The question really isn't about whether it will grow, it's more about whether it will produce - and if that produce has any resemblance to a 'normal' avocado. Just like the question I answered on planting apple seeds you want to know that your effort is going to be rewarded.

Well, can I start off by saying that if you want to grow an avocado tree from its seed you will need the 'patience of Job' to see it through to completion. This is no overnight process and Voila! you're eating your own avocados next season. No, this process takes years and years so don't plant it in the ground if you're planning on moving within the next 5-10.

Germinating an Avocado Seed

The first step in the process is to get the seed to germinate. The best way to do this is to suspend the seed, using a few toothpicks dug into the sides, above a glass of water. The base of the seed needs to be resting in the water so this will require refilling during the process. Then, leave the suspended seed on a window sill or in a cold frame where it will be kept warm by the sunlight.

Eventually the seed will crack open and new sprouts will emerge and roots will begin to feed into the water. This can take anywhere between 3-6 months depending upon the amount of sunlight the seed receives and whether you've been disciplined in keeping the water level up to the base of the pip.

Once the sprouts and roots emerge, it's time to begin planting.

Planting an Avocado Seed

The next step is to get the seed into some growing medium. A mix of one-third compost, one-third vermiculite and one-third river sand would be ideal to start your propagated avocado. In the centre of the pot, make a small hole where you can plant just the roots and bottom base of the seed. Then back-fill and shake any air bubbles out the mix before lightly watering.

This new plant will then need to go into a location where it can receive at least 6-8 hours of sunlight every day. A small greenhouse (aff.) is ideal but if this isn't a possibility then the edge of a sheltered porch or patio may be a great option.

Once it has grown about a metre tall it will then be ready to start transplanting.

Transplanting Your Avocado Plant

As I mentioned earlier, if you're planning to move from your current residence in the next 5-10 years then planting this in the ground will be a waste of time. You're probably far better off to transplant it into a large mobile pot that you can take with you.

Prepare the pot with a good draining potting mix and place the avocado plant into the middle keeping the top of the avocado soil level with the height of the new pot. At this point, add a stake before backfilling and tie the plant securely to it. You may even want to tie some hessian cloth around the pot to protect the plant from the elements.

If you do decide to plant your avocado in the ground then dig a hole twice as wide as the current root-ball and twice as deep. Add some well-rotted compost into the hole and plant the avocado on top. Stake it as mentioned before and then backfill the hole. Water deeply to remove any air-pockets and to help the plant deal with the transplant shock.

Finally, in both cases - pot or ground - I would add some bonemeal fertiliser and then mulch with lucerne hay.

Enjoying the fruits of your labour

Now, while your avocado tree may grow quite quickly once you've transplanted it out it won't produce any fruit for possibly the first 7 years of its life - hence the 'patience of Job' required. Most growers usually become disenchanted with their trees long before this and either remove them or just ignore them. But, if you're willing to wait the time they will eventually produce the most amazing avocado fruits and will continue to do so for years to come.

If you've decided that this process is too long and you want to buy an already established tree then make sure you ask the nursery owner how long the trees have been growing for. If not, you may end up only missing the first two steps in the process and still have years before you get to enjoy any fruit.

All the best.

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The fruit, shaped the size of a grape with bright red skin carries a rather large pip for its size - think avocado or mango here. Within 24 hours of picking it begins to deteriorate and turn brown, not that this changes any of its effects, it just doesn't look as appetising.

So what's so miraculous about Miracle Fruit? It's active protein dubbed 'miraculin' has the ability to turn everything sour to sweet. Within an hour of eating the fruit, the protein activates the 'sweet-receptors' of the consumers tongue and makes everything taste like a desert.

People have consumed bitter limes after eating the miracle fruit as though they were lollies. Tart Kiwi's, citric acid, hoppy beers and tannin-laden wine all become incredibly sweet.

As a novelty, this fruit seems incredible but when you think of the benefits this fruit's qualities could bring to diabetics, dieters and even our own eating habits we must surely acknowledge that this fruit is truly miraculous.

