Welcome and thank you for joining me for the news this month! Last month was very busy at the nursery with many of you expanding - or starting - your home orchards and edible gardens. Popular with our customers have been mulberries, avocados, figs and finger limes.
It's such a joy to include trees and plants in the garden that are both attractive and productive and we've had some wonderful planting weather recently.
For those of you that follow us on social media you'd know that during October we celebrated National Persimmon month. We met lots of people at the nursery keen to add a persimmon (non astringent or astringent) to their garden. They really are a stunning tree with versatile and utterly delicious fruit; one of our family favourites.
Included in this newsletter is our 'Fruit Tree in the Spotlight', what we've been harvesting, additions to the range at the nursery, some fun facts about bees (one of our most important pollinators) - plus more!
Our Fruit Tree in the spotlight this month is the gorgeous grafted Sir Prize avocado tree.
The Sir Prize Avocado is a highly sought after variety with a large fruit and a small stone meaning lots of delicious creamy avocado flesh.
They are a Type B tree and the fruit is large, glossy green and pear-shaped. As the fruit ripens the skin changes colour to a very dark shiny aubergine / black.
Here's a heads-up about fruit trees we are adding to the range - they are not yet in stock but coming soon!
Dwarf subtropical Anna Apple, Subtropical Nashi pear, Curry Leaf trees, Lanes Late Navel Orange, Kiwiberries, Blueberries, Cinnamon Trees and Lychees - plus more.
If you would like to order any of these please email directly: hello@fruittreecottage.com.au
What we've been harvesting
We love to grow a wide range of fruit tree varieties, so there is always something in the garden to harvest and add to the fruit bowl. If you're looking for ideas as to how you could do the same you could browse our fruiting calendar in the resources section on our website.
This month we have been picking Finger Limes, Wurtz avocados, Reed avocados, Blueberries, Calamansi and Variegated Kumquats, Dwarf Red Shahtoot Mulberries and Black Mulberries, Afourer and Honey Murcott mandarins.
Bees
Did you know that bees have a wonderful sense of smell, navigate using the sun and do a waggle dance to convey directions to other worker bees about where to find the best pollen and nectar?
We love bees as extraordinary, hardworking creatures in their own right but also for their ability to help pollinate fruit trees and crops. Whilst figures differ somewhat between reports, most agree that between a third and a half of all the food that we eat is due to pollination from bees.
There are of course other important pollinators as well but none that also give us delicious honey! Did you know that there is evidence that humans have been keeping honey bees for more than 4000 years? Honey is prized in many societies and included in many traditional recipes.
Thank you to everyone that has been sharing updates and pictures of your beautiful fruit trees with their stunning new growth and fruit.
We've also received lots of pictures and happy messages from customers harvesting fruit and either eating it fresh from the tree or creating delicious drinks and dishes.
Our recent run of wet weather has created plenty of food for insects. As the weather warms you can expect that populations will start to rapidly expand. We reccomend keeping a close eye on your fruit trees checking them regularly for insect activity. Then choose the right product to tackle any problems. Keep a close eye on the soft new growth and also underneath leaves where insects like to hide.
The nursery is open to the public for browsing and to collect orders every Friday 8am - 12pm and Sunday 8am - 12pm.
Order collection
If you can't make it to the nursery between 8am - 12pm on a Friday or Sunday morning then please get in touch and we can arrange an appointment time that better suits. Alternatively, you could select our local Sunshine Coast home delivery service; delivery fee is calculated automatically at checkout.
We are happy to hold purchases here at the nursery for up to 28 days which may help keep a fruit tree gift a surprise - no matter what the occasion.
