Kia Orana from WHG

hi all. new to forums but not to lifestyling.

currently on land about 20km south of whangarei town, 5 acres + 2 acres. the 5 acre is my priority block.
i've been here a year, the ragwort, thistles, lilly, gorse and pines are gone! (i still have a lot of climbing asparagus to deal to.)
possums are under control, a few cheeky rabbits come through now and then but my hawk is pretty good at picking them off.

anyway, just today have picked up fruit trees (nashi, plumsx2, lime and manadarin) and going to get them in the ground soon (wrong time of year, i know)

i am in the market for any cheap or free non-diseased fruit trees, seedlings, saplings, rickers, graftings etc,
i also have a fairly good garden started here, tomatoes coming out my ears, tobacco, and five kinds of potato, more than happy to share seed etc.

other than that i'm here for info and conversation, i enjoy shooting, beach/ocean-stuff, driving, biking, gardening etc. etc. etc.

so hallo hallo, and goodbye for now.

Hi Akzle, and Happy New Year. Very new to here and lifestyle block living too. So what is the right time to put in my fruit trees in Canterbury? Sounds like you have been working very hard. Before coming here I could flatten an iPad battery in a full day. Now, I nearly use 10% in a day, good aye.

I'm not exactly new to lifestyling, just this block.
i'm a bit of a gypsy. my previous focus was native re-forestation (and gardening - always) , and that's part of what i'm doing here,
this is familiy land, so it's also for the rest of the whanau and our up and coming generations.
i wouldn't say "hard" just "constant" about my work. i really need a rotary hoe cos this is dairy land - compacted yellow clay and kikuyu!

fruit trees are usually planted in autumn-winter when they're dormant, i just happen to have been given a gift voucher for xmas. your local garden centre will advise what's the best way to go about planting now.

you'll probably want to pull off any flowers/buds, well composted soil in the hole and plenty of mulch around it to keep the roots comfy. don't add nitrogen or potassium as they encourage top growth and flowering, and you really want the roots to get a good grip first. if the tree is big - stake it. (two is good, three is better) unless you're espaliering it on a fence or frame.

i'm off grid, and living on 30W of solar power (looking to upgrade) - keeps me in laptop, cellphone and showers well enough, no fridge yet, but i have a VAWT turbine on it's way.

30 kw perhaps?

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Aquila;449414 wrote: 30 kw perhaps?

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haha, i wish. a 10W CiS panel and a 20W poly. 'tis all i've needed yet.

sent from my computer, using a keyboard, like a normal person (tm).

30 watts is about a third of a lightbulb. Think you might be missing a couple of zeros

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Aquila;449459 wrote: 30 watts is about a third of a lightbulb. Think you might be missing a couple of zeros

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not an LED lightbulb , it draws about 40mA @12v, laptop draws