Kath's Edible Backyard

Joined:20/11/08 Updated:29/02/16 Frost:
Location: CAWONGLA

About My Edible Backyard

Comments

I love your edibles page- lots of excellent information, and you are a good photographer. Diana (Brisbane).

Kath your page is looking great keep it up.

Fruit Tree Forum Contributions

Fruit Tree Forum Likes

Kath's WISH LIST

Passionfruit - Select Black

Why Kath wants it: -

It is hard to go past a black passionfruit in terms of flavour and fullness of fruit.  I need to construct a trellis for the vine though.  I do have seedling black passionfruit growing wild in the bush but I have not seen them fruit - this may be because they don't get enough sun. 

Kakadu Plum

Why Kath wants it: -

I would like to try another one of these.  So far I have lost two, this was not the trees fault.

Papaya - Southern Red

Why Kath wants it: - I want to try another pawpaw but, but need a protected north facing spot for one.

Indian Almond Tree

Why Kath wants it: - Gorgeous tree, edible almond like kernal.

Star Anise

Why Kath wants it: - I love spices

Aniseed Myrtle

Panama Berry (Cutting) ^10/10

Comments: -  My favourite browsing tree. Fast growing, beautiful wide canopy makes it a great shade treefor warm frost free spots.

Fruiting Months January, February, March, April, May, December

Height 4 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 6 Years from purchase in pot

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Finger Lime - Ricks Red (Grafted) ^10/10

Comments: - The red browed finches nest in it dense sikey foliage every year. It is the native food source of the citrus butterflies, including the Dainty Swallowtail. Small frogs like the protection of the thorns as well.  Fabulously product tree, I have been picking fruits for months and selling them at the local farmers market.

Fruiting Months January, February, March, April, December

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

First Fruited: 0.6 Months from Purchase in Pot

Water Given in: Summer

Fertiliser or Organics Used: cow manure, compost

When I Fertilise: When Fruiting

Pest Control: suffers from scale

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Kumquat - Nagami (Grafted)

Comments: -

Growing beautifully, I have my first crop of kumquats this year and I can't wait for the sensational sweet and lively sour little fruits - yummy.  A gorgeous tree which is highly ornamental - the main problem I have is that it looks so beautiful in fruit I am reluctant to strip the tree of its bright orange fruit.

Planted: 2008

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Plum - Mult Grafted (Grafted)

Comments: -

Multi grafted plum, affectionatley called my Muti PLum for it mutant nature, rootstock Myrobolan, grafted with mariposa, regrafted with gulf gold and gulf ruby. Problamatic but interesting. Lesson in importance of thinning the fruit. Lost one of the grafts, not to worry grafted some of the broken bits onto new rootstock shoots - way to low, going to create new problem next year when the fruit hang on the ground.

The Chill Factor - end Aug/Sept 2010 - all the plums are flowering together, by early Sept. the Gulf Gold has set lots of fruit - but is still spot flowering.  The mariposa part of the tree is also flowering, what felt like a warm winter because the minimums were high was cooler because the maximums were lower - so the chill factor was higher!

I used mesh fruit fly exclusion bags on a couple of branches of the plums, the birds have been pecking at them today - so I picked the gulf ruby's.

Planted: 2004

Growing: In the Ground

First Fruited: 3 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Lime - Kaffir (Grafted)

Comments: -

My organic system is working well.  The ants are tending  and protecting the aphids and being fed by them, the lady beetle have come to feed on the aphids. My tree has bit of sooty mould but nothing that soapy water wouldn't wash off.

Planted: 2008

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Malabar Chestnut (Seedling) ^10/10

Comments: - I love this tree, related to the boabs it has a fat bum and gorgeous scented flowers that open at night.. The peeled raw seeds are a little like a cross between green peas and raw cashews, they are a little fiddly to get into but make a great snack.

Fruiting Months January

Planted: 2005

Height 1.5 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 4 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Dwarf Peach (Grafted) ^10/10

Comments: -

Gorgeous blossom show in the spring. This alone makes this one of my favourite trees in my orchard. Fruits ripen later in the season in the subtropics,susceptible to fruit fly but it is easy to net as it is only a small tree.

I planted a second seedling in 2012 which has deep pink flowers, I bought it in the spring when it was out in blossom.

2013 I lost all the fruit was knocked off in a hail storm

Planted: 2007

Height 1.2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Comments

Dwarf Lime - Tahitian (Grafted)

Comments: -

Slowly slowly has been this little dwarf lime, I am finally going to have some fruit to pick this year 2014, even if they are small because of the dry. I wish I had bought a tree on trifoliata as the dwarf is too slow.

