Trouble with the blog

This month has been busy both in the garden and general.  I’ve had trouble with the blog and this is third time lucky trying to record my garden happenings and to get it published.  It has led me to writing in word and keeping a separate record so I am not wasting time writing the same thing over and over.

My early apple Discovery has been picked; only a few apples and every one of them was damaged – mainly cracking, caused by water and weather fluctuations.  It is not in the best place but is a disappointing apple and I wouldn’t plant one again in this climate.  The year it did best was a very dry year so it might be better suited to a much warmer and drier climate.

Discovery apple - this one was damaged too!

The plum harvest was also meagre.  This is a red fleshed plum of an unknown variety grown from a cutting from my friend Kay.  It fruits a little erratically due to frost at blossom time and a lack of pollinator insects.  We had one year when we had buckets, but this season I only put five kilograms of stewed plums in the freezer.  The birds did have a big feast before I picked them – eating them before they were ripe.  The other established plum Purple King did not set any fruit this year.  I put in Elephant Heart plum two years ago but it is not growing terribly well.  I bought it in a pot but discovered when I got it home that it had only recently been potted and had all its roots chopped.  It is a recommended variety to pair with Purple King.

The Tidy gardener and I went on a day trip to Wanaka and called into Blue Mountain Nursery at Tapanui to look for climbers.  Th plan being these to climb and soften the new paved area, with posts that link the garage to the back of the house.  I originally  though I could plant two climbers per post to extend the seasonal interest.  I was persuaded to just have one and settled on two varieties of Parthenocissus.  P. himalayana is nearer the old septic tank (before our time and no longer in use).  I thought if the name is anything to go by this might need a little slowing down.  P. henryana is nearer the garage.  We also bought an eating grape Black Hamburg to grow at the north end of the deck and hope it will eventually find its way under the roof to ward the frost off the flowers.  Time will tell if this will fruit.