Gardening

[Sprintcyclist]

Wow - the 'slasher guy' or a local gardener sounds cheap .........

And he has not even quoted.

[HBS Guy]

He has/will spread the pine chips for me, the remaining 8 cubic metres should be delivered and spread Monday. Can get him to do some spraying: give him a key to the garden shed, have the mix detailed (blow up to A3 size, have it laminated, leave in the shed.) Won’t have the compost tea but the neem oil, insecticidal soap (pure liquid soap (not detergent etc)) and fish hydrolase and liquid kelp will be there. Will have a tin of grease, grease the weedmat I will wrap around the trunks to deter rabbits and hopefully possums.

Will water around the planting hole with the compost tea, fish hydrolase and kelp after planting, plain water to water the actual tree—encourage the roots to venture out the planting hole.

[Sprintcyclist]

He has/will spread the pine chips for me, the remaining 8 cubic metres should be delivered and spread Monday. Can get him to do some spraying: give him a key to the garden shed, have the mix detailed (blow up to A3 size, have it laminated, leave in the shed.) Won’t have the compost tea but the neem oil, insecticidal soap (pure liquid soap (not detergent etc)) and fish hydrolase and liquid kelp will be there. Will have a tin of grease, grease the weedmat I will wrap around the trunks to deter rabbits and hopefully possums.

Will water around the planting hole with the compost tea, fish hydrolase and kelp after planting, plain water to water the actual tree—encourage the roots to venture out the planting hole.

Sounds good, give him a plan of what you want planted where.
A numbered list of things to do in order of importance.

Accept it won't be done exactly how you want ........ but, things WILL get done.

[HBS Guy]

Bought some fresh cartridge paper, will draw my planting plan as it is so far and add to it future plantings—will add identification of each site.

Now some GOOD news! I can get Green Horse perry pears! Yippy! So perry pear line up is:

Gin
Moorcroft
Yellow Huffcap
Green Horse

And Beurre Bosc perry/cooking/eating pear
[Williams Pear—to pollinate Beurre Bosc]

More scope, more flavors. MUCH more reading/thinking to do. At my age it is use it or lose it!

[HBS Guy]

Gin:
(Can taste juniper berry, so it must be called Gin.)

Good disease resistance, good keeping quality (need to store pears to get good quantity to mill and press.)
Makes a fragrant perry (can see mixing this with some beurre bosc for nice pear flavor with the fragrance of the gin)

A high quality vintage pear being planted by artisan perry makers (of whom I hope to be one no matter how small scale and amateur!)


Green Horse:
Originally a culinary pear like some perry pears are (some perry pears are so unpalatable that not even pigs will eat them!)
Medium Sharp (as are all perry pears in Australia)


Moorcroft:
Use as a perry pear from start
Bittersharp (Astringent sharp) This makes it a bit unique among perry pears in Oz.
Problem with this pear: rots from the inside out fairly soon after picking. Thinks: one or two trees enough of this one, great mixer, too hard as a main perry pear. Pick and freeze until all harvested, I think.

Sounds like a mixer not a straight perry.


Yellow Huffcap:
Medium sharp. Medium acid, low tannin makes for an excellent perry.


So now you know!

Seth might be able to grow some nice perry pears in Oregon if he was so inclined. He would have access to a bigger range of perry pears than we do here. Makes a finer drink than cider or so I am told.

[Sprintcyclist]

Bought some fresh cartridge paper, will draw my planting plan as it is so far and add to it future plantings—will add identification of each site.

Now some GOOD news! I can get Green Horse perry pears! Yippy! So perry pear line up is:

Gin
Moorcroft
Yellow Huffcap
Green Horse

And Beurre Bosc perry/cooking/eating pear
[Williams Pear—to pollinate Beurre Bosc]

More scope, more flavors. MUCH more reading/thinking to do. At my age it is use it or lose it!

I am feeling you

[Sprintcyclist]

Gin:
(Can taste juniper berry, so it must be called Gin.)

Good disease resistance, good keeping quality (need to store pears to get good quantity to mill and press.)
Makes a fragrant perry (can see mixing this with some beurre bosc for nice pear flavor with the fragrance of the gin)

A high quality vintage pear being planted by artisan perry makers (of whom I hope to be one no matter how small scale and amateur!)