Planted: 2008

Qty: 1

Pollination: Self Pollination

Pest Control:

get spray occasionally with pest oil, I need to give this tree more attention

Comments

Lemon Myrtle (Cutting)

Comments: - I have never seen so many beetles as I have in my flowering lemon myrtle

Orange - Arnold Blood (Grafted)

Comments: -

The birds love my Arnold blood oranges - I have to pick them early or  they will eat them all.

Fruiting Months July and August

Planted: 2006

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Passionfruit - Panama Red Pandora (Grafted)

Comments: -

First flowers and fruit set about 4 months after planting - fabulous.  High quality fruits with supurb flavour and brightly coloured flesh.  Delicious.

Planted: 2011

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Lemon - Eureka (Grafted)

Comments: - Grafted onto Sour orange. Massive fruit. This is a really productive tree that produces massive amounts of excellent quality fruits.  I have more than enough fruits to share with friends and neighbours.

Fruiting Months April, May, June, July, August, September

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Sapodilla - Krasuey (Grafted)

Comments: -

To tell when the fruit is ripe, scratch the surface of the skin, it if it green underneath it is not ready to pick.

November - flowering and small fruits are forming.

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Water Given in: Summer

Lychee - Salathiel (Cutting)

Comments: -

Slow, Feb 2012, my first lychee - the trick to beating the birds - eat them green.

Planted: 2006

Height 1.5 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Pollination: Self Pollination

Comments

Fruit bats are a greater problem than birds. You can't stop them with bird netting over the tree.

Hi Kath, did you weigh down the branches to obtain this open shape? Thanks!

Pomegranate - Rosavaya (Cutting)

Comments: -

A lovely plant that is growing really well with little -or rather no attention.

Beautiful red leaf flush of new growth in the spring, lights up the bottom of the orchard.

On fire in the afternoon sunset as the glowing tail end of the day lights up the new growth.  Gorgeous.

Tough spot in the orchard - lives in the shaddow of the weed wall! - But on the bright side at least the wattle shading it has gone.

Weeping foliage & gorgeous flowers make this a lovely plant to have in the orchard.

All flower dropped 2010, 2011, tried hand pollinating - crossing with a Wonderful.

Picked my first fruit February 2012 & made some delicious and beautifully colourde pomegranate dressing.

Planted: 2009

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Comments

Cork Oak (Seedling)

Comments: -

The Cork Oak - Quercus suber is not exactly edible but it a very useful plant for keeping wine in the bottle and it is used for flooring, platform shoes and other essential products.  In fact buying wine with a cork supports an ancient traditional industry of cork growing in Europe and north Africa.  I collected my  acorns in mid June 2010 from the impressive tree in Tenterfield, northern NSW which was planted in 1861 after being transported to Australia in a jam tin.  I planted the acorns straight away point down in forestry tubes, in July I noticed roots poking out the bottom of the tubes and by August the seedling oaks are all popping up.  The cork oak is an evergreen spreading tree with wiggly squiggly branches and gorgeous thick corky bark.  Now I just have to wait 150 years for my acorns to grow into impressive specimens, I can only hope someone in the future will get to enjoy these trees.

Planted: 2010

Height 0.05 metres

Growing: In a Pot

Pollination: Self Pollination

Persimmon - Astringent (Grafted)

Comments: -

Essential to feed, water and mulch as it breaks bud in the spring. This year 2008, my trees has grown two foot in a spurt. It is a beautiful tree. April 2010, unfortunatly I just dropped a tree onto my persimmon - whoops, serves me right for not cutting the wattle down when it was tiny, by the time I decide to fix the problem, it is 6-7 m high and smothered in vine.  The persimmon stood up pretty well considering, it has been pruned on one side as a result so is a little lopsided for the moment, at least it will get more sunshine.  Now I just have to keep the vine covered lantana hedge at bay.

Planted: 2006

Height 4 metres

Growing: In the Ground

First Fruited: 4 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Cape York Turmeric ^10/10

Comments: -

Gorgeous! Flower November

Planted: 2009

Height 50 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Pollination: Self Pollination

Jaboticaba (Seedling)

Comments: -

The Name Jaboticaba comes from the Tupi language. Jabuti - meaning tortoise and caba - meaning place. The place of the tortoise.

I have my first few flowers in 2010 - followed by my first crop - 1 fruit

2011 - my first reasonable crop

Planted: 2006

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 5 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Longan - Kohala (Marcot) (Cutting) ^10/10

Comments: -

This tree is finally getting a go on, it has done nothing for the past 2 years, and has a flush of new growth and looks fabulous at last. Slow to establish and much less vigorous than a seedling. 

The first crop in 2011 was delicious and the birds ignored the fruits.

Fruiting Months April and May

Planted: 2007

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Turmeric - Orange (Seedling) ^10/10

Comments: -

Beautiful flowers.

