Building a truffelerie

Holly oak, hazelnut trees and truffle spores.

The left corner of the yard is an unattractive space - dominated by the tank and the shed. Typical of our whole backyard the ground was covered with pine bark.

This unattractive corner was a horrible space to mow particularly in summer when the grass dried off and is the planned area for our future truffelerie.

For preparation some treated pine off cuts that were sitting along the shed were removed. The shed has just a dirt floor and the pine was bridging the gap between the shed wall and the ground. These have now been replaced with bricks.

The white pipe for managing the tank overflow runs along the fence and was never buried. It had become full of water and heavy to manoeuvre. For fear of building a mosquito breeding ground the piping was removed.

There are three existing hazelnuts that have been grown for nuts and as a screen between out house and the neighbours. It is planned that the truffle hazelnuts will continue along the fence in this space.

For truffles the soil in the space needs to be built up and it is planned that the beds will be edged and paved.

A truffle infused hollyoak was grown in a container. Hollyoaks are very slow growing trees. They eventually grow to over 12 metres. It is often said that you can plant a young Quercus ilex tree and you will be old and the tree will be still small.

This tree will be managed in the garden by hedging and growing in a large half barrel. This protects the truffle spore infused roots from contamination by microbes in the roots of other plants.

Berries near the vege patch

The berry patch was created along the left hand side of the back fence during the winter of 2009. Over the hot summer it was found to be in the wrong position. The bed was exposed to the hot afternoon sun. The plants became distressed in the intense heat and the leaves became burnt. The position also became quickly overgrown in weeds and neglected.

The berries were moved last winter and will now form part of the vegetable garden. Hopefully they will be better looked after here. The vege patch takes on the morning sun and is sheltered from the afternoon sun.

The gooseberry has been transplanted to the middle of the vege patch. Gooseberries grow to about 1.5 m and can tolerate semi shade. The plant is said to be a companion of the tomato and so will be grown near the tomatoes. The tomatoes will also help to shade them during the hot summer months. The gooseberry will be pruned off one spur in a goblet shape.

The rest of the climbing berries have been grown at the back of the vegetable garden so that they can be netted with ease.

Thanks to the local hardware store I have managed to fill the area with wrought iron climbing features. The berries have been grown against these.

This area has less how afternoon sun. But I am considering growing a callistemon or wattle behind the unsightly pole to attract bees and help shade the berries.

Berries - location and soil

Location: Currants like morning sun and afternoon part-shade. They can be grown in the high shade of fruit trees such as persimmon, as well as on the north side of buildings. The leaves sunburn readily and the plants collapse quickly when the soil or air temperature exceeds 29°c.

Soil: Currants are not finicky about soil but prefer heavier soils richer in clay. A thick mulch of some organic material also keeps the soil cool in summer while adding humus to the soil. Sandy soils are less suitable for currants because they dry out too fast. The plants will not tolerate alkaline or salty soil

Landscaping with currants and berries

Currents grow best in cool regions. They are deciduous shrubs, fast growing under optimum conditions. The plant is a multiple-stemmed clump, to 1 ½ m high and is suitable for training aswell. Annual growth is in a single flush in spring. The roots are close to the surface, fine and easily damaged by frequent cultivation.



















Foliage: Black currant leaves are pale green, while those of the red currant are deep blue-green. Both are easily burned by intense sunlight. Leaf size and number is reduced under water stress.

Currant flowers (green in the case of red currants and blush pink for black currants) are not that showy, but joined together on the strig they give the bush a lacy texture.

Pollination: is by insects. Black currant flowers also attract bees. Most currants have self-fertile flowers, but a few cultivars are partially self-sterile, so set more fruits with cross-pollination.

To increase both fruit size and number, clip off part of the ends of the strigs while the bushes are flowering. Depending upon the cultivar, fruits ripen from
70 to 100 days after blossoming.

The garden path

The ground was levelled and packed hard. The sand was laid to about two centimetres thick. The pavers were set on top in a pattern. The tiles were laid on end at the sides and held in place by star pickets.

When the paving was finished sand was spread over the top and pushed into the cracks. The star pickets were removed. The outer edges were packed hard with mud. The shape changed in the process of making the path. It is now a more organic horseshoe shape.

Vegetable patch

The cosmos at the end of last summer were very pretty but did little to cover the messy fence at the right hand end of the yard.

This corner has low hanging overhead wires, a messy power pole, a falling down fence and periwinkle growing through the fence.

The lawn in this space is a mix of paspalum and kikuyu. The previous owner of the house had covered the ground with pine bark. Grass had grown through the pine bark in places. Mowing in this space resulted in being covered in a cloud of dust.

The grass was removed from the area. The periwinkel was weeded out and the ground covered with a heavy cardboard and mulch. This would reduce the opportunity for the periwinkle to reshoot.

