Link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/01/back-yard-harvest-wattlebirds

Our 2024 crop, spoiled. And not just the apricots. It wasn’t like this before global warming arrived in our back yard.

For the past two seasons, as rising temperatures lead to Australia’s agricultural pests creeping south, fruit fly has struck our apricot tree. Nearby is a venerable jonathan apple tree – a once common variety, now rarely seen – planted in the 1940s. When we moved here 44 years ago it bore huge crops of large, unblemished fruit. But for at least a decade the apples have been burnt by rising UV levels and infected with codling moth. I’ve thrown everything at these sneaky beasts short of toxic chemicals: attractant traps, trunk barriers and all the usual natural repellents like garlic, chilli, citronella, Neem. No luck. And that’s just the insects.