Garlic and blackcurrant mistakes

In a previous post, I mentioned digging up my garlic and moving it because it was supposed to be bad to grow alongside my broad beans. And in another previous post, I covered taking cuttings from gifted pruned blackcurrant branches.

On the bright side, when I took this photo, one blackcurrant cutting had started showing green growth. And since then, maybe one or two more have also started showing their own. But on the not so bright side, I had been planting the cuttings wrong. I should not have been trimming off all the buds.

Green appearing on a cutting.

One later cutting I made, the only one I did not trim the buds from, pretty much started showing green growth a week or two after being planted. And I've not been able to locate any source of information which says to take the buds off.

The garlic is not so bad. The following picture shows the well filled row of transplanted garlic on the right, and an occasional garlic shoot on the left alongside the bean plants. It turns out that transplanting the garlic did no harm at all, and that I also missed transplanting some.

Lost garlic growing.

I should note the sticks alongside the right hand row of garlic were just marking where the cloves were buried, and are not cuttings.

"Heard" plum tree

I bought this as a whim for $18NZ, from Koanga, and I believe it came bare rooted with straw to keep the roots moist.  From internet research, which is worth what you choose to believe it's worth, the "Heard" plum tree is a cherry plum.  I think it was more suited for cooking, than eating.  Maybe it would even pollinate other more conventional plum varieties I have planted in the paddock nearby.

Someday this will be a "Heard" plum tree or hedge.

It was listed as a plant suitable for hedging.  I like the idea of having a hedgerow, or a hedge made out of some fruiting plant.  What's involved in making a hedge out of a plant?  I have no idea.  In any case, it was planted at the far end of the paddock, past the water race, on the narrow strip of grass beside the fence before the end of the field.  Someday, maybe it will be a hedge.

There's an element of trust in all this planting.  Sure, I order a tree and it comes with a label attached telling me it is one thing.  But what happens when several years down the line, your cider apple tree turns out to be some other variety you'd sooner tear out than eat?

Whittakers White Raspberry Chocolate

More unremarkable New Zealand chocolate. I couldn't taste the raspberry, and the white chocolate was innocuous. I'd rather have a bowl of dried raspberries and a Nestles milky bar.

The packet.

The goods.

My pre-existing olive tree

This is my inherited olive tree, in the sense that it was here when I arrived.  The previous owner didn't know anything about it, so maybe like other trees on the property, it is a windfall plant.

Inherited olive tree.

I did some research on moving olive trees, and I recall almost none of what I found out.  But what I do recall, is that unlike other trees which are dormant in Winter, they should not be moved then.  Rather, if I recall correctly Spring and Autumn were the best times to move them.  I'll revise all this in Spring when the time comes to actually do the move.  It'll be going out beside the two existing purchased olive trees in the paddock.

It's not very well rooted in, and looks to be easy to move as it's roots shift when I give the tree a light shake.  This might be because of the walnut it is growing beside not leaving it much space.