Jump to: blackberry, blueberry, currants, fig, golden berry, gooseberry, melon, melon pear, olive, orchard, raspberry, strawberry

Melon

8 Apr - a new venture this year, three seeds sown in a 4 inch pot in the potting shed, which all germinated by 14 April.

10 May - three more seeds sown on individual large yogurt pots, only one of which germinated by 19 May.

2 June - time to pot up and plant out: 1 melon on a trellis in the potting shed, 2 melon on a wicker obelisk in the greenhouse.

16 June - all three plants are looking healthy and the two in the greenhouse are flowering.

Currants

1 Oct 2006 - potted up three newly acquired currant bushes, one black, one red and one white.  They don't look much at the moment as they're in their dormant stage.  I've put them in pots as I will want to put them in my fruit cage (along with the existing blueberries), which I plan to get next year.

Olive

A free plant form gardener's world magazine.  Hope it's better than the last free offer (a bamboo) which died.  Placed in the conservatory to give it a good start, and for winter protection.

Fig

13 Sep 2006 - A new plant cosseted in the conservatory to give it a good start, and for winter protection.

Golden Berry

Golden Berry Pineapple (maybe better known as Cape Gooseberry or seen in the shops as Physalis).

Blueberry

I've got three blueberry plants in pots, now in my fruit cage.  Two (a male & female) are well established and the third was new last October, so just in its first year.

Raspberry

Two surviving raspberry canes still looking good, although I think I was supposed to cut them back to the ground and I didn't.

Gooseberry

Planted in a large pot last year in 2005, this potted bush is now very well established.

Melon pear pepino

Or Solanum Muricatum to give its proper name.  I do like to grow things I can't buy in the supermarket or greengrocers.  This exotic plant is a native of South America. It has blue flowers and juicy fruits that taste like honeydew melons.  It's not a melon at all, but part of the tomato/potato family.  I've read that "the beautiful purple-striped, egg-shaped fruit of the Pepino Melon is mild and sweet with a flavour reminiscent of cantaloupe. Fruits in about 9 months from seed."

This year I'm trying to grow these from seed.

Strawberries

I have two established strawberry troughs planted in January 2006, one trough of new plants this year, plus two troughs of alpine strawberries, grown from seed this year.

2 June - I've been cosseting my alpine strawberry troughs in the greenhouse, but they had to move out to the fruit cage today as I started greenhouse planting.

4 June - my first strawberry harvest and there is nothing like a warm home grown strawberries which have never been chilled.  They are so, so fragrant, juicy and tasty.

Blackberries

We have wild blackberry bushes in our paddock and wood and one near the chicken run.

Orchard

Existing fruit trees

We inherited five fruit trees with the house:
a cooking apple, an eating apple, a conference pear, a cherry plum and a greengage.

24 July 2006 - a walk around the fruit trees revealed the following progress:

Established eating apple tree	Established cooking apple tree	Pear tree	New Jonagold apple	Cherry plum	Greengage?

New Fruit tree planting

In January 2006, we planted 5 new fruit trees:
a Cox's Orange Pippin apple, Jonagold apple, Elstar apple, Victoria Plum and Cherry Summer Sun.

Sadly, the rabbits got the Elstar and stripped the bark before we could protect it with wire.  I painted it with Prune & Seal to try to help protect the damaged bark, but it did not survive.

Hopefully, we'll get some fruit fron the remaining four tress this year.

For a reminder of last year's exploits - 2006 fruit garden notes.