Gardening and growing great plants.

Walnut trees now available.

By James Wall with Dennis Ting.

Walnut trees are not a big seller but we do like them here at Gardenworld. I can recall watching the Tour de France and seeing Gabriel Gate' wandering through a very old plantation, and of course there was our famous blog story by one of our staff Dennis Ting who has one large tree growing in suburban Melbourne. He successfully used curtain lace to hide the nuts from the cockatoos.

Dennis has now sourced some walnut trees from Walnuts Australia Nursery in Tasmania who have developed orchards in north eastern Tasmania and Riverina totalling 600,000 trees. They have trialed many varieties of walnuts from Europe - France, Italy, Spain and the United States - newly developed Californian varieties resulting from active breeding programs.

 
We at Gardenworld have selected two Californian walnut Varieties - "Chandler" and "Howard" to offer to customers for the following reasons:
 
Late leafing out with warmer and drier weather (Oct - Nov) so reduces risk of the major disease "Walnut Blight" infecting the tree on early leafing out cultivars.

Lateral bearing so many lateral buds on a shoot have flower buds and not just the terminal bud on older varieties so increased yield.

More compact size as used in hedge rowing in commercial orchards to 4 metres tall and mechanically pruned so can be regularly pruned without any ill effects.

Self pollinating as the tree ages (3 - 4 years) so only one tree is required to set a full crop while older varieties definately required two or more trees.

Heavy regular crops as a locally grown "Chandler" tree set 10 kg of nuts at 10 years of age.
Difference between Chandler and Howard not much except Howard nuts may be slightly larger.

These trees were harvested bare-root, wrapped in hessian, put on a boat and sent to Port Melbourne. We picked them up from there, potted them in 300mm pots and offer them for $85. When you think of their journey, I think you will agree they are of very good value. We don't make much on these, but then, we do love our walnuts.

Hydroponics Made Easy - the Autopot System.

New Book Release: Hydroponics Made Easy, by Jim Fah. 

By James Wall.

Jim Fah is a legend here at Gardenworld. He is the inventor of a very special system called Autopot. This system has a smart valve that ensures singular plants in their individual containers dictate when they get their supply of water according to their needs.

Jim has spent well over 20 years developing and improving his system. The system is being used commercially around the world, including Malaysia where they grow these bright yellow melons (Kuning Jati) in no growing media at all. Each crop takes 65 days and they are producing 2.5 tonnes of fruit a week.

Another project included a wall of plants along the Flemington Racecourse horse track. At one stage more than 1000 Purple Craze petunias were being watered from one pump. My experiences with planting our spreading petunias around here at Gardenworld has been a maintenance free system that ensures months of spectacular blooms. It is something we are famous for over summer, and because the flowers don't get wet by this system, they last for many months longer than an overhead watering system.

Jim has also had to contend with copy cats, including a trusted former distributor who has even copied the Autopot name. Sure there are patents and potential legal avenues, but this can come at a great cost. Jim is focussing on developing the technology further, so the copy cats will never be up with the latest design.

It is with pleasure that I have just received a copy of Jim's latest book. It is called Hydroponics Made Easy. It is actually the 3rd edition of his original book, but the 2nd edition came out over ten years ago, and a lot a developments have been made since then. As well as providing plenty of information about the Autopot System, you will also learn a lot about Hydroponics in general. There is also an interesting chapter on starting plants from seeds and cuttings.

The colourful book is 111 pages and is on sale for just $15 at both the nursery and the Hydroponics shop here at Gardenworld. It is also available online from gardenshop.com.au with a $6.95 freight charge Australia wide.

What I like about this book is that you get an honest appraisal from the author of his own system as well as a wealth of information of tried and true fertiliser requirements of various crops. Following the instructions of this book, both backyard growers and commercial producers should have bumper crops of quality fruit and vegetables.

 

Walnuts top of the tree of health.

 
Walnuts are top of the tree when it comes to heart-healthy nutty superfoods.

Research  suggests regular consumption of nuts can reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and type-2 diabetes.

Until now it has not been clear which nut is number one in terms of health-giving properties.

To answer this question, scientists analysed the antioxidant content of nine types of nut: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias and pecans.

Study leader Dr Joe Vinson, from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, said: ''A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut.''

Scale insects on lemon tree.

A customer bought in a lemon the other day and it was amazing how many scales were on just this one lemon, let alone what must have been on the branches.

These scales eat the goodnes out of the plant cells. They can literally bite into the skin of the plant.

