The Orange Tree

During the colder months it's the citrus trees that spring into life. In addition to adding some much needed colour to the garden, it's great to be able to pick fresh fruit over the winter. The fruit on this tree is not sweet enough to eat until we get a few good frosts, until then they're still quite sour.
This tree was already mature when we bought the property more than 20 years ago so I estimate that it's more than 30 years old.

The tree itself is not much to look at for most of the year, until the winter. This probably explains why I've not given it the attention it needs over the years. I don't like using chemicals and sprays if I can help it but this year I decided to spray all my fruit trees with copper as some were showing signs of disease including this orange.

Several years ago when I decided to landscape this area I had to hack into its roots quite severely to put the steps in, which caused it to suffer a bit, but I think it's bounced back now.

Izumi uses the oranges quite a bit in salads as shown in my post about Florence Fennel

-----------------------------------------
Update October 2018.

Last year the orange tree didn't produce many flowers and hardly any fruit. So, I decided it was time to give it some attention and look after it properly. So I gave it a generous feed of granular citrus food which I spread around the drip line in the Autumn and another spray of copper over the winter which I haven't done for a few years. I did the same thing to a few other citrus and fruiting trees in the garden while I was about it.

The results have been very encouraging! The tree is now covered in flowers and looking much healthier than it was, which bodes well for next seasons crop of oranges. As a bonus the orange tree in recent weeks has played host to regular visits from the NZ native Tui, who come to feed on the nectar.

Come to think of it, I’ve seen more Tuis in the garden this year than I can remember for a while. I must be doing something right. 

A Wood Pigeon comes for a visit

One of the more privileged sights for bird watchers in New Zealand is that of the Native NZ Wood Pigeon. (Also known as Kereru which is the Maori name) The Wood pigeon would have to be the biggest bird to ever visit my garden. According to Wikipedia, they can grow to be 55cm long (20 inches) from head to tail weighing up to 850grams (1.87 pounds). When you witness one up close they seem much bigger. They're often seen gorging themselves on tree borne berries. This shot was taken in a tree privot outside our kitchen window. (In NZ Privot is classified as a noxious weed and at this time of year they're covered in berries.)

The first time I witnessed a wood pigeon landing in Loquat tree (which is one of their favourites), I swore the branch was nearly going to snap under its weight. They can be quite comical to watch after they get a belly full of berries. Not only are they weighed down all the more from pigging-out on all the fruit but as the fruit ferments in their gut they become intoxicated and have difficulty getting air borne again.

But when they do it's a spectacular sight. If you're ever standing nearby, the "Wooshing" sound they make when they take to flight is quite breathtaking. You can't help but marvel at these beautiful creatures. And then he was gone...

This photo taken by Michelle from Christchurch 

shows off the beauty of this birds' paua shell colouring...

I really must get myself a decent camera!

Tiger Finches in the Garden

One thing I really love about my garden is all the birds that come visiting. Unfortunately I've never got my camera handy at the opportune moment when I suddenly find myself up close and personal with some of these birds. I've only got an average camera so I can't zoom in very well or catch anything that's moving too fast, but I am quite pleased with this shot that I managed to get of a Tiger Finch in mid flight...

It's only at certain times of the year when the Tiger Finches come around. They seem to travel in pairs and I managed to get a shot of them together (below), apparently feeding on the seeds of these flowers. The most common place to view Tiger Finches in New Zealand is in a cage at the local pet shop, so it was quite a privilege to see them in their natural environment and to get a shot of them.

Garden Tour (Winter Projects)

Now that I've finally figured out how to add a video to my blog I thought I'd take you on a tour of the garden to show you a few of the jobs I've got planned over the next few months.

Growing Grapes

I've been meaning for some time to do a post about my grapes. This is the second year since I planted my vine which is called Albany Surprise – a red variety. The season is over now but I have carefully observed the grapes throughout the season so I could report on how it did. 

As with all my fruit trees, from the moment the first buds start sprouting there's a keen sense of anticipation about the fruit it will yield. 

Last year I was advised by a commercial grape grower to pinch out all the fruit so that the roots would have a chance to get really well established. This I reluctantly did, but I wasn't too happy to hear them recommend I pinch out at least half the fruit this year. I was hoping for a bumper crop but as I've learned, patience is a much needed virtue when it comes to growing any type of fruit — so I complied with their instructions...

