beautifully with its buddy. #weedoftheweek #soilregeneration #permaculture #organicgarden #organicgardenermag #gardeninfo #fruittrees #fruittreesinmybackyard #growgreatfruit See more

21.01.2022 Pretty little Ivy Leaf Speedwell - it's everywhere at the moment... It's one of those plants that gets automatically dismissed as a "weed" and pulled out without a second thought. But sweet little Ivy has lots of benefits for you and your garden. So, to help you appreciate her, here's some things you might not know:... * it's in the Veronica family * it's low-growing and creeps along the ground like ivy (perfect ground cover under fruit trees) * it flowers late winter to mid spring, making it a useful pollinator attractant when things are a bit lean in the garden * it's a high-ranking medicinal plant with many uses - for example it can help stop bleeding), can be used to treat various skin diseases and wounds, and it's an expectorant. It can also be used to treat fevers, especially when used with other weeds like chickweed and plantain. * it's introduced to Australia, and is listed as an environmental weed (so don't let it escape your garden). As always, before you start to use a plant that's unfamiliar, make sure you positively identify it, and learn more about how to use it safely. We're not herbalists, so we're always cautious about using new plants and finding out about any contra-indications (for example, cute little Ivy should never be used on pregnant women). So, that's Ivy Leaf Speedwell - next time you go to rip her out of the soil just pause for a moment and think twice about whether maybe she's there for a reason. #weedoftheweek #weeds #plantmedicine #organicfarm #permaculture #farmlife #gardeninfo #growgreatfruit See more

21.01.2022 What a glorious was to use homegrown fruits!

21.01.2022 Remember how we decided to finally deal with the "weeds" in our plot of almond trees? Well, the understorey project is now making a lot more progress. We have 8 almond trees in a bird enclosure, and the weeds have always been a huge pain - mainly kikuyu grass, paspalum grass, and couch. Urgh. Every year it just grows a tall tangly mess that grows right up into the trees, we have to mow it at least twice (a really annoying job within a netting enclosure), and the almon...ds fall into it and get lost. Inspired by Dr. Christine Jones, we're retrofitting this area to create beautiful flower beds under the trees - at least that's the plan! We're constantly asked by our Grow Great Fruit members how to do this exact thing, so we're doing a bit of a scientific trial in this block. We've divided the area into 4 quadrants, and are trying four different treatments so we can compare them and report back. This is treatment one, which is mowing the grass first (twice), then sheet mulching with newspaper and compost - this is the early stage, just to show you the process. Then we'll let it all break down a bit, and plant directly into it. What do you think our next experiment might be? #organicgardening #soilregeneration #healthysoil #healthyplants #healthypeople #farmlife #almondtrees #growyourown #homegrown #nuttrees #growgreatfruit See more

20.01.2022 How's this for a find, when we were out hiking in the foothills of Gariwerd (the Grampians). You can see a lovely story of growth, death and regrowth right here. The remnants of the big Eucalypt that stood here before are still visible, rotting a bit more into the earth every year, and in the middle of the wreckage, an apple seed took hold, many years ago. It clearly provided the perfect protected place for the seedling to grow and thrive. As the old tree has rotted it's... provided nutrition for the young tree to grow - literally in the middle of the old trunk. It's now fully grown, probably at least 20 years old, and is lush, healthy and covered in fruit - despite the fact that it's completely neglected and unwatered, in the middle of an empty paddock next to a national park. It's clearly a seedling, which means the fruit will be genetically random - but hopefully, it's delicious, and there's a local nearby who knows, loves, and harvests this tree every year. #foraging #wildfruit #feral #fruittree #hugelkultur #wildapple #spring #fruitstory #growgreatfruit See more

19.01.2022 Went food shopping, and accidentally came back with plants instead... is this just a problem we experience, or have you been there too? We're always on the lookout for native food plants to keep filling out the bushfood bed we have outside the kitchen window, so couldn't resist this native basil (which is actually a mint) from the fabulous Murrnong Mamas - it smells absolutely divine. There was a great herb stall at the Castlemaine Farmers Market so we picked up an Ang...elica, which is a herb we're not particularly familiar with (if anyone knows and loves it - please give us the heads-up for great ways to use it). Same goes for Russian tarragon, but apparently it's not dissimilar to regular tarragon. And then one thing led to another...Thai basil - SO yum, a poblano chilli - it's a bit early actually, but we've got a lovely sheltered and frost-protected spot in mind for this guy, and a couple of different kales, because there's no such thing as too much kale, right? At least it's future food, even if it's not in our meals this week #organicgarden #garden #growyourown #community #farmersmarket #permaculture #homegrown #growgreatfruit See more