Fruiting Months April and October

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Fruit Harvest: 7 kilograms per Year

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

Organic Status:Certified

Question: my question goes here

Comments

i never realised how beautiful the Tumeric flower is. i am looking at your page as I live in Lismore and have just begun the fruit growing journey. Is tumeric easy to grow - I can't see myself using Tumeric however it would make an interesting addition to any garden - gorgeous.

Banana - Lady Finger ^10/10

Comments: -

This has given me as much if not more fruit than anything. Picked green to beat the birds the whole bunch ripens at once. Great to share.

Bunch after bunch after bunch.....

Height 4 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

Chinese Water Chestnut (Seedling) ^10/10

Comments: - I have them growing in three ninety litre bowls which they share with the tadpoles, frogs, water lilies, dragonflies,snails and leeches. Dwarf tree frogs love them. Harvest when the tops die down. Keep the pot topped up and provide an object for the young frogs to climb out on or they can drown.

Planted: 2006

Growing: In a Pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Bolwarra

Comments: - Bolwarra is scattered throughout the bush.  The flowers open for only a day and need to be polllinated by a small weevil.

Canistel (Grafted)

Comments: -

The tree is a little willywally which serves me right for saving unnamed rejected plants from junk shops.

November 2010, my first flower buds are forming up the stems, like little people doing yoga in the leaf axis.

Planted: 2007

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Green Sapote - Grafted (Grafted)

Comments: -

Flowering Nov/Dec 08

Flowering Nov 2010. 

Planted: 127

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Nectarine - Sunraycer (Grafted)

Comments: -

Home to the Wild May fruit fly trap. Attracts lots of honey bees and native sugarbag bees.  Beautiful pink spring blossom.  Fruits prolifically - I need to thin the fruit.  Although this will all be enjoyed by the stunning king parrots.  2010 I an trying mesh bags to protect the fruit from fruit fly and the birds.  Meanwhile the gorgeous King Parrots eat all the unbagged fruit - very green.

So far the mesh bags are working well, although the birds have been pecking at the plums, the nectarines are close to picking.

November 17th - I have just picked the best nectarine I have ever grown.

Fruiting Months October and November

Planted: 2002

Height 4 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pruned By: 1% in After Fruiting

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Spring

Pest Control:

Fruit fly control - wild may - set trap mid August.

Challenges -

Fruit fly. 

Gorgeous hungry king parrots.

Allspice

Comments: - My favourite tree, beautiful form and deliciously spicey leaves. I put a couple in the bottom of the cake tin when baking banana cakes.

Height 2 metres

Qty: 1

Cross Pollinator Variety: Trees are Male or Female

Cherry of Rio Grande

Comments: - Beautiful bark, like the native python tree. Tasty cherry like fruit, juicy and sweet with one seed.  The only problem is they do not set very heavily.  My crop so far this year (2010) is 5. Cross pollination may help but my second tree has not yet flowered. The fruit are delicious though.

Fruiting Months November

Planted: 2008

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Spring

Jakfruit - Tweed Crisp (Grafted)

Comments: -

I am a recent convert of the smelly fruit and I do like these trees and the fruits hanging in them are very impressive.

August 2010 - the cows ate my Jakfruit tree, might be time to eat the cows.............

.......reduced to one little bud.

Fingers crossed

Planted: 2009

Height 1 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Pollination: Self Pollination

Grumichama - Black (Seedling)

Planted: 2007

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Pollination: Self Pollination

Dwarf Mulberry - Black (Cutting)

Comments: - After the tree has finished cropping in the spring, cut 1/3 off it for a second crop in the autumn. There are no fig birds around in during the autumn crop to eat all the fruit.

Fruiting Months March, April, September, October

Planted: 127

Qty: 1

Comments

Fig - Sandpaper

Comments: -

Tasty little fruits.  A fabulous pioneer tree, great for creek banks and waterways.  The rough leaves were used by Indigenous people to finish off their wooden tools.

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Cinnamon Tree (Cutting) ^10/10

Comments: - Gorgeous, beautiful, stunning and delightfully aromatic.  All my experiments in making cinnamon stick have resulted in piles of scraps of bark.  I think I need a field trip to Sri Lanka, just ot be sure.

Planted: 2005

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Question: I have not worked out how to harvest my cinnamon yet, anyone out there with any tips?

Comments

Coppice ie allow to grow a few years then cut down to harvest and allow to reshoot similar to Tea (Camellia) and Linden (Tilia)

Try and get a copy of "The spice trail" a 3 pt video series I saw on SBS, goes into great detail on harvesting Cinnamon amongst other spices including Nutmeg and cloves, very interesting.

Dwarf Mulberry - Red Shahtoot (Grafted)

Comments: - Slow growing, replacement tree, first one did nothing, 2nd one growing well.  Delicious sweet long mulberries. 