...but not before I at least got to see how much the vine could grow.

Watching the tiny bunches unfurl seemed almost miraculous — it's the first time I've ever observed it so closely. Everything seemed so perfectly formed.

Shortly after this it started flowering, which is when the bees arrived to do their thing. Of course grapes need pollenating like every other fruit in the garden.

Meanwhile, I was keeping an eye on how the vine was growing as a whole as I wanted it to grow over the pergola I built last year. I strung some wire between the uprights then tied the vine to the wire.

Then the fruit started growing although rather unevenly. It looked like I was going to get some weird shaped bunches.

But before long the bunches started forming nicely...

...then ripened up to a nice dark red colour.

It wasn't a huge crop because I had to cut half of the fruit off, but I'm sure it will pay off later as the vine gets established. Some of the fruit was a bit sour and the bunches didn't ripen up evenly so I found myself picking at grapes off the vine rather than picking whole bunches of ripened grapes. 

But it didn't matter, I was happy enough with seeing and tasting the first fruits this year. 

Now I'm looking forward to seeing how it does next year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Picture taken December 2012...

The grape season (2012-13) seemed promising to begin with. Unfortunately most of my fruit shrivelled up on the vine. I thought grapes liked long hot summers. I understand grape growers throughout NZ had a good season. We had a drought this year. Perhaps I should have watered them more...

Potato Crop Failure

As mentioned in my previous post about sweet potatoes (kumaras), my attempt at growing ordinary potatoes this year was a bit of a failure. I am trying to view it more positively and as an opportunity to learn something but I must say I'm a bit stumped as to where I went wrong... 

I had a great year for potatoes last year in this same general spot where I grew these so I'm satisfied that potatoes can grow here. They get sufficient sun and I watered them just as well as last year. If anything's different this year it would be the soil, so I'm picking that's where the problem is. But I'm still not sure what I did wrong. This is what I did...

First I dug in heaps of compost into my new garden (mixing it in well), then after marking where I would grow my rows of spuds I dug a few trenches and planted the seed potatoes at a depth of about 20cm (8 inches). I covered the seeds with about an inch or 2 of soil to which I'd added some 'potato food' fertiliser. As they started to sprout I kept adding the soil mounding it over the new growth until eventually the soil was mounded up about 20cm above the original ground level. I made sure it was watered regularly.

I grew 2 different varieties in 2 separate locations (although I mixed them up). There were 32 seed potatoes in total but I got less than 5kg of spuds from the whole crop which was very disappointing. 

To all appearances the spuds seemed to be doing well (at least above ground) and I'm thinking that might be a clue to where I went wrong. Perhaps there was too much nitrogen causing all the growth to happen above ground instead of below. I was kind of relying on the potato food fertiliser to make sure it had the right mix of nutrients but perhaps the soil was already high in nitrogen. 

I'd be interested to hear any tips anyone can give me...

Wasps in the Garden

When visiting the garden today I discovered it was swarming with hundreds of wasps. Wasps seem to come and go in my garden at various times of the year but when they're around it's not such a pleasant place to be. However, while wasps can be a nuisance, they do apparently provide a much needed service in the garden. I found the following paragraph on this site here: http://eartheasy.com/live_natwasp_control.htm 

Wasps, although annoying, should be thought of as beneficial insects.
They prey mainly on other insects, many of which are pests. In general, they avoid human activity and should only be considered a nuisance when nesting near homes or high traffic areas.


Hopefully this will mean an end to the green stinky bug that's been ravaging my cabbages and other leafy greens lately. That's not to say I want the wasps sticking around for too long at least not in such big numbers. The above mentioned site also had a few instructions for making a wasp trap so I thought I'd try making one and see what happens.

Using a water bottle, I cut the top off it, put some water with a bit of dishwashing soap in it, then smeared some jam 'round the neck of the bottle. Then I turned the neck part upside down and stuck it back in the bottle and sealed it with a couple of bits of tape. I also added some yellow paper around the top of it to help attract the wasps.

I guess it's just a case of waiting now to see what happens, but there's still plenty of wasps around where I left the trap. Apparently if you catch a queen the wasps will relocate elsewhere.