Fruit growing was the third perspective of the Ryton Organic Garden that I’m fascinated with. Seeing how they do things has made me realise how long the journey is to a decent fruit harvest. We’re going to have to be real patient if we’re to realise our fruit growing ambitions. But we’ve made a start and that is a satisfying thought.
It was tempting to pick some of the soft fruits and orchard bounty but I resisted. Instead I was content with taking lots of photographs to remind me of things we can do to protect out fruit crops and encourage good growth.
I’ve never been that successful in growing strawberries but I’m more inclined to give it a go this year. There were strawberries growing in the ground and also in containers so it proves there is no one way to success to a summer treat.
The thing that struck me most was the sheer variety of fruits being grown. If this can be done in England I’m sure we’ll be able to do more in New Zealand. I think we might need a greenhouse though if we’re going to try to grow peaches like these.
We have several plum trees so I’m looking forward to seeing this at home.
We know grapes grow over the hill in the Wairarapa but I think it might be a stretch to grow them where we live.
There is no doubt though that the orchard fruits were plentiful at Ryton and I’m most definitely looking forward to watching our orchard grow up. I’m tempted to grow some more fruit trees in the kitchen garden too wired up espalier style.
There is no doubt that my in-laws pulled a real surprise in taking me to this garden. It’s given my confidence a boost to implementing our growing plans for food and flowers. One of the things I promised myself I’d do whilst I was away was to start to map out the layout of my planting for Spring. No time so far to do this but with all the inspiring photographs from Ryton I do at least have a visual notebook that will help me when I get back.
We’ve had a wonderful weekend up in Yorkshire with the Mills family. I also did a few loops around the Huddersfield ring road trying to find my Brother’s place. Heaven knows how I’ll do finding a parking space in Leeds to hook up with the ladies from the north. Wish me luck.