Green Horse:
Originally a culinary pear like some perry pears are (some perry pears are so unpalatable that not even pigs will eat them!)
Medium Sharp (as are all perry pears in Australia)


Moorcroft:
Use as a perry pear from start
Bittersharp (Astringent sharp) This makes it a bit unique among perry pears in Oz.
Problem with this pear: rots from the inside out fairly soon after picking. Thinks: one or two trees enough of this one, great mixer, too hard as a main perry pear. Pick and freeze until all harvested, I think.

Sounds like a mixer not a straight perry.


Yellow Huffcap:
Medium sharp. Medium acid, low tannin makes for an excellent perry.


So now you know!

Seth might be able to grow some nice perry pears in Oregon if he was so inclined. He would have access to a bigger range of perry pears than we do here. Makes a finer drink than cider or so I am told.

yes, 1 moorcroft might do.

what are perry pears ?

[Sprintcyclist]

I had a thought while in the Butterfly Forest after work today for you.

It'll cost you near to $1000 to spend some time getting sore muscles in your garden.
That $1000 buys a lot of tree planting by a local . Don't go cheap on that guy for the tree planting.
Make it a great profit time for him that he can put a lot of pride in.

Invite him to share in your completed product in 3 years time.

[HBS Guy]

Perry is the cider you make from pears. It is supposed to be a better drink than cider.

[Sprintcyclist]

Perry is the cider you make from pears. It is supposed to be a better drink than cider.

nic

AH, I have not heard of that before.
Pears are nicer than apples.

[HBS Guy]

A perry pear can be a hard, astringent thing to eat. Not even pigs will eat them and pigs will eat about anything. I read an account of a squirrel eating a perry pear: it ate and spat out the flesh until it got to the core and then it ate the pips!

Some are pears that can be eaten save there are better eating varieties now.

Fun fact: apples float on water, pears sink.

What other two fruits are in the pome fruit family?

[HBS Guy]

Depending on how much time I have in April I will prepare spots to plant some semi dwarf eating apples in the southern parts of the rows. Could also prepare spots for dwarf perry pear trees—be nice to have them going too! The trees to be planted in July or in spring when the soil is not soaking wet. Will need to prepare the spots for two more Yarlington Mill bittersweet cider apples—spread sand, compost, gypsum and sheep shit and some potassium sulphate and rock dust, spread that over a square metre, dig in as much as possible, hope the winter rain gets it further down.

If you have a new semi-dwarf tree, thin stem maybe a branch or two, be ruthless and cut the stem at about the 60cm mark, knee height. Branches will form—scaffold branches. This is the key to keeping the tree small and branches low and easy to reach. Obviously, this has not been done with my trees being looked after in Launceston but the younger trees I should still be able to do that. The trees from the year before they may be too old for that. They should have been planted in September but that trip had to be put off, so the trees will have had another summers growth by April unfortunately.

Will see what I can do. Especially with the cherry trees I have to be able to net them—not interested in feeding the birds! Bending may save the day. I will buy a bloody good pair of secateurs! Also stuff to put on cut surfaces—winter will follow with lots of rain and rot may happen.

Get the slasher guy to spread hardwood chips after I have gone.

[Sprintcyclist]

A perry pear can be a hard, astringent thing to eat. Not even pigs will eat them and pigs will eat about anything. I read an account of a squirrel eating a perry pear: it ate and spat out the flesh until it got to the core and then it ate the pips!

Some are pears that can be eaten save there are better eating varieties now.

Fun fact: apples float on water, pears sink.

What other two fruits are in the pome fruit family?

Pommegranites and Persimmons ?

[HBS Guy]

Nope—not pome fruit, seeds everywhere, not in a core.

Neither fruit begins with a “p”

[HBS Guy]

Nashi and quince.

[Sprintcyclist]

Nashi and quince.

Ah, well ......... I was nowhere near it !!!!!!!!

[HBS Guy]

Quince can be quite pear shaped.

