A Look at Grafting

In days gone by mankind developed many creative techniques to manipulate plants into producing bigger or better crops. Grafting is one of these techniques and it was developed over many centuries. This is an introduction to grafting fruit trees.

Fruit - Apples and Pears

Introduction

Apples and pears are available at supermarkets throughout the year at reasonable prices, so why grow your own? Well, commercial fruit farmers focus on varieties with middle-of-the-road tastes, that will appeal to a wide audience. A variety that has great taste, but looks unattractive, or does not store well, will simply not be grown commercially. Growing your own apples and pears gives you access to varieties that are seldom or never available in shops.

This is a blog post by ‘Max and Max’. Together they tapped into Max’s decades of professional fruit tree experience and documented what might be helpful to home gardeners who grow apples and pears. One Max learnt a lot. The other Max is thanked very much for his time and sharing his knowledge.

Avocados in Tasmania

The popularity of avocados has gone through the roof in Australia in recent years. Tasmanian home gardeners are now buying young avocado trees, but there is not a lot of local knowledge that tells us how to grow them in often-cool Tasmanian conditions.  I tried to find someone who grows avocados successfully locally, in the hope to learn a trick or two.

Propagating in the Food Garden

At a recent food garden visit two Food Garden Group members explained and demonstrated the basics of propagation.  This blog post is a summary of what was discussed, with more info added when we put together the blog post.

Renovating an Apple Tree

In March 2014 the Food Garden Group visited Annie's garden at Kettering.  Annie had taken possession of the property only a year or so earlier and wanted to know what to do about a totally unproductive apple tree that for many years had been left to its own devices by previous owners.