Gender
Male
About
Location
Auckland
Birthday:
August 30
Suburb
Devonport
I can offer
Gardening advice, Garden watering, Poultry sitting, Lead a workshop
Food Growing Skill Level
Confident
Experience and Qualifications
Lots of years in the garden
I am interested in...
Buying Local Food, Bartering Local Food, Community Gardens, Learning, Helping Others, Seed Savers
Tell us about your garden and what you're growing
I have a large garden crammed full of food-bearing plants including peaches, plums, apples, grapes, mulberry, brambles, citrus, babaco, banana and all the usual seasonal suspects on the vegetable front. I’m also interested in testing the limits of my local climate by trying new and improbable things such as jack fruit, pistachio nuts, capers, and more. I also have 3 fat hens who pay their way with an abundance of eggs and compost. Next summer, bees!
Comments
I’ve been growing capers for around 8 years now, from fresh seeds collected in Italy. They are very hard to grow from old seed, which enters an almost unbreakable dormancy. I find them to be incredibly tough plants. The best approach is to treat them like cacti- plenty of water in summer, very little in winter and full sun all the time. My plants flower quite freely and form fruit every year. I too was initially nervous about re-potting but have never had a loss this way. Just be careful, don’t tease out the roots too much and use free draining potting mix- preferably cacti mix. To be honest transplanting lettuces is harder!