[HBS Guy]

Received the booklet “Gardening in Clay Soil” just now. 27 pages—not long! I find the Storey Publications while not going into any depth give a bloody good introduction to the subject. None of the booklets has ever had anything incorrect in them.

Now for the not so good news—from the “NEVER EVER trust a tree nursery” department:

I doubt the Stella cherry variety, pollination group 4 is going to do much for my Early Burlat or Napoleon cherries which are pollination group 1.

Will see. The Stella is self fertile so will bear fruit and so not a waste. Will do some more reading.

They also said the plums Greengage and Coe’s Golden Drop would pollinate each other—nope, different pollination groups so flower at different times and will not cross pollinate each other. Found that out from an article somewhere by Peter Cundall.

Reckon I could write a book on all this crap by the time it is all finished! Far out!

[HBS Guy]

Nope, am golden, all in Pollination Period 3 and Stella is a “universal donor”—seems cherries have different “alleles” that determine how well cross pollination goes but Stella will do the job.

Phew!

Napoleon aka “Royal Anne” is in a different allele group to Early Burlat so can cross pollinate Napoleon and vice versa and Stella will pollinate both.

I think I might have cried if the trees couldn’t cross pollinate each other (Napoleon and Early Burlat will ensure Stella bears a bigger crop than just the Stella tree by itself.) Think I will grow them as a fan:
https://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au/articles-learning/317-fan-espalier.html

Read all about it: http://www.anfic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ANFIC-Sweet-Cherry-Pollination-Table-28012014.pdf

[Sprintcyclist]

Received the booklet “Gardening in Clay Soil” just now. 27 pages—not long! I find the Storey Publications while not going into any depth give a bloody good introduction to the subject. None of the booklets has ever had anything incorrect in them.

Now for the not so good news—from the “NEVER EVER trust a tree nursery” department:

I doubt the Stella cherry variety, pollination group 4 is going to do much for my Early Burlat or Napoleon cherries which are pollination group 1.

Will see. The Stella is self fertile so will bear fruit and so not a waste. Will do some more reading.

They also said the plums Greengage and Coe’s Golden Drop would pollinate each other—nope, different pollination groups so flower at different times and will not cross pollinate each other. Found that out from an article somewhere by Peter Cundall.

Reckon I could write a book on all this crap by the time it is all finished! Far out!

' ...... from the “NEVER EVER trust a tree nursery” department: ....... '
that's disappointing

[HBS Guy]

Well, it is a good idea to look at a tree nursery website, select some trees you like then research research research!

One good site: https://www.orangepippintrees.com/


A couple Australian sites (nursery sites:)
http://www.heritagefruittrees.com.au
https://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au


This is a good site, Australian, NSW Dept Primary Industry. My go to site for Australian (if maybe not quite Tasmanian conditions:)
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/horticulture

[HBS Guy]

And this one I found yesterday:
http://www.anfic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ANFIC-Sweet-Cherry-Pollination-Table-28012014.pdf
Will explore this one.

There are so many varieties of each type of fruit tho that no one site will cover all of them.

For more rounded information you need a book or two:

“The Holistic Orchard” and “The Apple Grower” and “Mycorrhizal Planet” by Michael Phillips.

Keeping fruit trees small—no ladders needed, trees can be netted so you not the bloody birds eat your fruit:
Anna Ralph “Grow a little fruit tree”

If you want fruit you need either:
One self fertile tree, or
Two trees each a different variety of the same fruit that bloom at the same time.

Best is to get a fruit tree on a semi-dwarfing rootstock: M111 for apples, Colt for cherries etc. No semi-dwarfing apricot trees—quite frankly, I would BUY my apricots rather than grow them.

At least have a lemon tree, no matter how dwarf!

[HBS Guy]

I think I will take my drawing and other info to a professional draughtsman to draw up professionally including the work I want done. Reckon that will result in a plan machine operators can follow so the drainage ditches will be dug as I require.

[Sprintcyclist]

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181210-gardening-could-be-the-hobby-that-helps-you-live-to-100

[HBS Guy]

Fresh air, exercise, unsprayed veges, flowers etc etc. That and a dog to walk and you can live forever!