Planted: 2008

Height 90 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 1 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer and Spring

Fertiliser or Organics Used: compost, cow manure and lucerne hay mulch.

When I Fertilise: When Fruiting

Comments

The white Shahtoot taste like sweet peas, ideally they need a slight touch of sub-acid to bring out more flavour, do these red's taste the same as the whites?

Finger Lime - Yellow

Comments: - Green/Yellow fingerlime, long, large, lime yellow fruits.

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Cherry of Rio Grande (Seedling)

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

Velvet Apple (Seedling)

Comments: - A winter planting, suffered from shock, dropped all its leaves for quite some time, has not yet florished, yet, it has it first flowers.

Planted: 127

Papayuelo (Seedling)

Comments: - male or female, I underestimated these little fruits, they are tangy, with hints of banana, pineapple and papaya. Those who love papaya will possibly be disappointed due to the size.

Fruiting Months November

Planted: 127

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 3

First Fruited: 2 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Water Given in: Summer

Cross Pollinator Variety: 1x M, 2x F

Fertiliser or Organics Used: compost and cow manure

When I Fertilise: When Fruiting

Wild Strawberry

Comments

Can you eat them?

Yes but they are very small and don't have much flavour.

Macadamia - H2 (Seedling)

Comments: - Bought for 25 cents from the Car Boot Market

Comments

Clematis glycinoides - Forest clematis

Comments: - Also called the headache vine. Lots of these in the bush, an attractive small vine.

Aspen - White

Peanut Tree

Comments

Cape Gooseberry

Comments: - Grows wild, mostly in cleared areas. A better weed than most, soft wooded, no thorns, edible fruit. I have to harvest them as soon as the crop starts before fruit fly get into them.

Comments

Papayuelo (Seedling)

Comments: - Female. I hand pollinate the flower, This tree has angular orange/yellow fruits.

Planted: 127

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Comments

Kwai Muk (Seedling)

Planted: 127

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Comments

Sugar Apple - Purple (Seedling)

Comments: -

Drops its leaves late, in winter. Flowers at a young age. Flowering Dec 08

I have my first crop of fruit, it has lots on it this year 2010.  I picked about 7 fruit and beat the birds.  I did leave a few too long on the tree and they split.  Tasty fruits - lots of seeds.

Fruiting Months May and June

Planted: 2007

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Comments

Dwarf Lemon - Meyer (Grafted)

Comments: -

Loaded in flowers, attracting lots of bees.

Planted: 127

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Comments

Pineapple - F180

Comments: -

Finally, some flowers.  Picked my first pineapple, July 2009.  I have replaced the blueberries with pineapples although the section of orchard is quite shadey.

Planted: 2009

Height 30 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Summer

Comments

Coconut - Wonga Beach (Seedling)

Comments: -

Now growing coconut number 2, Cardwell.  I added a wheel barrow of sand to the site and planted into a big mound to improve the drainage.

Coconuts don't like subtropical winters. Died winter 2011

Planted: 2010

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

Cedar Bay Cherry (Seedling)

Comments: -

Very slow growing. Flowers and fruits from an early age.

Unfortunately I had to kill my cedar bay cherry.  Myrtle rust had taken it over so it had to go.

Height 30 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 1 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Full Shade

Water Given in: Summer

Blueberry - Sunshine Blue (Cutting)

Comments: - From Chris - I lost this with all my other blueberries in the dry of 2009. 

Planted: 127

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Comments

Papayuelo

Comments: -

The first tree to fall over in the January 08 rains. A female, this turned out to be a good thing as I had two other female trees. I replaced it with a male tree and now have lots of fruit.

Ironically more than 18 months on this tree has not actually died, it is thriving in a non dying kind of a way in my well drained, slowly acumulating compost heap. 

And in 2010 my undead tree is fruiting - it is still in the compost heap and has to go, it is almost time for it to die again.  February 2011 I finally chopped it down, before it roots dug up the compost bins.

Carica sp. (Seedling)

Comments: -

Rootstock for babaco from Tropical Fruit World. Bulbous base. The fruits are small but really tasty, sweet, soft, apricot like and tiny.

Death by Rain, summer 2011, La Nina.

Height 30 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Pollination: Self Pollination

Blueberry, Mystery bush 2 (Cutting)

Comments: -

died in the dry season of 2009 when our dam dried up. 

Planted: 127

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Comments

paw paw (Seedling)

Comments: - I have killed a few pawpaws, the last one a southern red which had been going beautifully until it rained for a month. By week 2 the pawpaw was decidedy yellow, a sign there was a root problem. A week later it was dead.

Comments

Musk Okra - Abelmoschus moschatus (Seedling)

Comments: - I have a bad habit of planting anything that is free. It took 4 years for this to flower so I could find out that I didn;t really want it in my orchard. I ripped it out and replaced it with a Kwai Muk.

Comments