Fruit in the Home Garden
Winter
Select and plant new bare-root trees including Plums,
Apricots, Apples, Nectarines, Peaches, and Pears, all of which do well in this
area. Commence pruning all the above in June/July, starting with plums which will be the earliest to flower at the end of July. With Apples and Pears, most do not have blossom until October. Clear away all dead leaves and the remains of fruit and spray with Lime Sulphur. Plant new raspberry canes. Tidy Passion fruit and Thornless Blackberries, tying the new stems to strong supports while removing dead wood. Remove all weeds and grass from the base of trees. Be
ready to provide support for citrus fruit if the branches are overloaded.
If the crop is heavy, it may be necessary to thin out the fruit or provide support so that branches are not broken by the excess weight. Watch for signs of scale and Black Mould and spray with White Oil if there is a need for treatment.
Complete planting of new Strawberry runners and give the Strawberry bed a good tidying. Apply fertiliser in August
Suggested fruit varieties for this area:
Plums: Satsuma, Mariposa (these two should be planted together as they cross pollinate to produce heavier crops). Santa Rosa is self fertile but improves if Mariposa is used as a pollinator. Frontier is another good variety.
Apricots: The old Moorpark is still a widely grown favourite, plus Trevatt, Hunter & Earlicot.
Nectarines: Goldmine, Arctic Rose and Anzac are all white fleshed and freestone. Flavortop is an excellent yellow fleshed freestone variety for eating, cooking, drying or bottling.
Peaches: Anzac is early maturing and freestone. Redhaven and Golden Queen are well proven favourites with the late season Golden Queen excellent for bottling.
Growing Citrus
Citrus varieties grow well in the Warragul & Drouin area. In fact they are probably the easiest and most rewarding of all fruit to grow.
Recomended Varieties:
Lemons: Lisbon, Eureka and Meyer
Oranges: Washington Navel, Valencia
Mandarins: Emperor, Imperial, Afourer (also known as Murcott)
Limes: Tahitian, Kaffir, Australian Limes.
Grapefruit: Marsh, Ruby.
Cumquats: Marumi, Ngami, Variegated
NOTE: Double grafted trees with two varieties can save space as can those grafted onto dwarf rootstock.
