update on our mini orchard!

Feijoa "Unique" from our tree

​Update on our mini-orchard!
As many of you will be aware, during winter, we added a mini orchard to our existing garden.  With summer behind us, I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to provide an account of how everything has performed.  It’s hard to believe but we actually received crops in our first year!  We feel incredibly excited about this and it is evidence that our hard work and dedication to the garden paid off.

Apples
Our Blush Babe tree did not fail us.  There were quite a few fruits on the tree.  The quality of the apples was very good.   They were sweet, juicy and crunchy. We had a few on our columnar Ballerina apple trees but none on Autento this year.

Apricot
We planted Aprigold, a dwarf variety of apricot, in a pot.  Unfortunately, there were no blossoms and no fruit on the tree.  But looking at things positively, at least it didn’t die!  There’s always next season, right?

Banana
An American couple who were wwoofing at our place last year planted the dwarf variety of Banana tree Misi Luki in March.  One year on, and I’m pleased to report that the tree has grown tremendously in that time.  I’m not sure whether we’ll be lucky enough to get fruit this spring.  Watch this space for developments.

Blueberries
We had a great season with our blueberries, considering we only just planted them in pots over the winter.  By December, we were already harvesting berries!  We lost a couple, unfortunately.  Some varieties were more prolific than others but it’s too early to say which ones are the best varieties considering it is so early in their growth.

Feijoas
Our Unique tree, which was planted about four years ago, is absolutely laden with fruit.  Some fruits are small, others larger but are very tasty.  I put in three additional trees last year – Wiki Tu, Kakariki and Kaiteri.  There is already fruit on Wiki Tu but they are not ready yet as it is a late cropper.  Normally harvest takes place in May and even as late as June.

Figs
Our two plants, Brown Turkey and White Adriatic, have given us some crops this season.  Fruits were incredibly juicy and sweet.

Guavas
So far, we have harvested a handful of yellow guavas from our potted plant.  They are incredibly large and full of flavour.

Mandarins and oranges
There are lots of green fruits on our Flying Dragon mandarin and orange trees but no ripened fruit to report of just yet.

Nectarines
We harvested quite a bit of fruit from our Nectar Babe tree.  The nectarines were small but very juicy and delicious.

Passionfruit
We love passionfruit so much that we have several vines.  We harvested so much fruit this past season that it’s unbelievable.  Great value when you consider how expensive passionfruit is at the supermarket.

Peaches
We harvested quite a few peaches off our different dwarf varieties of peach trees.  Pixzee was a reliable producer.
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Raspberry
Our Aspiring raspberry plant cropped reliably in November and December and again in March and April.  The quantity of berries is truly remarkable considering that the plant was only put into the ground in winter.

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