For espalier training, the most suitable apple varieties are those which produce fruit on spurs - which is the short stubby clusters of tiny branches (as pictured below).

Family tree plantings are a selection of deciduous fruit trees planted very closely together, with all branches pruned to grow outwards.

Winter is our busiest time of year, with tree lifting, despatch, bagging/potting, seed sowing, rootstock harvest, benchgrafting, field grafting and planting.

Winter is a time of planting and housekeeping in the home orchard.

February and March are one of our key points in the production cycle of fruit trees, where the varieties are 'budded' onto the rootstocks (which were planted in the field…

With the cooler weather, soil temperatures start declining and moisture levels start increasing, making Autumn an excellent time of year to plant.

Fruit harvesting continues through March and April with a huge range of varieties and fruit types ripening.

As the harvests are finishing and leaves start changing colour, it will be time to start thinking about the Autumn tasks in your home orchard.

MULCH! With a super-El Nino weather pattern forecast for NZ this summer, mulching for moisture retention and root cooling is essential for Eastern regions in particular.

Give the gift that keeps giving this season, with fruit tree-themed Christmas presents.

It is a busy time at the nursery with lots of action across all aspects of the production process: Newly planted rootstocks are being fed and watered, and are looking fantastic.…

Strategic planting of certain varieties in your home orchard will allow early Summer harvesting. Loquats have a very short season in late November to early December.

A regular process of tying and trimming new growth on espaliered fruit trees is essential to manage size and form.

To keep deciduous fruit trees to an easily pickable height, pruning in Summer is recommended.

Waimea Nurseries recently teamed up with local landscaper Graham Smith from Garden Property Services and Green Waste to Zero, planting four fruit trees in every kindergarten from Nelson to Golden…

Spring and Summer are the high risk times for biosecurity incursions, with a higher volume of tourism and freight traffic, along with growth lifecycles of most bugs.

Bees are critical to our survival, with one mouthful in three and nearly ¾ of the diversity of our daily food is directly attributed to bee pollination.

As much as we want our fruit trees to be beautiful, highly productive and healthy with as little attention as possible, being proactive in Spring with disease prevention is well…

Winter is the traditional time for planting deciduous fruit trees, though this can easily continue through Spring as long as the trees are well watered through Summer.

Very few of us want to spray our fruit trees, but especially young fruit trees can be susceptible to pest and disease infections.

How to plant bare-root trees Most deciduous fruit trees are grown by nurseries in the field, being dug or lifted during dormancy (in Winter when the tree is not growing and…

We are just coming to the end of one of the main parts of the production process for our deciduous fruit trees.

Now is the best time to fertilize your fruit trees to get the best crops next season.

Perennial Paradise is a fusion of permaculture, sustainability, food forest and organic principals.

  Give your dinner guests a bottle of homemade tomato & chilli sauce to enjoy.