Werribee Park Heritage Orchard

01/11/2026

Orchard Sunday 1-Nov-26

It is a mild morning at the orchard.

For soil regeneration project, we had completed the soil aeration using broad fork on Friday. We had also applied of Chockablok (biologically activated compost) to all but three of the test plots. We get the rest done this morning. After Chockablok, we dilute Popul8 (biostimulant from Neutrog) in the ratio of 40ml to 10L and apply though a water can. This marks the end of the initial stage of soil tests, as well as interventions (seed, compost and biostimulant). We seal off the area from general orchard traffic to allow the seeds to germinate (see photos).

In the orchard, all the young trees are protected by tree guards made of aviary grade of wire mesh, against the teeth and jaws of hungry rabbits. Spring is the time for growth, and it is also time to check all the young trees. The maintenance of young trees includes removing the tree guards, manual weeding, cleaning rootstock suckers, refitting the tree guards and applying Whoflungdung to the base of the trees. We work on one of the apple rows today, and finish with 85% of the trees (see photos). There will be another four weeks plus of work for young tree maintenance. We continue next week.

Our next Sunday session is on 6-Dec-26. This will be the last one of the year.

Now is the time for planting fruit trees. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

30/10/2026

Orchard Friday 30-Oct-26

It is a mild morning at the orchard. The temperature starts to climb when we start working in the orchard.

When we open the nursery gate, there are 17 damaged trees waiting for us. This is most likely the handiwork of our resident wallaby who sees the young green shoot of the trees as ‘lollies’.

The tree rescue mission starts the grafting table. The grafting team checks and picks the scions with the most viable green buds and hopefully give the ‘damaged trees’ a second chance. We have also grafted the last batch of 75 apple trees. Next week we will start on grafting pear and nashi. The newly grafted trees are potted up and moved to the current nursery site. In a few weeks’ time, they will be in their ‘wallaby-proof’ new home.

In the orchard, we catch up with lawn mowing with the 2-stroke mowers. For fruit thinning, we work on J*p plum trees today. Apricot and J*p plum are on plum rootstock myrobalan H29C which suckers like crazy. When it is early in the season, we can pull off the rootstock suckers by hand. And there are a lot of them.

For soil regeneration project, the current task is of application of biostimulant (Popul8) and biologically activated compost (Chockablok) – both are Neutrog products. We aerate the test plots with broad fork and then apply Chockblok to most of the test plots. There are a few more plots to go and they will be completed on Sunday.

In the pear & nashi area, we continue with checking tree guards. For manual weeding and cleaning rootstock suckers, we move to peach and nectarine rows. Some trees were planted only five months ago – they are indeed tiny and disappear among the long grass. After clearing the grass, we find our little babies (see photos).

Now is the time for planting fruit trees. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

16/10/2026

Orchard Friday 16-Oct-26

It is a cool morning at the orchard. But it warms up quickly.

For the nursery relocation project, load of crushed rock for water tank base was delivered during the week. Today we spread and level the crushed rock base for the water tank. We establish the height of the greenhouse base and need more gravel to level the ground. More loads will be delivered next week.

In the orchard, we work on fruit thinning for the peach & nectarine as well as apricot trees. We catch up with lawn mowing in the netted tree rows – the grass grows at exponential rate with warmer weather. For the soil regeneration project, we measure electroconductivity (EC) of the soil in the test plots. We plan for three interventions for this project – application of biostimulant (Popul8 from Neutrog) and biologically activated compost (Chockblok from Neutrog), as well as introduction of multi-species ground cover. We will action on them in the coming weeks.

In the pear & nashi area, there are patches with pretty soil conditions. We spread Whoflungdung (a biologically activated mulch from Neutrog) to improve the organic content of the soil. We continue with manual weeding, cleaning rootstock suckers, fitting two layers of tree guards. Check out the ‘before’ and ‘after’ weeding of fruit trees as well as the amount of grass removed. We have 5 more trees to go – fingers crossed get them all done next week.

Spring is the season of growth. Check out the photos of the Euro plum Prairie Gold bark-grafted 5 weeks ago.

Now is the time for planting fruit trees. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

11/10/2026

09/10/2026

Orchard Friday 9-Oct-26

It is a mild morning at the orchard. The temperature starts climbing up in no time. This is so different from the cold and wet weather last Friday.

For the nursery relocation project, we received more loads of gravel delivery over the week. Today we prepare the timber frame of the water tank base (see photo). The area will be filled with crushed rock next week. The 15000L water tank is scheduled for delivery early November.

At the grafting table, we continue with apple trees. We have grafted seventy-five apple trees, making a running total of 190. Only another 206 apple trees to go!

