Summer / Autumn 2017

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View across the garden to Signal hill.
Kitten/fluff monster.
Brown Turkey fig. Kept low with a dark painted heat sink wall behind and reflection from paving stones and the back of curtains. West facing wall.
Loquat ‘Thames pride’.
Egremont Russet apple.
It’s March and we’re finally getting tomatoes! A yellow cherry variety on the left and some other kind I forgot.
Another way to tie down young branches. The branch being tied down is above and a mirror of this sturdy lower one. The rubber bands allow some flex and don’t hurt the wood like string. Hemp twine is really strong, cheap and you should be able to use it again after one season has set the branch at a good angle (as close to 90 degrees as possible).
Blackboy peach.
Hardy Kiwi
Merton Russet apple espalier.
Runner beans growing on a sacrificial young Hoheria seedling.
This gate was built specifically to mitigate strong gusting winds rushing off the walls and funnelling into the garden. This helps keeps temperatures up and makes our back patio a little more peaceful.
Tydeman’s Late Orange apple.
One way to lower young branches. Use as much water as you need weight.
Night time friend.
The back side of the lean to. Runner beans and a tap. The tanks are connected via a siphon over the tops.
Actinidia arguta. Hardy Kiwi fruits. This is the first season they have produced and we are looking forward to big crops in the years to come as the vines are growing vigorously. Due to the PSA virus (?) these plants are unavailable anywhere as far as I can tell (please be in touch if you find a source). So delicious! Sweet and gummy and for those that don’t like fuzzy kiwi skins there is none of that. They give slightly to pressure when ripe. Grown on north and west facing walls.
Raspberries, kale, double grafted Initial and Akane apple.
This corrugated perspex lean to was built as a dry social space, a structure for hardy kiwi and passionfruit vines to grow under and a propagation space. 3×250 litre barrels (food grade) are supported by a small raised bed growing the passionfruit vine and tomatoes.
First year of delicious Moorpark apricots.
‘Schuyler’ grape, Poroporo, brambles.
Nursery space.

 

Spring 2016

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Chicory, Egyptian walking onions
Valerian coming through white clover
‘Sweet purple’ Asparagus
Haskap, Hardy Kiwi
Apricot, Lemonbalm, mixed Alliums
Haskap with clover, kale and young Welsh bunching onions
Last few days for the chickens in this late winter through early spring run
Newly planted Salal berry seedlings, Sweet cicely, Comfrey beneath Whitecurrant, Maqui and Elaeagnus
Burdock

 

Plant giveaway

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Maqui berry

Aristotelia chilensis

Available now free to a good home (minimum 3…they are either male or female, you need both for fruit and 3 is better than 2!)

6 month old seedlings 40-50cm.  A native plant of the Valdivian temperate rainforests in South America. Edible fruit are small purple-black berries. Fast growing for us, reaching 170cm in the second year. These beautiful evergreen trees are dioecious: both a male and female tree are needed for fruiting. Best to plant a grove or hedgerow of three or more to increase the chances of pollination. Most suited to a sunny/dappled forest edge system with protection from cold winds.

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