Busy Bustling Winter

Winter is generally a great time to relax and enjoy all those preserves that have been bottled over summer/autumn. Also a great time for planting frost hardy plants as the plants will acclimatise to their new surroundings and be ready to spring into life when the days start to lengthen.

This year with the extra dry autumn we have all experienced we here in the incredible edibles® gardens will be busy planting to further extend and enhance our gardens. I have much planned for our garden with a lot of winter pruning and mulching, relocating some plants and increasing plants to ensure we have plenty of propagation material for the coming growing seasons.

Kiwifruit Pruning and Training

I receive many requests for pruning instructions on Kiwifruit be it the normal green kiwifruit or Cocktail Kiwi. With the help of a local Bay of Plenty expert (Sean Carnachan) I have put together a procedure to assist you with your kiwifruit vines. (Click here for in-depth procedure)

Sheryl's Comment

Winter is the time for orchard maintenance and deciduous trees make this slightly easier. Maintenance now can reduce the over-wintering sites for many pests and diseases. Simple garden hygiene will reduce and even eliminate some insect lifecycle stages - putting them on the back foot when spring arrives.

Pruning involves good shaping but even more importantly the cutting out, removal and burning of diseased wood, leaving only healthy, strong tissue for spring growth. Avoid pruning in the rain and don 't forget the pruning paste if there is an increased risk of disease transmission.

Remove and burn windfall logs and rake up, thoroughly compost (or mulch), the autumn leaves as these are brilliant over-wintering spots for many insect pests.

Another good idea is to tidy any hedging as winter-trimming will destroy many pests, increase ventilation, and therefore reduce disease and possibly frost risk.

Sheryl our Production Manager

Mr Frost on Orangeberry

Donna's Treat

WIN 2 X punnets of
Strawberry Temptation (8 plants)

Food of love - heart-shaped and red

Go into the draw for 2 punnets of Strawberry Temptation™ if you email me your favourite garden centre and location. Include your phone number.

Drawn 1/08/10 results in Spring Newsletter.

Congratulations to Faith Carlile the plant winner of the summer newsletter. Faith will collect her Persimmon Fuyu plant from Bunning's Naenae.

Donna, our
Despatch Manager
(aka Queenie)

New Release mid-June 2010

Strawberry Temptation™

New release from incredible edibles® brings you the first New Zealand bred day neutral Strawberry.

Day neutral means that it will flower regardless of how long or short the days are making this an ideal fruiter nationwide.

Strawberry Temptation™ is the culmination of many years of breeding by Plant & Food Research.

Medium sized bright red shiny fruit on a compact plant with excellent flavour and firm flesh. Expect a high yield consistently over a long fruiting period.

Click here to find out more.

Rich in vitamin B & C
High levels of
potassium, iron and fibre.

Breaking News: Orangeberry

Over the years I have received many questions from frustrated gardeners about their edible plant that does not bear fruit, takes over my garden and if you can not help me it is for the chop!!

We have listened to your complaints and came up with a few solutions; to encourage bees, go in a container encourages flowering earlier and do not feed.

None of these helped our gardening public so we asked 'Plant & Food Research ' (ex HortResearch) to see if they could find a solution.

We were told in the early days that this plant was self-fertile but alas 'Plant & Food Research ' have found out that it is not and orangeberry needs a pollinator.

From initial work it is either raspberry and/or blackberry. Since we were told this a few customers have told us their plants are fruiting and in the first year and they have a raspberry planted near by. Great news!

This research was undertaken by
incredible edibles® in conjunction with Plant & Food Research and the results were available late summer 2009. Due to the timing of these results we will repeat these this summer to prove them.

So do not be put off by this strong ground cover, plant it with a raspberry or blackberry for company and you will be rewarded with delicate orange berries in December.

Orangeberry is great on ugly banks creating an attractive green carpet cascading down, spilling over a container or ambling underneath a garden bed planting.

So do not be put off from planting this great plant-match it with a raspberry/blackberry and they will be happy ever after.

Fiona's Choice - Cranberries

Cranberry - Jumping Juice!

Juice made from this fruit will give you the Get-up & Go. Packed with anti-oxidants, vitamins A, C, E and K.

Attractive ground cover with strong purple autumn tonings and dark wine-red fruit. It's cold hardy, loves acidic and wet soils.

incredible edibles® grows two varieties:

• Bergman
• Crowley

Click here to find out more

Cranberry juice cranberry jelly

Fiona

Good source of
vitamin A, C and
other organic acids,
as well as trace elements.

Fruits to Harvest - June, July and August

• Avocado Fuerte
• Casimiroa Sue Belle, Te Puna Selection
• Citrus Cipo Orange, Sweetie, Zest, Meyer Lemon
• Guava Cherry Red and Yellow
• Inga Bean
• Japanese Raisin
• Tamarillo Bold Gold, Tango, Ted 's Red

... and the last of the

• Feijoas
• Casana
• Cape Gooseberry
• Naranjilla
• Olives
• Passionfruit
• Persimmon
• Pine nut
  

Sharing Recipes

Are you Feijoa out and still have fruit to harvest. Here are some recipes so you can enjoy feijoas all year round.

FEIJOA CHUTNEY

• 1.25kg feijoa pulp
• 500g onions, chopped
• 600ml vinegar
• 1kg brown sugar
• 1/2 packet mixed spice
• 625g apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 small 1/2tsp cayenne pepper

Put all together in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and boil for one hour and pour into sterilized jars. Seal.

BOTTLING

Use a 1 cup of sugar to 3 cups of water in a large saucepan. Heat up stirring until sugar is dissolved. Scoop feijoa pulp into liquid making sure covered the whole time. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not over cook; they will continue to cook once bottled.

Heat jars for 20 mins at 120°C. scoop fruit into jars and cover with liquid. Make sure there are no bubbles. Seal and store. Can be served with other fresh fruit, made into a cakes or pudding or served as a meat accompaniment.

TO FREEZE

Choose ripe fruit, peel and freeze cooked or uncooked. Need to be done as quickly as possible as they will brown in the air like apples. Can freeze instead of bottling as above.

TO DEHYDRATE

Peel the fruit and slice. Experiment with thin and thick slices and the length of time dehydrating. A delicious snack for the whole family. Mix with dried apples. Packed with fibre and nutrients.

Share your favourite recipe or gardening story with us. Email me on admin@edible.co.nz.

Feijoa chutney

Fragrant Feijoas

• Feijoas for all!
• Reliable fruiter
• Attractive evergreen shrub - use as a hedge, espalier or stand alone tree
• Great in the lunch box
• Ripening for autumn harvest
• Assisted by blackbirds and thrushes for pollination
• Nutrition, good levels of vitamin C - winter defence
• Trim to keep the tree open for bird access
   
• Fluffy bright red flowers are both edible and a pleasure at Christmas time
• Easy to grow and manage
• Icon of New Zealand
• Jam, chutney, juice, wine and cake but with a spoon is the best
• Olive like soft green foliage
• Aromatic, juicy, sweet succulent fruit

Autumn bounty