Growing fruit trees in Auckland

rtfm 10/29/2024, 3:53 pm

Hi,
I have just moved back into our family home after having been abroad for the past 15 years. Unfortunately, the hedge I planted alongside the driveway was never trimmed, and now (even after significant top-trimming) is five metres tall! So I got a few quotations to have the trees completely removed, stump ground and to have the entire mini-forest chipped. And the cost was surprisingly do-able. So the plan is to remove the trees, use the chips in the garden and compost bins and to plant a row of espelier'd fruit trees on the border instead.

So, my question is: what advice would you offer a new gardener when it comes to planing fruit trees? Planting prep? Soil mix?

OhioGardener 10/30/2024, 8:16 am

rtfm wrote:So, my question is: what advice would you offer a new gardener when it comes to planing fruit trees? Planting prep? Soil mix?

Planting/growing fruit trees is beyond the scope of Square Foot Gardening, and you will probably find much more and better information on a forum site dedicated to fruit trees. A quick google search found this site with good information on this subject:

How to plant fruit trees in your New Zealand backyard

rtfm 10/30/2024, 4:26 pm

Your link was really good. I thought that the non-SFG section of this forum (which has posts on growing fruit trees) might be a lucritive source of advice. But your link is very helpful. Thank you.

markqz 10/30/2024, 8:21 pm

My SFG-related advice would be to be sure to plant them far away from your SFG boxes! The roots will try to tap into the SFG for water, the shade will deprive your veggies of light, and the leaves will give you something else to clean out of the box. Ok, I'm not sure about the roots of fruit trees (because all roots look alike), but definitely tree roots will want to invade.

rtfm 10/31/2024, 2:57 am

Thanks for the heads-up mate. Fortunately, the trees will line the driveway, very far from the back yard beds.

BTW - what is the max size of photos which can be attached to a post? It seems that even small photos result in a "Post is too large" error.

markqz 10/31/2024, 10:56 am

rtfm wrote:BTW - what is the max size of photos which can be attached to a post? It seems that even small photos result in a "Post is too large" error.

I don't know what the max. size is, but I almost always resize to a max. dimension of 480 pixels. This is enough resolution for most things, and helps the page load faster. It reduces data load for people with limited accounts or viewing from a phone or tablet.

rtfm 10/31/2024, 3:12 pm

Thanks mate. I'll give that a go.

rtfm 10/31/2024, 3:21 pm

OK, I've reduced my photo to 384 x 253 pixels. Post is still too long...

The JPG format file is only 66mb - that's tiny. Is there a restriction with respect to new members posting photos?

rtfm 10/31/2024, 3:30 pm

Growing fruit trees in Auckland Sample10

Just discovered that one can't copy/paste images into the editor - even though it accvepts the image. A little weird to have to use the "Host an Image" button, but no biggie.

OhioGardener 10/31/2024, 3:54 pm

rtfm wrote:OK, I've reduced my photo to 384 x 253 pixels. Post is still too long...

The JPG format file is only 66mb - that's tiny. Is there a restriction with respect to new members posting photos?

If there is a block on uploading images, it should indicate that when you attempt the procedure.

66Mb is not small for a jpg image. I just checked one of the recent pictures I uploaded - it is 1800x1200 @300 pixels/inch, and it is 5.1Mb. I then resized it 384x256 @300, and it saved as 237.5Kb.

How are you attempting upload pictures? Are you clicking on the "Host and Image" button:

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Then clicking on the "Select Files" button:

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Then clicking on the "Send the Image..." icon:

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And, finally, clicking on the "Insert the Image..." icon

Growing fruit trees in Auckland Screen31

Note: All of these images are less than 100Kb each.

OhioGardener 10/31/2024, 3:57 pm

You may wish to reduce the size of your avatar to that it does not block part of the message for some viewers.

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rtfm 10/31/2024, 4:21 pm

Oops - my bad - 66KB, not MB

Yes, I've discovered the "Host photo" button - issue resolved. Most other forums simply allow copy/paste - but that's no problem.

Also, avatar size reduced. Thanks for that.

OhioGardener 10/31/2024, 4:23 pm

rtfm wrote:Also, avatar size reduced. Thanks for that.

Thanks! Looks nice!

Growing fruit trees in Auckland Screen33

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Growing fruit trees in Auckland

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Re: Growing fruit trees in Auckland

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Of trees and roots...

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Photo size advice

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The hedge which has to go...

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Re: Growing fruit trees in Auckland


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