For us gardeners, the good news is that not only are they becoming more wide spread as fruit but propagated material is also increasing. It's quite probable that you could be growing one of these in your own backyard - providing your climate doesn't suffer frosts. Apart from this, they seem to be very compatible with most climates and will fruit within a year or two.

Sources:
The Old Sweet Lime Trick
To make Lemons into Lemonade

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So it was with fond memories that I purchased our own guava tree and planted it in the backyard. This feijoa, a member of the Myrtaceae family and a resident tropical fruit, was perfectly suited to our garden. The climate, the soil, the annual rainfall - all good.

And so it was with sheer anticipation that I watched the buds expand, burst open, then flower, then die - and heartbreakingly drop off. What went wrong? Had I not watered them enough? Was there something wrong with the soil?

Alas, I tried a myriad of possible solutions attempting to keep the remaining blooms from falling, yet they continued to do so. Not one of them set and my dreams of once again tasting this luscious fruit dissipated like fog on a warm day. Disappointment was an understatement.

I expressed my despair with a friend who was boasting about their bountiful harvest from their pineapple guavas to which I received the reply - "You know you need 2 to cross-pollinate don't you?" Two? Well of course I knew that - I do have my own gardening blog, you know! Feeling like a 'goose' was an understatement.

In my haste to enjoy this fruit I hadn't bothered to research the plant and had just whisked it out of the container and into the ground without bothering to read the labels. Duh!

Yet now I'm faced with a dilemma. Guava trees are not small. They max out about 5m high and have a fairly similar spread and resemble a shrub more than a tree. Even planting ONE in our garden was a stretch on resources and space but TWO? Mmmm...

So now I'm faced with a dilemma. Do I rip out something else to make way for a second plant? Or, should I remove this one and replace it with a self-fertile cultivar like Apollo or an Edenvale Late? Perhaps I could just keep it as specimen plant and enjoy the flowers.

I'm thinking the second option will win out. This is too big a plant to keep as an ornamental unless, of course, you had some acreage and space wasn't an issue.

I'll keep you updated with the outcome.

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But growing tomatoes to maturity uninhibited by disease, nutrient deficiency or free from pests is a challenge worthy of commendation. Which is why most tomato farmers pour oodles of pesticides over these endearing fruit.

However, pests weren't my problem this year. No, this year it was time to learn about blossom-end rot a fungal disease that eats away at the bottom of each fruit scarring them as if their bottoms had been seared on a hot plate. Much like this;

My limited understanding of blossom-end rot led me to assume that this was merely a problem caused during the initial fruit development stage. That is, each tomato seemed to be restricted as it grew by rubbing on something like the plant stem, the side of the container, or even the stake supporting it. Alas, this is not the cause.

In fact, the problem of blossom-end rot in solanaceous vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums is due to a lack of calcium in the soil. Tomatoes need a large amount of calcium to ensure proper growth and when the demand exceeds supply blossom-end rot sets in.

The main reasons for calcium deficiency are;

• Not enough water (or inconsistent watering)
• Too much nitrogen (or the wrong nitrogen source)
• Alkaline or very acidic soil

Watering Problems

This year I decided to grow my tomatoes in a container which is far different to growing in soil. One of the problems of growing anything in containers is they have a tendency to dry out faster than soil does. Therefore, my plants went from 'feast to famine' in their watering schedule as I struggled to find a balance between their needs and my time constraints.

Next season, I will try them again in containers but will attach them to the main reticulation line.

Wrong Nitrogen Source

Tomatoes need a nitrate nitrogen source as opposed to any Ammonia based nitrogen. Unaware I religiously fed my plants every two-weeks with a foliar fish emulsion inadvertently adding to my blossom-end rot woes. Instead I should have been feeding my tomatoes with animal manures, especially poultry which is high in nitrate nitrogen and very efficient on a weight basis.