19.01.2022 Ooh, messy. Can you tell what's going on here? This is one of the fruit trees in GGF member Liz's garden - she sent quite a few of these photos through for her one-on-one consult with us, because she just had no idea where to start! It's a bit hard to even see where the fruit tree is! See the thick trunk to the right hand side? That's *probably* the original trunk, and everything else that's going on here is probably either suckers from the rootstock, or another plant that...'s come up nearby. Liz picked her timing well! Late winter/early spring is the perfect time to start the "detective" job we'll talk her through to figure out which is the original tree, how to restore it, and how to prune it to a sensible and manageable shape. But we can easily see this mess being transformed into a really useful little fruit tree within a year or two, and then going on to a lifetime of happy productivity for Liz and her family. See more

19.01.2022 Warning. If you read this blog, you will want more plum trees. And, why wouldn't you? Look at these gorgeous blood plums from one of our member's gardens. We really recommend plum trees, particularly if you're new to fruit growing. In our blog this week, we're looking at a bunch of different plum varieties and why we think they're a must-have for any garden with fruit trees. We have our favourite varieties but are always interested in what's working for others, so...w...hat's your favourite plum? And why? Follow our link in bio or use this link here: https://growgreatfruit.com/why-every-garden-needs-plum-tree #plum #plumtree #bloodplum #organicfruit #homegrownfruit #growyourown #homesteading #selfsufficiency #growgreatfruit See more

18.01.2022 We usually manage to refrain from sticking our hands in other people's composts, but Hugh failed on this occasion. Yes, we are the kind of visitors who want to look in your compost . Please don't let that stop you from inviting us over, we just always love seeing how other people do things! This one belongs to our (organic fruit growing) friends Chris and Michelle, who have a little paper shredder. Instead of putting paper into the recycling, they just shred some each... day and pop it into the worm farm with the day's kitchen scraps. The paper (which is carbon) balances out the high nitrogen (from the food scraps) and keeps the compost from getting too wet or smelly. And the worms absolutely LOVE it. Worth a try if you don't have access to other carbon sources like leaves, straw or woodchips. #compost #heartofthegarden #composting #wormfarm #gardeninfo #soilhealth #instagarden #growyourown #organicgarden #organicgardener #growgreatfruit See more

18.01.2022 This is so irresistible ... if only plants really grew this fast so you didn't actually have to wait for days and weeks to see if the gardening "hacks" work. Any in here that you've tried? Did they work?

17.01.2022 The last stretch of netting for the walls of the chicken palace yard. This entire project has been built out of recycled materials, which means we've spent rather a lot of time on our hands and knees patching and joining old pieces of chicken wire. Building things this way is much more time consuming for sure, but also so much more satisfying. If we weren't willing to put the time in, this wire would have been a "waste" product and gone to landfill, and what an unbeara...ble thought that is. In the modern world we're expected to value our time highly, but we've spent several delightful days so far, working side-by-side in the sunshine to turn waste materials from all over the farm into the most beautiful chicken residence you ever saw. We can't really imagine anything more useful we could be doing with our time! #nosuchthingaswaste #farmlife #organicfarm #permaculture #dowhatyoucan #usewhatyouhave #reuse #garden #backyardchickens #homegrown #growgreatfruit See more

14.01.2022 The eternal hose problem - anyone got any good suggestions to help our friend Trace? (and we can highly recommend all her beautiful books btw)

12.01.2022 We have mulberries! These are one of the earliest fruiting trees in our garden in spring (other than the citrus). This is a Hicks Fancy mulberry, not the traditional black variety, While not as juicy or quite as delicious, it still has a place in the garden as an early source of vitamins and nutrition as we're coming out of the winter growing hiatus. All part of extending that home grown fruit season!... #organicfarm #homegrownfruit #mulberrytree #spring #growyourown #gardeninfo #fruit #fruittree #fruitseason #seasonal #growgreatfruit See more

11.01.2022 Arghhhh! It's any apple growers nightmare! This is what codling moth larvae holes in your apples looks like, but the grubs and their damage can look a whole lot more putrid. We know lots of our members find them a bit overwhelming, but we're here to help. Codling moth is one pest that is really worth having a plan for, and there are things you can do each season to help stop them from becoming a problem in your garden. Our blog this week is there to help you get starte...d! Link in profile or here: https://growgreatfruit.com/whats-worse-than-finding-a-worm- #gardeninfo #gardenpest #organicgarden #appletree #homegrown #homegrownfruit #orchard #growgreatfruit See more

