Minerals

Check out the excellent Weekly Times article on adding nutrients to your soil.

Despite the wonderful rain, I'll be in my wellies and sou'wester and the chap will be similarly attired this weekend, as we work as getting the garden beds in shape.

As Sir Peter Cundall writer, minerals are the food of plants. Some are required in relatively large quantities while only tiny amounts of others, called nutrients, are needed.

I know it's cold outside, but it's a great time get out and enjoy the garden before the winter chills really hit and the soil becomes too cold and hard to dig.

If the rain ever stops, I'll be in the garden this weekend...

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.