Deprived soil

Tomatoes prefer a slightly acidic soil - possibly 6.5pH. My soil was bagged potting mix bought from the cheaper end of the market with the intent to bolster its gumption with some homemade compost. The compost never made its way into this mix, hence the blossom-end rot problems.

I should have definitely added the compost - or bought superior quality potting mix - and even added some lime to it. This would have enabled the soil to readily adapt to the demanding needs of the tomato crop and calcium wouldn't have been an issue.

Conclusion

We live and learn and as this was the first time I'd ever grown tomatoes in containers or even fed them with a fish emulsion, it wasn't too hard a lesson to cope with. As they say, "There's always next year!" (Carlton supporters say that, anyway).

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Taste good? And now you want to grow your own apple tree from the seeds, right?

It's certainly possible. Believe it or not, apple trees originally come from seed germination. However, the commercially grown ones we enjoy today are probably more a product of engineering than germinating from seed.

See, the problem with growing apples from pips is that you're never sure what you are going to get. You could be enjoying a gorgeous Red Delicious and then decide to germinate the seeds only to find that the result is less sweet, less red and perhaps even less delicious.

On the bright side though, God could have blessed you with a brand new variety that becomes the 'Apple of the Century' with commercial growers clamouring for the patent rights. However, chances are small that this will happen.

How are apple trees grown?

Apple trees are perpetuated predominantly by grafting. New rootstock is embedded with a scion of the preferred cultivar and the tree grows and produces from this point forward. This method of propagation almost always results in the same apple grown.

The rootstock which is produced by apple seed germination is really just a dumb host. It can't produce anything apart from what has been grafted on to it. Occasionally it will send up a few suckers but if you were to grow these - keeping the roots intact - you would produce a very different apple that bears little resemblance to the grafted variety.

So, you still want to germinate your own apple seeds

Sure. Let's give it a try.

Once you've finished chewing the core of your delicious apple, extract the seeds and leave to dry in a cool place until it the exterior is devoid of any moisture.

Then, place each one into a seedling tray and bury in some well-draining potting mix to about 10mm (1/2 in) deep. Cover or place the tray into a cold frame and leave until the seeds begin to germinate and sprout.

Once the seedlings have two or more leaf levels they can be potted out individually into bigger containers where they can continue to grow until they're ready to go in the ground.

Keep in mind that it usually takes 2-3 years for a nursery bought apple tree to produce fruit. So, plan to not see any results for at least 6+ years from an apple tree that's been propagated by seed.

Where can I buy apple seeds

Did you just miss the rest of the article? You can't. And if someone is selling you apple seeds and guaranteeing the result then make an appointment with your lawyer now.

This doesn't mean that you can't buy antique or heirloom apple cultivars. It just means that you can't buy them as seed.

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If you're wondering what to do with all those tomatoes that are ripening quicker than a bride's cheeks on her wedding night then you might find this guest post that I wrote about sun-drying tomatoes at Tomato Casual, helpful.

Drying tomatoes is the most satisfying way of storing this abundant fruit and it's so respected as a gourmet delicacy. After writing the article, I noticed that Colleen had also written her own post on drying these gorgeous fruits. Colleen's tips are very helpful for those who don't get copious amounts of sun and don't want to risk losing their produce.

If you've never tried drying your own, then there's no time like the present to start.

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John Lennon dreamed about fields of them - and can you blame him?

Arguably the most delectable fruit known to home gardeners is surprisingly one of the easiest to grow as well. Though I'm still unsure as to why I nurture my strawberry plants because either their fruit shrivels and disappears upon ripening or my children are feasting at my expense. I'm tending toward the latter.

Nevermind, at least someone is benefiting from these wonderful fruits.

I've always grown strawberries, experimenting with different varieties and techniques hoping to achieve better results each year. And bit by bit my success is slowly improving. Yet I find my biggest distraction is comparing my yields to those in the local supermarket. I've had to console myself that unless I give my strawberries the attention and "cotton-wool" treatment they receive from professional strawberry growers, they will always look second-class.