10.01.2022 Not your usual dainty spring blossom shot over here! Why? Well, we love pretty blossoms, but we're also fruit nerds and we know many of you are too. The blossom on our trees can tell us a lot about what's going to happen - and whilst it's a very delightful time for fruit growers to see your trees in flower, it can be a bit daunting too. Here is some apricot blossom at 'shuck-fall', which at first glance looks like the lovely blossoms entering their next phase. A close...r looks shows a bit of blossom blight in there too, which is what we were worrying about last week with the wetter weather. Zooming into whats happening with the flowers on your fruit trees is a really important way to protect your harvests! So, we've got a blog this week about what healthy blossoms look like so you can assess your trees closely too. At our link in profile or here: https://growgreatfruit.com/what-does-healthy-blossom-look-l #springblossom #spring #fruittrees #apricottrees #growyourown #homegrownfruit #seasons #organicgarden #gardeninfo #growgreatfruit See more

08.01.2022 We actually love plenty of 'weeds' (including capeweed...sort of...) If you've been following us for a while, you'll probably a. know this already and b. know that it's a bit more nuanced than pure love. ... But, if you're new around here, you might be wondering what we mean! You see, these plants, growing in places we don't always want them - they are often doing all sorts of good things, for the soil, for critters and for our fruit trees. We've learnt that in the long run it doesn't work to wage a war against them. And, that it really pays to take the time to understand the weedy plants around you. This week on our blog, we're talking about capeweed, a good one to get your head around because it is in full swing right now. There's some great comments over on the blog post too, from people using capeweed in all sorts of interesting ways! At our link in profile or here: https://growgreatfruit.com/capeweed-friend-or-foe/ #weedoftheweek #organicgarden #organicfarm #soilregeneration #farmlife #capeweed #gardeninfo #gardenknowhow #growgreatfruit See more

08.01.2022 The almond understory experiment continues. On the left (quadrant 1) - weeds whippersnipped, covered with newspaper and then covered with compost. On the right (quadrant 2), weeds whippersnipped, then covered with an extra layer of dead weeds (pulled from quadrants 3 & 4). Plan is to then cover the weeds with a layer of compost, but this proved to be a bit harder than we expected. ... More in stories today! #understory #regenerative #soil #soilhealth #compost #organicgarden #organicgardenermag #almond #orchard #fruittrees #growgreatfruit See more

08.01.2022 Bottled sunshine! We're starting to get to the back of the pantry on bottled fruit, and found a jar of nectarines from 2018 - so only a couple of seasons old, but interesting to see how they're looking after two years in the bottle. They were absolutely still yummy for breakfast, that's for sure, so, thanks past selves! We love bottling fruit because it takes no energy to store the fruit once it's preserved (as opposed to freezing it, for example), and because it wil...l keep for a really long time. We don't normally get a chance to test this out, because we usually eat everything within one season, so this is a good test run. Good to see our methods can preserve that season for so long! And, if you grow your own, you know it's worth preserving every bit possible so your future self can enjoy it. #eatwhatyougrow #homegrown #fruittrees #fruit #preserving #homesteading #canning #organic #shelflife #shelfie #growgreatfruit

05.01.2022 Sounds great! Can't wait to check out this book too.

04.01.2022 Day by day, things are starting to look a bit more colourful around here. What about your garden? #farmlife #organicfarm #organicgarden #inmygarden #growgreatfruit

04.01.2022 Pretty colours, huh? This is what peach leaf curl looks like. The red bubbles on the leaves are the tell-tale signs that something's up. You'll only see this disease on your peach and nectarine trees - if you've got curly leaves on your other trees, it's something else! Is it bad? Well, it depends. Notice the little peaches on the left there? Leaf curl doesn't usually affect whether your tree will have fruit or not. If you get a bad dose and a lot of the leaves are dama...ged, this can affect how well the tree can photosynthesise. If that happens then you might need to pull off extra fruit when you're thinning to make sure the fruit that's left on the tree gets to full size. And in really bad cases, the fruit itself can be infected, and then it usually (but not always) falls off by itself. The important thing is not to panic. As soon as the weather warms up, the new leaves will grow out healthy, and Bob's your uncle. And regardless of whether your tree got it this year or not, next season is a new year, and you get a whole new chance to prevent it! #leafcurl #peachtree #fruittree #gardeninfo #homegrownfruit #growyourown #homesteading #gardendisease #gardenpest #growgreatfruit See more

03.01.2022 Grafting day Our new nursery member Lizzie has been practising on offcuts for weeks now (a great way to build your skills with a grafting knife), and this week had her first chance to put her new skills to work. Nervous but persistent probably best describes her first day - but she did great! This is the time of year when we do a lot of grafting, and it's a great time for anyone wanting to start growing their own fruit trees to have a go.... If you're inspired to learn the life-skill of growing your own fruit trees, our spring Grafting bundle of courses is for you, special deal finishing soon. Find out more at our link in profile here or at: https://growgreatfruit.com/product/grafting-bundle #growyourown #fruittrees #farmlife #organicfarm #diy #homesteading #selfsufficiency #organicgarden #gardeninfo #spring #growgreatfruit See more