BUSH FOOD GARDEN – SEASONAL UPDATE – SUMMER 2025-26

Report from the BUSH FOOD garden, February 2026

Successes

The Riberry lilly pilly was covered in red berries in December – very Christmas-y – and several batches of jam were produced.

Our new Peter’s Thornless raspberries fruited quite well considering they weren’t planted very long ago. Not quite enough for a pie yet.

Two apple berry vines planted late last year in the ‘shady corner’ trough pot are doing well, sending out their gentle tendrils. They’re not likely to flower until next spring, but we are looking forward to their little lozenge-shaped fruit that is supposed to taste like kiwifruit or stewed apple.

Some berries have appeared on the midyim plants against the park fence. Tiny but tasty. And we’re loving the tea tree zone further along, with ruby saltbush and a grove of native violets as ground cover.

Two new pollinating shrubs were purchased from IndigiGrow late last year, replacing the Grevillea ‘John Evans’ which died. And we’ve also added an edible Geraldton Wax, with citrussy needle-like leaves

We gratefully received the gift of a native Lime Berry (Micromelum minutum) bush from the Woolloomooloo Permaculture Garden, as thanks for sharing info about how we manage ‘pests’. It’s a slow-growing tropical shrub that blooms from mid-spring and produces small, sour berry-like fruit. We have planted it in a pot until we figure out a more pemanent home.

Almost all plants now have a label with a photo and QR code leading to more information.

Challenges

The lemon myrtle in the back bed survived its bout of myrtle rust – we essentially removed all the leaves, very carefully, and it wasn’t long before new clean foliage came through. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.