But that's okay. They taste better than those bought from the shop.

So what have I learned about growing my own strawberries?

1. Insects love them. Especially the two-legged variety who fight over the TV Channel and dirty the bathroom.

   Aphids and Slater beetles are also particularly notorious and while most advise using some sort of chemical repellent or spraying your fruit, I've found that by keeping them up off the ground in a container or hanging pot can almost halt most infestations.

2. Keeping strawberries from coming in contact with the soil has the added bonus that they're given more space for airflow. This way they ripen more evenly.
3. After 2-3 years strawberry plants slow down in production so it's time to start again with some new runners. Accept this as a positive option to try some new varieties.
4. Allowing too many runners to be produced is bordering on 'evil'. Firstly, it means that the strawberry plant is putting all its energy into producing these rather than yielding fruit. Second, if too many runners are allowed to grow in the same bed it restricts the availability of nutrients and crowds the plants ability to grow.
5. If you have to grow them in the ground, mound the soil and cover with some gauze matting. Don't use black plastic unless you live in a cold climate and you want the soil to heat up otherwise it will become unbearable for your strawberries and they will struggle.
6. When planting strawberries, always leave the crown just above the surface otherwise the plant will rot.

Finding a variety that will grow in your garden is as easy as finding a neighbour who is keen to let you dig up a young runner.

There are also usually a few varieties available from your nursery at the start of spring.

Do you have any preferred varietals? Any tips that I didn't mention here? Share your thoughts in the comments below...

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If you've been following the health industry with any interest you would have noticed a product called Himalayan Goji juice being touted as the next big thing in health food supplements. We've seen it all before with mangosteens, acai and even hoodia gordonii and I'm sure goji berries won't be the last.

Each of these so-called 'incredible health supplements' have surpassed each other making mangosteen and acai juice so yesterday! But, for the time being goji berries are the flavour of the month which entitles manufacturers of goji juice to charge a truckload for their products - apparently.

So, I'm not about to argue whether the hype is real or not but for those who are convinced it's the health supplement of the century, let me show you how to grow goji berries.

History of goji berries

Before you race out and buy some goji seed it may pay to read up on it's preferred climate and history.

Firstly, as most overzealous marketers would want you to believe that goji berries are grown in the Tibetan Himalayas according to this report at least, it's most probably not the case. It is far more likely that goji berries come from Lycium barbarum a plant native to China.

Having grown well in the UK since 1730 and now being tested by home gardeners in the US there's reason to believe that goji berries could survive many of our gardens.

Goji berries are not keen on tropical climates but are able to stave off frosts in cold climate gardens.

How to grow goji berries

While many nurseries are now stocking goji plants the easiest, and by far the cheapest, way to start a goji is by planting from seed. If dried goji berries are available in your area then its possible to remove the seeds and germinate as you normally would for any seed propagation.

Once the seedlings have produced 3-4 leaves repot them and continue growing in containers until they are at least 15-20cm tall. When they reach this height they can easily be transplanted to their garden position in late autumn or early spring.

A good dose of slow-release fertiliser around their drip line in spring will help them with fruit set and encourage strong root growth.

How long do goji berries take to mature?

Lycium barbarum will set its flowers in summer to early autumn and the berries will mature by the end of autumn and into early winter. The goji berries start off green and ripen to a dark red and look similar in shape to tamarillos.

Are goji berries edible?

Of course, however they are not usually eaten fresh but are either cooked or dried. They are used extensively in Chinese cooking flavouring rice and wet dishes. However, they can be eaten dried and apparently are similar in taste to a dried tomato with the texture of a raisin.

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Peter from Backyard Organic Farming has recently started cultivating dragon fruit cactus - you know, the fruit that Andrea thought mirrored David Bowie's hairstyle.

These tree-like cacti, Hylocereus undatus, produce the most amazing fruit commonly referred to as dragon fruit. Admittedly, I have never tasted one but they are touted as the new fruit of the gods - maybe the gods were getting bored with sapotes and could no longer endure the smell of durian!