In the orchard, we continue with soil test for Phase 2 of the soil regeneration project. Today focus is to measure soil resistance using penetrometer, as well as collect soil sample to send for external tests.

At the pear & nashi area, we continue with manual weeding, cleaning rootstock suckers, fitting two layers of tree guards. We have another ten trees to go. Hopefully, we will get that done by next week. Some pear and nashi trees start flowering, and others have already set fruit (see photos).

Now is the perfect time for planting fruit trees. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

04/10/2026

Orchard Sunday 4-Oct-26

It is a mild sunny morning at the orchard. It is a pleasant change from the 26mm down pour of rain yesterday.

In the orchard, we continue working on the soil regeneration project. On Friday, we finished with water infiltration test on one of the test plots. Today we work on the other side of the test plot. Water infiltration test is the most time-consuming part of the soil test. We continue with other tests (such as electrical conductivity, temperature, soil pe*******on test) and taking sample for external tests next week.

At the pear & nashi area, we continue with manual weeding, cleaning rootstock suckers, fitting two layers of tree guards. The Dan Bae Nashi tree was bark grafted over three weeks ago. The graft already put on blossom and green foliage – so we are 120% careful while weeding around the tree and the irrigation pipe. Check out the photos – before and after weeding of Dan Bae tree and the amount of grass cleared from this one tree.

Our next Sunday session is on 1-Nov-26 9.30-12.30.

Spring is the time for growth and the perfect time for planting fruit trees. Our online shop is open for business. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees and scions. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

03/10/2026

A container for storage inside our nursery – this is always on our wish list.

The wish came one step closer yesterday when our long-waited container was delivered to the new nursery site.

A big thank you for the driver – he skilfully dropped off the container to the intended spot. Check out the videos and photos.

02/10/2026

Orchard Friday 2-Oct-26

It is a cold and wet morning at the orchard. A month’s rainfall came down within a day yesterday. We are lucky that the rain eases off when we start working in the orchard.

Today our nursery relocation project enters a new phase. Our long-waited container comes this morning (see photos). Many loads of gravel delivery to the site over the past two weeks. A few more will come next week. Then the roller machine will come in to compact the gravel and level the ground.

At the grafting table, we work on apple trees. A lot of the rare varieties come from the Grove Station collection. The team has grafted over 100 apple trees.

In the orchard, we start soil test for Phase 2 of the soil regeneration project. Different plots of the test site are labelled. Water infiltration tests chew up a lot of time. We continue on Sunday – our October Sunday session.

At the pear & nashi area, we continue with manual weeding, cleaning rootstock suckers, fitting two layers of tree guards. Check out the before and after photo – we clean up the rootstock suckers for Doyenné Boussock pear tree.

Craig did field-grafting of four cherry trees five weeks ago. These rare varieties were bred at Lenswood Horticultural Centre in South Australia in the 1980s. It is great to see the green foliage coming from the graft (see photos).

Now is the perfect time for planting fruit trees. Our online shop is open for business. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees and scions. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

25/09/2026

Orchard Friday 25-Sep-26

It is a warm sunny morning with a bit of overcast at the orchard.

We are going into the second phase of the soil regeneration project. Next Friday we are going to do a series of soil test to get the baseline data. Nicola runs three small group workshops so that we can familiarize ourselves with the process.

We got more work done at the new nursery site during today. the week. We relocated the old greenhouse to far corner. More loads of gravel are scheduled for next week.

We have a short session at the grafting table today because of other tasks. The team starts on apple trees today and grafts eleven trees. At the nursery, we pot up newly grafted trees and move them in groups onto the metal tables.

In the orchard, we catch up with lawn mowing and irrigation maintenance in the orchard. For winter pruning, we finish the last lot of pear and nashi trees. We continue with manual weeding, cleaning rootstock suckers, fitting two layers of tree guards. Pear trees start to put on blossom, and so are the quince trees.

Craig did a couple of bark graft two weeks ago. There is already bud movement (see photos). We love the green dots! Spring is truly here. With the warmth of the soil, now is the perfect time for planting fruit trees. Our online shop is open for business. Lots to choose from our range of fruit trees and scions. Check them at www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au

23/09/2026

Signages are important features to guide our visitors from the Gate 5 entrance all the way to the festival grounds.

We try to improve our signages at each Heritage Fruit Tree Festival.

With the money from Tiny Town Fund Grant, we have upgraded our signages – from the external signage at the entrance of Gate 5 to all the internal signages that we can place at different spots for different purposes.

These signages came in handy at Fruit Tree Festivals and other events. Check out the photos from the Winter Heritage Fruit Tree Festival back in August.