Heavy infestations like this one will weigh heavily ony the plant. Often a weaker plant will then be left vunerable to a getting a secondary problem. One such secondary problem is sooty mould which will grow on the sugary waste from the scales called honeydew. Ants may also may inhabit the plant in greater numbers and even assist scales by carrying around young insects and clearing away all the honeydew that might otherwise choke a scale colony.

The plant branches and leaves may then have poor distorted growth and eventually branches could even die. Fruit like this can be contaminated or discoloured, although this particular fruit still appeared to be ok inside.

Scales are weird because they don't really look like insects at all. For most of their lifecycle they are hiding under protective shells. They overwinter as mature females, and lose the use of their legs.

In spring, the females produce 'crawlers' which are very young insects which move out from under the shells and move to new feeding sites. They then form the shell like scale and can no longer move. Many generations can be produced over one summer. They infect fruit like this late in the season. Only the small males fly, but 'crawlers' can be blown in the wind.

Control: This plant should have been sprayed with white oil (also sold as Pest oil) in the warmer months, being careful not to burn the plant. Do it on a cloudy day, and maybe even with a test spray. It could still be white oiled in winter, but the insects are much more protected by then and it will be less effective. You could also prune the tree now and dispose of the branches in the bin. An insecticide like Carbaryl could also be used, but stay on top of this problem with white oil, and instead wait for the ladybirds to help you in summer.

Fruiting Fig Trees In Pots

By Dennis Ting

In the nursery a common question I am asked is what is a good fruit tree to grow in a pot that will also produce a useful yield.  While we have a good range of Dwarf Peaches and Nectarines (Trixzie), Apples (Ballerina) and Pinkabelle and Pear (Pipsqueak). I believe a forgotten fruit is the Fig Tree. 

Many people are afraid to plant fig trees in the ground due to the vigorous growth and massive size and a reputation for a vigorous root system.  Then at harvest time it is almost impossible to pick on a daily basis the ripening figs on the tall branches and beat the birds.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

By Sarah Naumoff 

I first heard about the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, when I attended the Australian Landscape Conference in September 2009. Stephanie Alexander was one of the many wonderful experts who spoke at the conference. 

Baring It All ..... by Wes Fleming

Our special guest blogger is Wes Fleming who will be speaking live down at Gardenworld on Sunday July 12th 2009 from 1.00 pm. More info

Bare root trees are simply that. Trees that are not placed in a pot and spoiled with lovely rich potting mix, but shaken from their growing paddocks and sent off to store with roots exposed.

Many people are concerned about the process of buying and planting these skeletal looking plants - so foreign without their little pots hugging their base, but they needn't be, bare root trees are in their prime with weather conditions ideal to plant and grow now.

Bare root season is also the ideal time to get the widest Fleming's selection of trees - making this another great reason to look for our bare root trees down at Gardenworld or in your local garden centre.

Here are a few simple steps to getting bare root trees planted and established in your garden.

Step 1: Pruning

At Fleming's we often hear of people that are fearful of pruning in case they get it wrong. The best thing to remember is that it's almost impossible to get it wrong. Pruning a bare root tree is easy and all you need is a good sharp pair secateurs.

We estimate that about 50% of the roots from bare root trees remain in the soil after they are removed from their original growing ground. So that means about 50% of the top part of the tree will need to be pruned to return balance to the tree.

Look for the central leader - that is the most dominant branch of the tree and usually follows the line of the trunk. Cut about half that branch off and follow suit with the rest of the branches of the tree.

Jaboticaba - also known as the Brazilian Tree Grape

Jaboticaba or Brazilian Tree Grape 

By Dennis Ting  Gardenworld Nursery

 

A Jabo... what??? you may ask or grapes that grow on trees???  Yes Jaboticaba is the common name for the plant "Myrciara cauliflora" which itself is no easier to say.  

But such a name is befitting of a plant that has some unusual characteristics and produces fruit that are truly delicious and not just merely edible.

Citrus Gall Wasp causes lumps in the lemon tree.

by Dennis Ting

It is common these days for people to come into the garden centre either describing or bringing in branches of Citrus trees (commonly lemons) which have thick knobbly sections or rounded bumps on them wondering what it is and how to treat it. 

The 60 Minutes 'Backyard Revolution' Story

Last Sunday on Channel Nine's 60 minutes program, vegetable growing went primetime. Yep, there was the ever energetic Peter Cundall harvesting potatoes in front of disbelieving Liz Hayes eyes (although some of his spuds were gigantic). The reporter then went on to inform us that people are digging up tennis courts and replacing them with vegie patches although I don't believe Leyton Hewitt has done this yet! However give Peter Cundall 5 minutes with him and I am sure he would love to get his hands this dirty.