An almond, apple and nectarine were espaliered along the right side of the fence. These were some of the first trees grown in the garden in 2008. The fruit trees are underplanted with some bulbs and garlic.

Mariposa plum - espalier

The Mariposa plum was the first plant that I grew in the garden. It was a mature espalier. It is early flowering and has a delicious fruit. In its first season it produced more than we could eat. Giving away the excess was good way to make acquaintance with the neighbours. A colleague at work also made me some jam from the excess.

Citrus trees

The space along the driveway was chosen as the site for the citrus trees. It is the only place in the garden that gets enough sunlight but doesn’t get frosted. The brick wall creates a warm microclimate over the winter.
A dry brick wall was built around the weeds and periwinkle in this scrappy area of the garden. The weeds were roughly pulled out of the hard clay ground.
The whole area inside the brick wall was covered with card board box. Chook poo was sprinkled on the box and then the surface dampened. The next layer put down was a bale of Lucerne.
This garden bed was built in autumn and there were plenty of leaves on the ground especially from the large pin oak in the front garden. The lawn was mowed and the mulched leaves and grass thrown on top. A layer of soil was shovelled on top for the mix to help it break down.

A Washington naval, Eureka Lemon, Mandarine and blood orange were planted early last spring after the worst of the frosts were over. We left a few of the fruits on the tree and ate the last blood orange on the weekend.

Thirty seven fruit trees

In under two years we have planted 37 fruit trees and there is space for a few more. I'm hoping for a tally of 50. Most will be espaliered but some are grown along the fence line as a screen or hedge.

The tree list

Apple - Eight varieties - 'Golden Delicious', Malus Domestica Delicious 'Co-op 39', Pink Lady - in pot. - requires another pink lady as a cultivar, Jonathon Granny Smith, 'Crimson crisp','Sundowner' and 'Gala'.
Two Apricots - Moorpark and Trevatt
Almond - All in one. Zaione.
Bay tree - pot
Cherry trees 'Royal Ranier' and 'Stella'
Five Citrus - Washington naval, blood orange, Eureka lemon, mandarin, lime in a pot
Eight Hazelnuts - Two 'American White' Filbert and 1 Cosford - Corylus avellana - seedling. Six truffle infused seedling grown hazelnuts
Fig in wooden barrell - Ficus carica - Preston Prolific.
Three Grapes
Nectarine - 'Zaiblargro'
Three Olive trees
Two Pears 'Buerre Bosc' and 'Sensation'
Two Pistachios - 1 male and 1 female
Three Persimmons
Three Plums - A self seeded plum tree already existed on the property and two espaliers: Mariposa and Santa Rosa.
Three Pomegranates
One quince
Holly Oak Truffle tree
One Walnut Wilson's Wonder

Pond landscaping

As I landscaped away from the pond I chose Kangaroo paw and Grevilleas to create a soft natural environment.

Within a few weeks these plants had died. The soil that I had used was mainly the clay that I had dug out of the pond. The soil was also drawing out water from the pond and was too moist and being clay not free draining enough for these plants.

I eventually replaced these with reedy strappy looking plants like Dianella and flax. These are natives and will have purple flowers. I also chose correas as they can handle Canberra frost, hard summers and heavy soil.

I created a native bed behind the pond away from the water on a raised bed. I continued to use the clay but improved it with compost.

Winter pond maintenance.

After trialling many different types of implements and piercing the pond liner in the process, the best de-algae tool was found to be a bottle brush.

Pond life

Butterfly - Meadow Argus

Pumps and fountains

During the winter all the water lilies died and Colin disappeared. He was too exposed to birds. The algae became thick during winter and I had to manually remove it. I used an object that was too sharp and accidentally pierced the plastic liner.

The pond began losing water and I had to drain it and remove all the plants to repair the puncture. I took the opportunity to do some reshaping and I put in some more shelter for the fish. A more reliable pump was required. My car mechanic did some research for me and recommended a house alarm battery as it can withstand getting wet in the rain and being regularly run to empty. A local camping store recommended I use a bilge pump. These pumps are used for pumping the sludge out of a boats bilge so has good application in a pond environment where the water can include algae.

The new pump and battery have worked very well. I have restocked the pond with fantail goldfish and white clouds. The fish are essential for keeping down mosquito larvae. I was also given some tadpoles that were big enough not to be eaten by the goldfish.

Pumps and fountains

By the time the pond was finished the weather was turning cold. During autumn the foliage starts to die off and falling into the pond and creates too many nutrients in the water. Algae will flourish grow under these conditions.

Pumps can help to keep the water clear and also cleans up mosquitoes to a certain extent. I experimented with two types of solar pumps. I made a gentle sounding waterfall using rocks and the pumps.


The main problem with using solar pumps is that they were generally only efficient in the full sun in high summer. The panel and wire were also unattractive and I had nothing close that I could hang the panel on. The solar pumps were also not strong enough to pump the water into the bird which is a fountain.