I love me a good lemon tree. So much so that I ooohh and aaaahhh when I see one laden down with fruit, wishing I knew the owners so I could beguile some lemons my way.
Oh how I wish I could grow big, healthy lemon trees. To date my luck hasn't been great:
- When Paul and I were dating, we planted a Meyer lemon tree in a pot. Every year we get about 4-8 lemons off it. That's better than nothing, but not exactly keeping us in lemons.
- Two summers ago I planted a Yen Ben lemon tree in our yard in Hamilton. Paul's job shifted us to Wellington before I got to eat any fruit off that one.
- Third time's a charm.... I'm hoping. I planted a Yen Ben lemon tree in the yard here before Sophie was born, and I see some tiny buds appearing on it.
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| Buds on my Wellington lemon tree. |
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| Seaweed and pea straw used to mulch ground around lemon tree. |
I'm also going to pull half of the precious lemon buds off, so the tree puts more energy into growing strong roots. Fingers crossed my efforts pay off.
Do you have any tips for growing a great lemon tree. I'm all ears!
Well I think you're already doing the right things, that is keeping it well fed and watered especially during these coming summer months. Our tree took about 3 years to give us its first lemon then each year we got more and more until now I have more lemons than I use but share with my neighbor. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHello Emma,
ReplyDeleteI wish I could send you some of our lemons, one of the best crops for years. You are doing all thr right things just remember as it gets older to spread the mulch and fertiliser to as far as the branches reach out to. A little tip that will keeep it going is some epsom salts in a bucket of water is great for when the leaves are a bit yellow. Also one you might want to try is human urine diluted in some water. A very natural fertiliser!!
Happy days.
Bev.xoxo