lemon-aid

LOVE those lemon trees.

At them moment the citrus trees are thriving.

The lemon tree in the chook run is doing pretty well

but curiously, despite all the chook fertiliser,

the trees which receive less sun and looking lusher with more fruit.

A sunny winter with lots of rain (go figure) has resulted in most of my lemon and lime trees looking might fine.

But it's also a time to look out for pests and disease which can ruin your crop.

Check out Peter Cundall's excellent article here.

Salty lemons

CAN you grow great lemons on the coast?

Sir Peter Cundall doesn't think so in his latest Weekly Times column.

Still I persevere.

Call me stubborn but I'm not going to let a fruit tree get the better of me.

My neighbours have a cracker which tantalises me every time I look over the fence as my citrus trees are not half as prolific. But when when I asked them about any special soil treatments or fertilisers, they seem to take the 'healthy neglect' approach.

Darn.

One lemon tree which came with the property and sulked in various parts of the garden is now happily caged in the fully wired-up chook run, gets plenty of sunshine, water and ahem, chook fertiliser. The hens even like to climb the ladder next to it to occasionally roost in the branches.

The others are variously in pots and the ground.

Hopefully the little darlings will improve. The lemon and lime trees, not the chooks, they are fine.

But even if they don't my dear neighbours are happy to swap plump fruit for the feather riot's eggs.

So as long as I keep a few cackleberries I can have my lemon pacakes and eat them too.