Greenhouse Girl has a great wrap-up post on how to grow these awesome fruit trees. They can even be propagated from seed!

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For some time I've kept a cherry tree in a tree bag waiting for some construction to be completed so that I could plant it. Some of you may remember the day I did finally plant it out and what a relief it was.

Our climate is a little too warm to grow cherries normally so every time my cherry tree would blossom it would never result in producing fruit. The tiny flowers would just wither and die.

Well...I'm here to show you my very first cherry...

Actually, I wish that was how my first cherry looked. Here's the real un-Photoshopped version

Something else had already found my cherry even though I had been watching it ripen for days. Needless to say I was a little less than happy....Trying to be organic has nobs on it!

This cherry tree was a present from my sister nearly 4 years ago and this is the first season that it's been in the ground. Unfortunately it was the only blossom that continued to mature but I'm optimistic - at least it produced one!

So, I shall feed it again with some good fertiliser, continue to mulch it with a feeding mulch and make sure it gets watered well over the summer growing season. Hopefully next year will be even more productive.

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One of the most exotic - and in my humble opinion the most delicious - fruits available is the mango. Its fleshy pulp wraps itself around a ginormous hairy pip that challenges you to suck it dry. This of course then becomes a challenge to keep those fine hairs out from between your teeth.

If you have ever experienced the delight of eating a mango you will understand the description. Not a fruit to be digested in front of a potential spouse - certainly not on your first date anyway - the mango has no close cousins. If you tried explaining it to someone who had never seen or heard of this fruit the nearest example would be a ripe peach crossed with an avocado.

But of course, like most things in life, all good things must come to an end. However, with a mango the end is just the beginning.

The hairy pip that gave your teeth a natural flossing is the seed for a brand new mango tree.

How to Grow a Mango Tree

Step 1

Let the seed dry out in a cool location. I find that a bench in the kitchen on top of some paper towel is probably the best place.

Step 2

With a sharp knife open the pip as you would a mussel or an oyster taking care not to cut too deep into the flesh. Prise the casing open and you will find a white, fleshy pip inside that resembles an oversized lima bean.

Step 3

Place the mango pip vertically into a pot that has been prepared with a good seed-raising mix. Dampen the soil and then place a plastic bottle over top to act as a mini-greenhouse.

Leave in a warm shaded spot until the pip germinates.

Step 4

Once the mango pip has germinated it will begin to produce a few leaves at the top of its green stalk. This is the sign that it is growing well and a mango tree is not that far away.

At this point you can remove the plastic bottle provided you have somewhere warm to store it.

Mango trees originate and grow well as a tropical fruit tree so if you plan to grow them out of the tropics you may want to keep them as a container plant. This may be helpful as a mango tree can grow up to 40m making fruit picking an arduous task.

The benefit of keeping a mango tree in a container is that you can move it indoors or into a greenhouse during winter and bring it out again in the summer months. It will take approximately 5 years to reap any fruit from your mango tree but if planted in the ground a mature 20+ year old tree will produce thousands of fruits per annum.

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My variegated Nagami Kumquat is a happy little plant at the moment producing a flourish of citrus blooms. It's spring and after a light tip prune in winter, mainly for shape, and a dash of slow-release fertiliser at the same time, this kumquat should go on to bear masses of fruit in Autumn.

I have two kumquat trees both kept in containers. This has kept their size to a minimum only growing to about 1.5m (4.9ft) while kumquats planted in the soil can grow to 3.5m (11.5ft) and prefer full sun and a sheltered position.

Kumquat trees originate from China and grow well in moist coastal areas and also tropical regions that have milder winters. Our gardening zone would fit the moist coastal descriptor and our kumquats seem to enjoy this climate.

The thing I like about our kumquats is that while they're not the only citrus we grow (we also have a Tahitian Lime and a Eureka Lemon) they seem to be the tree with the least problems. My other citrus have struggled in the poor sandy soil we have here and are only now coming good after constant feeding and mulching.

My parents inherited a kumquat tree when they bought a house during my early teens. We'd never seen one prior and apart from using the fruit as childish projectiles, my mother would make a great kumquat marmalade from them every season. She also would pack them into jars and then cover with brandy leaving them to infuse for a few months. The results were incredible and after a few, especially at my tender age, would make one feel a little tipsy. Great as a winter warmer.

There are quite a few varieties including our nagami, the meiwa and the marumi. The nagami is the the most tart but still edible straight from the tree while the marumi has a soft sweet rind. Kumquat fruit doesn't need peeling to be eaten and apart from the pips are a perfect finger sized citrus.

If you're interested in making some kumquat marmalade here are a bunch of recipes.

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HortResearch, a New Zealand fruit science company, unveiled a brand new apple that gives a new dimension to the "Red Apple". Not only is its skin red but also when you cut it open, so is the flesh all the way to the core. It derives its red flesh from a high concentration of anthocyanin - a healthy antioxidant.

However, while this news is already a month old you may be waiting up to 6 years before you could buy a tree to plant. This may seem a long time but in the world of breeding fruit trees this is ground-breaking fast. Without current technologies we may have had to wait decades before ever seeing the fruit in the corner grocer's store.

The fruit has not been genetically modified but rather genomically bred. The difference is that genetic modification is the artificial manipulation of genes while genomic science records and breeds fruit with like genetic makeup. In its simplest form you could take a yellow-fleshed potato and cross it with a purple skinned potato to create a new purple-skinned, yellow fleshed potato - if only it were that simple.

This isn't HortResearch's first new fruit in the market either. This company was also responsible for the yellow-fleshed kiwi fruit we know colloquially as Kiwi Gold and they have big plans for many other radically new fruit to emerge into the marketplace in the ensuing years.

Keep an eye out for this one though.

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If there was ever a growth industry in the 21st century alternative medicines would be it. There seems to be a plant discovered almost every other week claiming to cure people from bunions to heartburn, chronic fatigue and even arthritis. So what is it about Mangosteens that gets people all excited?

This little known fruit originated in South East Asia where it is known as the 'Queen' of all tropical fruits (Apparently Durian is the 'King' - but that's another post for another day). The fruit grows on a slow-growing tree Garcinia mangostana which usually doesn't fruit for the first 10 years. It's a tropical plant so enjoys a humid climate and can grow up to 25m in perfect conditions.

Growing a mangosteen tree outside of the tropics is almost impossible as they cannot tolerate temperatures below 4C(40F) or greater than 37C(100F).

Continue reading "Mangosteen fruit juice - Why the hype?" »

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Summer certainly has its benefits. The days are hot but the evenings are still warm. Plants are still flowering and the lawns are looking green, really green. But the biggest benefit of all is enjoying the fruits of your labour and this time of year stone fruits are in big supply.

Peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, loquats and cherries. Left alone to ripen on the tree the sugars concentrate and give a sweeter, maturer flavour. They also retain more moisture and hence their flesh becomes juicier. Shop bought stone fruits are usually picked well before they're ripened and brought to maturity unnaturally leaving the fruit tasteless and sometimes quite sour.

While most people prefer not to grow their own due to lack of space or perhaps the abundant yields you're likely to get, there is a great alternative. Many nurseries now sell grafted stock which means you could have a peach, nectarine and plum all on the same tree. Or if you only like peaches you could get a grafted plant that has 2 or more different varieties growing on it. Another alternative is to have a grafted plant that spreads the fruiting season so rather than dealing with an abundance for a short period one variety begins fruiting as another finishes.

These are great spacesavers and obviously limit the yield you're likely to deal with. It's also possible to grow them in a pot although they will need to be repotted every couple of years.

There's really no excuse for not having some variety of stone fruit in your garden and you're the one that will benefit from having them.

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